What do flight attendants do if a passenger asks what is going on in case of a potential emergency?

Question

This is related to, but not the same as, another question I asked on Interpersonal Skills.

I was on a flight last year, on a route I fly on a fairly frequent basis. Shortly after takeoff, I heard the three double chime signal, which is commonly used by airlines to indicate to the crew of a potential problem. The crew quickly marched up to the front of the passenger cabin and was briefed by the pilots. I also noticed that the plane was going off course. Some time later, I used the onboard Wi-Fi service to query an online flight tracker about the flight I was on, and it said we were diverting back to our origin airport.

Throughout the whole incident, all the crew kept quiet about the whole thing, and didn't let passengers know about the diversion until just a few minutes before landing back at the origin airport.

Before the announcement, while the seat belt sign was turned off and while the crew weren't making any emergency preparations of any sort (just casually chatting with other passengers), I got up and asked the crew what was going on, and they said "nothing". I then showed them the tracker page which indicated the diversion, and they just asked me to return to my seat.

What's the general protocol for cabin crew, when asked by passengers who notice potential issues like this and get curious? Is it common for them to simply say that "nothing" is going on until the flight deck makes an announcement? What if a passenger really insists on knowing what's going on? (As an aviation enthusiast, I feel more comfortable if told about the issue; not knowing about it can make me feel tensed.)

Answer 1

What's the general protocol for cabin crew, when asked by passengers who notice potential issues like this and get curious?

The flight crew and pilots are under no obligation to inform the passengers about non critical issues and broadly speaking it's often better to provide only needed information so as not cause some kind of panic. In the vast majority of situations on an aircraft there is nothing the passenger can do other than evacuate when told to do so.

Turning an aircraft around and heading back to the point of origin is not necessarily an emergency although it can be there is nothing to say it is or is not from a passenger point of view.

Even if a passenger insists the cabin crew will likely ask them to take their seats, buckle up and await any further instructions. It's possible that the cabin crew is not even informed of anything as the pilots try and work the problem.

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The later part of your question is answered here and the general answer is, unless you are a trained pilot it's hard to actually know if something is going wrong. There is a very interesting example of this from the Air Florida Flight 90 incident which is the only incident I know of where a non flying pilot spotted an issue and took action, this would be a fairly rare case;

Survivors of the crash indicated the trip over the runway was extremely rough, with survivor Joe Stiley – a businessman and private pilot – saying that he believed that they would not get airborne and would "fall off the end of the runway". When the plane became airborne, Stiley told his co-worker (and survivor) Nikki Felch to assume the crash position, with some nearby passengers following their example.

Answer 2

What if a passenger really insists on knowing what's going on?

As always, it depends.

Let's briefly summarize the possibilities here:

1. Passenger spotted an issue which the crew is unaware of.
2. Passenger spotted an issue which the crew is aware of.
3. Passenger is behaving in a rude manner.

And let's go over the actions the flight crew can possibly take, without matching the above conditions:

1. Inform the pilots immediately.
2. Inform other cabin crew members.
3. Explain to the passenger what the issue is.
4. Warn the passenger to stop the behavior.
5. Ignore the issue altogether.

Now let's go over the scenario. The flight deck called for a briefing, so it is obvious that the pilots know what is going on. Every crew member was briefed as well. So that means scenario #2 on our first list, and we've ruled out #1 and #2 on the second list. They knew the plane is diverting, and they saw what they expected.

Action #3 is unlikely to end up well. When only individual passengers are informed about an abnormal situation, rumors would spread in the cabin, causing panic. It is even worse when the passenger thinks he is an "expert" when in reality he is spreading disinformation. Furthermore the flight attendants may not have complete information, they are only briefed by the pilots about the severity of the situation and what to do / not to do.

If the passenger really insists, perhaps a brief "The pilot is aware of the situation, please take your seat" would be the simplest reply. Beyond that, action #4 may be necessary. Cabin crew are trained for this, and there are procedures about how to deal with a passenger whose behavior is judged as unacceptable in flight.

So that leaves, #5. The pilots may make a PA explaining they have a technical issue and they are turning around. Or they may not, depending on the workload in the cockpit, severity of the situation etc. The senior flight attendant may, at their discretion, make an announcement informing the passengers they are going to divert. Or they may not.

What the pilots and cabin crew did, was kept the passengers calm, worked the checklists, and landed the airplane without incident. That's their job.

Answer 3

Flight crew are the two in the cockpit. They would Aviate, Navigate and Communicate in that order. In large commercial plane they are separate from passenger by a cockpit door so they won’t know about your curiousity. Anyway their priority is the safety of flight, not to answer your question.

The cabin crew, on the other hand, may not know about what happen. They just know something is happening. Their job is to maintain order in the cabin. If they feel your action is against their job they may treat you as another problem and that is not a good thing.

Answer 4

This passenger would be second guessing the flight crew AND the cabin crew and insisting to them that they know better than them.

This passenger is going to be treated like the annoyance they are, told to go back to their seat and follow crew instructions.

They're not just obstructing the professionals from doing their jobs, this passenger is potentially causing serious harm by panicking other passengers.

If this passenger keep insisting on causing trouble, the crew may well be forced to physically restrain them, with the help of any air marshals that may be on board.

If and when there's something the passengers need to know or do, they'll be told.