Originally Posted by
SVCTA
I have no idea what the cabin crew are doing back there when the door is locked. If they call and ask I tell them what I think. Am I supposed go back there and supervise….Im sorry, CAPTAIN (by god!) them in to doing the job they were hired and trained to do by another department with its own manuals and management? Why aren’t our chief pilots calling them and demanding they do better?
If in-flight is getting complaints then they need to rectify that, not demand that pilots create bad CRM scenarios by pretending to know how be their proxy-bosses.
Fortunately in my experience in the real world I haven’t seen many issues with this. especially lately, except for my anecdote upthread about the OE instructor the other day. if I sense them calling me looking for an excuse I tell them straight up I think it is safe to bust out the carts. That said, I am reticent to cross the line in to telling them what to do. For a few reasons.
also, the FOM is actually fairly vague about our role. I won’t post the language here publicly but it uses extremely broad terms and offers very few specifics. I don’t believe 10.2.2.1 encapsulates becoming an IFS quality control officer.
It's not vague at all. There's bullet point in there that is pretty straightforward and has specificity.
The fact you have no situational awareness "I have no idea what the cabin crew are doing back there" about the pacing of their service is pretty enlightening and says much about you. First service (domestic or int'l) will usually take around an hour to a little over an hour and half depending on the aircraft. If the flight is 2+ hours or longer, they'll do a couple of water/tea/coffee walkthrus, about an hour or so out they'll do the last service. Int'l will be a bit different as they will serve the arrival meal. Domestic they will do one last service there (water/tea/coffee etc). They start initial service once they can get up and move around on the climbout. Sometimes that's right after you chime them at 10k. Sometimes later depending on what you briefed them on rides.
Having awareness of what they are doing back helps you to know if they're up doing service so you can warn them about approaching rough air. Also, you can let them know when it's ok to get back to it as the ride improves, or not. There's plenty you can do to assist and facilitate them conducting their service in the cabin.
No one here said you order them to do service, although that may change here in the near future depending on the findings from the IFS secret riders and their observations. You can help facilitate the service by educating them and being a Captain about the conditions and how you control the seat belts.