Large Transport
Flight Attendant Current
Workload; Troubleshooting; Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
At 10;000 ft.; sterile FD; descent into DFW; we began preparation procedures [in the] galley and cabin. Once finished; FA3 (Flight Attendant) asked who was in the forward lavatory and we determined the wheelchair passenger at 1F must have gone to the bathroom. FA3 knocked and told her we were landing now and to return to her seat now. She said; 'Ok; I'm coming.' FA1 & FA3 continued asking her to return to her seat and when the wheels dropped. She was still in the bathroom saying she was coming. FA3 and FA1 continued communicating with her and at less than 1 minute to landing the decision was made that she would not be able to safely make it to a seat and she was informed to 'stay in the lavatory.' The flight landed and taxied to toward Gate A19 at which time FA1 informed the Captain we had a passenger land in the lavatory. The Captain asked for basic information at this time. FA1 informed him that the passenger was still in the lavatory and if we were going to be stopped so she could return to her seat. The Captain stated; 'We're going to keep moving.' The passenger was told to remain in the lavatory until the seatbelt sign was turned off. Once we parked at the gate; the passenger came out on her own and apologized saying she was getting sick. FA1 confirmed her name as Passenger A. The Captain then brought FA1 into the cockpit and stated that he should have known we didn't have a passenger in their seat for landing and that he had to do reports now.
After [the] Captain made [the] 'prepare for landing announcement' I; FA3 (Flight Attendant); walked up to [the] front and started clearing the cabin from there to [the] back. I finished preparing the cabin and headed up to my seat. When I was getting ready to sit; I saw that there was someone in front lavatory and asked FA1 if he saw anyone go in there. He explained that passenger 1F who came on [a] wheelchair had to use [the] lavatory last minute. I noticed how close we were getting to the ground so I started knocking on [the] door and told her; 'We are approaching landing and you need to come out;' to which she responded; 'I'm coming;' so I kept knocking on door and telling her she needed to come out already. Then; I noticed the landing gear is coming out. I then tell her; 'You need to come out NOW; landing gear is down we are about to land.' She said; 'Okay;' and seemed like she was going to come out but then didn't. That's when FA1 got up and told tell her to stay in the lavatory; which at that point; [was] so close to [the] ground and [since there was] such little time; [it] seemed like the best decision.We landed safely and checked on [the] passenger; she said she was okay. FA1 called [the] flight deck and explained to the Captain that we had someone in the lavatory [and] to let us know if we were going to make any stops so that we could have her go back to [her] seat safely since it takes her time to walk to her seat. The Captain told FA1; 'We are going to keep moving;' so [the] passenger remained in [the] lavatory until we came to a safe stop. The passenger came out and apologized for what she had done and said she understood she had done wrong but she really needed to go. Captain asked us why we didn't call him in the air we explained everything happened just so suddenly and we were so close to [the] ground with sterile flight deck and basically not much time.
Air carrier flight attendants reported an ill passenger remained in the lavatory during landing.