B737-800
Flight Attendant Current
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
During our preflight; we noticed that the forward PA wasn't working. Maintenance came on board. The PA had been written up before. Maintenance MELed d the PA. The Captain had no objections and neither did we. I would just make announcements from the back of the cabin and the rest of the crew would help out as needed. We also said we would use call lights to get each other's attention.During door closure; I realized this was really affecting our procedure. I was able to use the forward PA to make the 'final paperwork; electronic device/prepare doors' announcement but I was not able to make an all-call. I then wondered if the forward PA could even pick up other chatter. So we tested it and we were unable to hear any communication; pilot to FA or FA to FA. At this point; many different scenarios came to mind. Less serious things such as a pax getting up during taxi (I'd be unable to make any announcement); to more serious things such as an unruly pax (I would be unable to make contact with FA or FD).To sum it up; I felt the PA was MELed for poor reason. We were at a maintenance base where they could have fixed it or swapped out an aircraft. Errors that were made was not realizing the severity of the situation before pushing back and proceeding with flight. This was an error on all parties; the flight attendants; pilots and Maintenance. To avoid reoccurrence; this type of maintenance issue should not be able to be MELed. I understand the aircraft could still fly safely but I feel like the cabin security was not taken into account.
Flight Attendant reported the PA system being inoperative. The crew elected to continue with the flight only to experience communication; safety; and security issues.