Flight Attendant Current
Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
Crew member showed up late for van and not in uniform and obviously ill. She said something about a migraine and rode to the airport with her eyes closed. The ride was very long due to rush hour traffic. During the van ride; the other F/A and I were talking and both thought there was no way she could work. When we got to the airport the van driver pulled me aside and told me I needed to do something about her (both that she seemed sick and she smelled sick) the other F/A and I were able to pull the captain aside and share our concerns and the van drivers comments; even telling him that she was not fit to fly. We shared the same concerns with the lead F/A when we got to the airplane. To my knowledge; neither of them spoke to her; and we began to board. We were rushed during the boarding process; even closing the door with bags in the cabin that needed to be checked. After takeoff when the sick F/A came to the back; she went in the lavatory and proceeded to get loudly and violently ill. Myself and the other flight attendant were left to serve and clean up a full 321 by ourselves.I have had some time to think about this; and am extremely disappointed that I feel our concerns about the ability of a crew member to do their duties was virtually ignored. I know we were in an out station; and removing her from the trip would have caused great delays and customer inconvenience; however; that is exactly what should have happened. An ill crew member is often not a very good judge of their own ability and we have an obligation to look out for each other and act in the best interest of our coworkers and passengers. I do not feel I had the tools to do so. We go to great lengths to outline procedures for ill pax; etc. but those were not applied here. We must not fail at our primary duties in order to protect the operation. Without us doing our duties; there is no operation. We need to feel to feel more empowered to do what we know is right.
A321 Flight Attendant reported another Flight Attendant was obviously ill; but worked the flight anyway. This put additional workload on the remaining flight attendants.