B737-800
Flight Attendant Current
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Electronic Device; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Human Factors; Manuals; Weather
During our pre-flight the Captain advised us that it may be bumpy going in to our destination and that he may have us sit down and then just ding us at 10;000. I explained that although the company and its pilots have been using this as standard practice to give customers more time to use the onboard WiFi that it was in violation of both company (manual) policy as well as a violation of two FARs. I thought that we had the situation under control until we hit the bumps and the Captain told us that he was sitting us down but the customers could continue to use all electronic devices. We only have a secure cabin or an unsecure cabin. Our flight landed unsecure. The customers had tray tables back down and all electronics on. Had an evacuation happened; customers would have wasted great amounts of time trying to get around all the laptops and other electronic devices.
A flight attendant reported that the company and its pilots are colluding to seat flight attendants early when turbulence is expected on landing but allow passengers to continue using onboard WiFi until descending through 10;000 MSL. Flight attendants thus are precluded from making their pre-landing checks of passenger compliance with safety regulations. The reporter believes the result is aircraft landing unsecured as passengers continue to utilize electronic devices and leave tray tables down; contrary to regulations.