Why flight attendants don't answer the call button

HAVE you ever pressed the assistance button on a plane only to be left annoyed and perplexed when the cabin crew failed to come over? Here are six reasons why it goes unanswered.

There are many reasons your call button may go unanswered. Picture: Thinkstock

HAVE you ever pressed the assistance button on a plane only to be left annoyed and perplexed when the cabin crew failed to come over? Sarah Steegar, a flight attendant with a major US carrier for the past 15 years, reveals why this happens.

Sometimes I see a light while walking down the aisle and when I stop to inquire the passenger says, "I needed a glass of water, hours ago! Why didn't you answer my light?!" Aside from wondering why anyone would sit and stew for that long instead of just getting up to ask, I struggle to explain the situation to them. That's because there are actually a lot of possible reasons.

1. 'What was that ding?'

Aircraft communication is a bit like SOS - a slew of messages come through via just a couple of tone combinations. No heartbeat fails to flutter for the rare emergency patterns! But other dings are heard so often they're almost ambient music. If we aren't looking in the right place to see the corresponding light at that exact moment, we might not know which signal it was ("was the blue light on a second ago?").

2. Bad button placement

Any call button attached to the armrest is ripe for accidental ringing. Elbows, thighs and feet are huge culprits, especially while the passenger is asleep. Often we return to the same seat so many times that the passenger looks harassed, so we just leave it.

3. 'Ghost lights'

This happens regularly. Indicators get stuck in the on or off position - it might be the galley indicator panel, your seat light, or all of them! Sometimes the 'ding' just comes randomly. All night long. That's fun - especially when it's a vibrating loose wire. ('D-d-d-d-d-iiiing. Di- di. Ding. Ing. Ding.')

4. Reading light mix-up

These two buttons can be side-by-side but unlabelled. Often passengers keep pressing, thinking the button isn't responding (when they're ringing us repeatedly) or trying to turn it back off (when there's a silly, third unlabelled button for that).

5. Children

Ah, the classic 'kid ringing the call light'. They often don't stop, which means we just have to ignore it.

6. Turbulence

This is when the answer is partly 'we're just ignoring you', but there's context! If a flight hits turbulence and you think it is too rough to walk to the galley to request coffee (it's always a hot drink), then it's too rough for your flight attendant to do it. If we're buckled into our jumpseats, we're only getting up for emergencies. Which brings me to how we deal with most of these scenarios …

We never wilfully "ignore" a call, but as you can see, 19 out of 20 are accidents. We do our best to answer calls. When in doubt we'll either walk through the plane (if we can) or look down the aisle for someone who's trying to get our attention and may be in distress. If you 'ding' but keep your eyes glued to the movie when I saunter by, I'll often conclude it was a mistake.

So, what if you really do need something urgently and we don't seem to hear? Say you had a spill. Try ringing two (at most three) times and give a little wave. It's not guaranteed, but it definitely works better than getting mad.

Sarah Steegar's regular column, Crewed Talk, can be found every Tuesday on Flytertalk.com. She is happy to answer your airline and travel questions at @FATravelWriter.

Flight attendant Sarah Steegar.