Flight Attendant Current
Communication Breakdown; Fatigue; Time Pressure
Other Fatigue
Company Policy; Human Factors
I am a reserve Flight Attendant and went back on call this morning. I did however sleep in that morning for a half hour. An all night turn opened up mid afternoon. I monitored it for several hours to see if I would be given this sequence so I could prepare myself and perhaps take a nap before its sign in and 10 hour duty 'night'. The trip remained open most of the afternoon. Crew Scheduling waited until the very last minute to assign me this trip; calling me 2 hours prior to sign in. By the time I returned to my domicile I had been awake for over 21 hours. If any type of emergency situation had presented itself I would have been too fatigued to address it or act upon it.I understand that I am 'contractually' obligated to fly a 12 hour duty day 'on paper.' However; I find fault in the company's policy that flight attendants are on call [24 hours a day] for a block of days at a time but mostly fault the Scheduling Department for allowing this trip to remain open all day. When they wait to the last minute to assign such a trip; human beings are unable to prepare themselves for all night duty.
A Flight Attendant addressed the need for schedulers to consider rest and fatigue concerns when assigning trips to on call reserves; stressing that all night assignments should be assigned at the earliest practical time to permit attendants to realign their day's activities to minimize fatigue during non-optimal diurnal operations.