B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Attendant Current
Workload; Physiological - Other; Fatigue; Confusion; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General Maintenance Action; General Physical Injury / Incapacitation
Aircraft; Company Policy; Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
Starting with flight XXX; aircraft number ZZZ; once we reached (city) we had to do an aircraft swap due to two stall warnings. We stayed on the planes with through passenger while waiting for a decision to be made if we were going keep the aircraft. Counting the 15 minutes to make the decision to have the passengers deplane and then the 15 minutes to actually complete the deplane; we the crew were exposed to 30 minutes of the aircraft's interior temperature matching the outside temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit; and the ground air was not enough to keep the aircraft cool. I know for a fact that it was 103 because after the passengers had been deplaned I checked the weather on The Weather Channel app on my phone. We received another aircraft. When we received the plane; the a/c seemed to be working fine. About 5 minutes into boarding; all of a sudden the a/c started blowing hot air.  About the time I noticed this; the 'B' flight attendant had already called the Captain and told him what we were experiencing. He acknowledged the issue and told us he would have the mechanics look at it. We continued with boarding. A mechanic came to the aircraft and I assumed he was there to fix the a/c; but I found out later it was for a different write-up on the plane. Unknown to the flight attendants; we left the gate with the a/c still not working. Once we were out of critical phase of flight; the Captain called us and explained how he 'messed up' saying how 'he was sorry but he had gotten overwhelmed during everything going on and we should have never left with that plane.' To make matters even worse; because of weather we had to fly at a lower altitude of 20;000ft and were unable to get to cooler air. We could tell no difference from the 103 degrees we experienced on the ground; so our best educated guess is that the plane was about 100 degrees inside still. Passengers were asking for ice packs; and we were continually running back and forth serving drinks to passengers to try and cool them down. By the time we landed; multiple passengers had commented to us about how sick we looked. At this point; I was suffering from feelings of nausea; fatigue; light headedness and disorientation. After all the passengers had deplaned; I rushed to the bathroom in the terminal and started dry heaving. I was sweating profusely as well. When I met with the other girls; the 'B' flight attendant was looking green and had a severe headache and the 'C' flight attendant was swollen and having muscle aches. She wasn't sweating but her face was glowing and red. When we were done cleaning the next plane and finishing our checks; because it was supposed to be a terminator; we were informed we were going to have yet another plane swap.  At this point; our bodies could not take anymore and that is when we realize none of us were fit to continue flying. The Captain did not feel comfortable with us flying as well and as a result he called the Chief Pilot. After he spoke with him; I received a call from a base manager who explained our options. I told him how we felt fatigued; ill and unable to think clearly. He responded with this by asking if we were going to call in sick or fatigued. None of us have ever been in this situation and didn't how to respond to the question. We asked to call him back after speaking to our union. I called him back on behalf of the rest of the crew as fatigued. We were told by the Captain that the plane we took had been supposed to go to the hangar because of mechanical issues and that there had been 5 previous write-ups regarding the a/c. When I got to my room; I had heat rashes all over my body; and I began to throw up and feel the symptoms of a strong fever. The whole night I felt horrible. I had chills and was unable to warm up. The next day I was assigned to work my scheduled deadhead; even though I had made it clear how I was feeling and had already claimed fatigue. After the deadhead; I was required to work another flight. During this time; I began to feel worse and worse. By the third flight; the other flight attendants could see my condition and became alarmed; taking me to the back of the plane where it was cooler. At this point; I was feeling borderline delirious. One of our passengers was a nurse and saw my appearance and realized right away that I needed medical attention. She started tending to me and kept me from passing out. An ambulance was called and once we landed I was driven in the ambulance to the (medical facility) and admitted to the ER. According to the doctors; I was suffering from fatigue and severe dehydration. I was given medication to reduce the nausea and two liters of IV fluid to help my body recover. I was told I cannot work again until for several days.
So; as myself and the 'B' were sitting in the exit row trying to cool down not knowing what was coming whether we had a plane whether we were going to have to in our physical state have to throw our bags again for a fourth time or even if we had yet another airplane. The 'B' as we sat there alone politely apologized pulled her dress up and literally ripped off her panty hose and said my head is about to explode. She was pale and had a look of panic on her face. She appeared to be very ill. As for myself; a few minutes later developed a very bad headache. After flying on a completely full airplane with what felt like triple digit miserable temperatures; I began to feel slight pressure from a previous injury in my right leg. When I looked down; I realized my leg was swollen. In conclusion; we were given an airplane with 5 previous A/C issues and an ALERT to go straight to the hangar. Instead we left with this plane; 143 very uncomfortable passengers that we tried as best we could to make them comfortable in almost unbearable conditions causing a chain of events leading to the end result.
Three B737 Flight Attendants reported their air conditioning was unable to sufficiently cool on the ground or in flight because of extreme heat. The Lead Flight Attendant received emergency medical attention because of the prolonged triple digit heat exposure.