B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Attendant Current
Flight Attendant Total 27
Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft; Human Factors
Right after arming doors; while waiting for call from Purser to verify arming and cross check; the Aft Purser called me over to look at her door. She told me that when she armed the door her Door Assist handle just fell off the top bracket. She called the Purser immediately and told him what happened. He said he would call the flight deck. I assumed we would be disarming doors and the flight deck would call Maintenance to repair the door. One of the First Officers came back and looked at the door and asked us if we knew if it was a 'No-Go' or not. The Aft Purser and I said we thought it was a 'No-Go'. Anything broken on the door would appear to me to be a 'No-Go'. It was the door assist handle on the door; not on the wall; so I was not 100% sure. The First Officer left and said they would call Maintenance. Shortly after that we got a call from the Purser saying we were going and that it had been deferred. There was no paperwork involved as we did not have to wait for Maintenance to send paperwork or anything; we just left. The Aft Purser and I just looked at each other and were pretty confused. I guess the pilot had told the Purser he was ready to go and we were going. We went to our jumpseats and prepared for takeoff and while we were taxiing I looked up at my Door Assist handle at 4-Right (4R) wondering if mine was secure as well. I just reached up and grabbed mine and gently tugged on it and it just came right out of the bracket; just as 4-Left (4L) had. I couldn't believe it. I summoned the Aft Purser to look at mine and she called the Purser again. He called the flight deck and they just said; we will write it up with the other one! We took off with two broken Door Assist handles. My feeling was; we should have gone back to the gate and had someone look at them. It very well could have been something that had been done to the aircraft on purpose such as sabotage. I still am very concerned that we took off with the doors in that condition especially with it being my door and if I would have had to evacuate that door I would have been at risk for being pushed out of a B747 not having a proper place to hang on and not having all that is needed to open that door.
Reporter stated the B747-400 had already been delayed three hours and the Flight Attendants were 45-minutes short of being illegal for the flight. Door Assist Handles on Cabin Doors 4-Left/4-Right (4L/4R) had separated from the passenger doors as they reached out for the handles. All other Cabin Door Assist handles were secure. Reporter stated that even though the Captain had come down from the flight deck almost immediately and said he would call Maintenance; nothing happened and the flight departed. She was later told by Company Management there were no records of any call for maintenance from the flight crew; or logbook write-up; or deferral for the Door Assist handles. Reporter has 27 years of Flight Attendant experience.
A Flight Attendant reports two Cabin Door Assist handles on passenger Doors 4-Left and 4-Right (4L/4R) had separated after the cabin doors were armed; just prior to pushback. Question of whether the assist handles were a 'No-Go' item; or could be deferred; went unanswered by the flight crew. Aircraft departed. Flight Attendant was later informed by Management that no records of request for maintenance from flight crew or deferral were found.