B757-200
Flight Attendant Current
Fatigue
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Staffing
I was working a trip that was scheduled to layover after a five hour flight. When we arrived we departed the aircraft and were in the process of putting our bags on the transportation van to go to the hotel when a ground employee approached and informed us we needed to contact Crew Scheduling and that we were working back that night. When you know you are scheduled for a duty day potentially as long as 14 hours with no crew rest break and you will be up all night you can be properly rested and prepared. This drafting situation caught me completely unprepared and not properly rested. I believe that the safety of the flight was compromised by crew fatigue. We were constantly reminding one another of duties that needed to be accomplished like briefing the exit rows and we didn't remember to pass out baby vests until immediately after we were airborne. I couldn't remember the First Officer's name and I only remembered the Captain's [name] because I know him. Even though we have a procedure to verify doors are armed/disarmed I felt the need to check and double check that my door was armed at departure and disarmed on arrival because I couldn't remember if I had even touched my door. I was physically exhausted and when I found myself nodding off while sitting on the jumpseat I realized that I needed to stand up to stay awake. I even found myself struggling to stay awake while I was on my feet. I know too that I was mentally exhausted. We were not provided with a crew meal and I believe that the lack of proper food/nutrition was a contributing factor to my level of fatigue. I can only speculate on how I would have performed in an emergency situation but I do know that my reaction time and mental acuity was compromised and I would have been unable to perform to the best of my ability.
B757 Flight Attendant reports being informed after a five hour flight that the expected layover has been canceled and the cabin crew will be working the red eye flight back. Extreme fatigue and associated mental errors are reported.