B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Total 5738; Flight Crew Type 5738
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
On arrival to the gate; Flight Attendant B deployed the 1R slide and exited the aircraft to the ramp. She was very emotional throughout the flight. The lead Flight Attendant had called up to request an inflight supervisor to meet the flight because she felt emotionally Flight Attendant B should not continue with her trip. Later the lead called up to ask if Flight Attendant B could come to the cockpit to get away from the passengers and give her an opportunity to calm down; she was crying and sobbing almost uncontrollably. We were told they thought she had some issues at home; but couldn't get a solid reason why she was crying uncontrollable. We followed entry procedures and allowed her to come to the cockpit. She continued to cry for a few minutes. When she did settle down I asked her if she was ok and what was wrong. She stated she was having some mental problems; but she would be ok. We then called back to have her removed from the cockpit. She seemed ok once she settled down. We also had a medical issue with a passenger on board. We had arranged for paramedics to come on the airplane. There didn't seem to be any issues with her once she had settled down and left the cockpit; no indications that she was planning to do anything either in air or on the ground. We asked passengers to remain seated until they could come on and remove the sick passenger. The seatbelt sign remained on after arriving. Flight Attendant supervisor was also waiting on the flight. When we arrived at the gate we heard the slide deploy. First officer looked up and saw the 1R door open; jet way was not attached to the aircraft. We saw the flight attendant walking toward the terminal after going down the deployed slide.
Received interphone call from a Flight Attendant (FA) (not the one who deployed the slide) about 1.5 to 2 hrs into flight requesting that we ACARS the FA Crew desk to have an FA supervisor meet the flight at the gate because FA B had some personal issues and would need to try to get off the remainder of her trip. I asked about the situation and was told again she was having some 'personal issues'. We sent the ACARS msg. About 1/2 hour later or so; the Captain answered the interphone and then proceeded to unbuckle and get up to open the door and said that the FA wanted to come up front and sit on the jumpseat for a few minutes to calm down. She came in and sat down and was crying when she entered. I believe she made some sort of apology about the situation but I could not hear her very clearly as she was still crying. We also had an unrelated separate ongoing medical situation at the same time in the back of the aircraft; and the Captain received another call from the back shortly after she came into the cockpit. While he was on the interphone I turned to her and tried to calm her down and asked if there was anything I could do. I believe she said something to the effect of really missing her family and that she just didn't like being away for so long. I asked her if this was an especially long pairing and I believe she replied it was 3 or 4 days. The Captain then finished his conversation with the FA's in the back and proceeded to fill me in on the latest developments with the medical situation. While we talked about that; she continued to sob quietly on the jumpseat; although it appeared to be lessening. I believe she was up front with us for about 7-8 minutes. A few minutes later we received another call from the back regarding the medical situation and while the Captain was on the interphone I told her that the other FA's could probably use some help back in the cabin soon; and asked her if she felt like she was ready to go back and assist. She had calmed down enough now; and she stood up and said she was OK to go back now. We coordinated to open the door and she returned to the cabin.Nothing further occurred during the remainder of the flight regarding the flight attendant. After taxi in to gate and shortly after shutting down the engines; the loud sound of the emergency slide deploying was heard. My initial thought was that something was happening at 1L; but I could see the jetway continuing to move towards the aircraft. It was still about 5 feet away but did not stop; so I turned to look over my shoulder out the right side window and saw that the slide had deployed. A few seconds later I saw the FA walking past the slide and towards the terminal where she eventually was halted and seated in a golf cart.
B737 flight crew was informed Enroute that one of the flight Attendants had become emotionally distraught for unknown reasons. She is allowed into the cockpit to calm down then returns to the cabin about eight minutes later. Upon shutting down at the gate the Flight Attendant in question opens the 1R door with the slide armed and leaves the aircraft via the slide.