Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Attendant Airline Total 36; Flight Attendant Number Of Acft Qualified On 10; Flight Attendant Type 15
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft; Procedure
During my pre-flight; I found that the aft jumpseat on the [aircraft] would not automatically retract. I reported this to [the] Captain who called maintenance control. They told him that [this station] did not have maintenance on the field; and it would be a 2 hour wait to get them there. They then told him to have me put masking tape on the seat to mark it unusable; and to mark the last row; seat C in a similar fashion for FA use only. I replied that I was not comfortable with doing this; but I did so anyway. As I went back there; I realized that I would not be able to secure the barrier strap and still be able to perform an evacuation as per our procedure. I went back and reported my situation to the Captain. He took that up with maintenance control again. I asked for clarification from in-flight as to the proper procedure in this instance.He got the following response from them: 'Captain tried calling; but it went to voice mail. Talked with the inflight manager here in [operations] and they said that this is the procedure for when a FA's seat is inoperative. If [the FA] still has concerns he can call and I'll patch him in with inflight or he can discuss it with the inflight manager when he gets into [destination];' Dispatcher. I reiterated that I was extremely concerned with this answer; and that many of our inflight managers are not flight attendant trained; and clearly did not understand my concern. The Captain agreed; yet we were boarded by that time; and needed to make a decision. I felt extremely pressured by the company to operate this aircraft in an unsafe manner. I do not appreciate being put in this position.When this occurs on an A320; as I have had happen numerous times; yes; the flight attendant sits in the aft most passenger aisle seat. However; there is not a barrier strap issue. The barrier strap proper use is a pass/fail part of the evacuation each year. I am very aware that one reacts and will perform in an emergency as they train. Muscle memory. If one begins to deviate at any time from that procedure; mistakes begin to occur. In a tail cone evacuation; those mistakes could easily become fatal. If one recalls [a previous] evacuation; the fatalities were all in the non-operational tail cone. No one was able to answer my question as to what procedure I should follow in the event of an evacuation. The Captain suggested putting up the strap and ducking under it; or putting it up after I got up to go to the door to assess conditions. Both of these options are a serious deviation from procedure; and FAA approved procedure. If no deviation has been approved by the FAA; which I am pretty sure is the case here; then it needed to be fixed first.FA manager met the flight and as soon as I told him where they told me to sit; he asked; 'What about the barrier strap?' He had recently completed flight attendant training; and was well aware of the importance of that component of a potential evacuation. I feel very strongly that this flight was operated in an unsafe manner. It should have been fixed in [departure station]. I am really tired of being put in the position of being asked; 'Are you good with this? Can we go? We need to be on time.' I was definitely not okay with this. I will report this directly to the FAA as well. If there is no procedure for this; one that is in the manual and practiced; then this is a very dangerous precedent to set.
Air Carrier FA reported being pressured to depart with an aft jump seat problem that had safety implications that the company was unwilling to address.