A flight attendant reported company procedures for first class meal services result in blocked acces...

Narrative:

We blocked our flight attendant jumpseats for the entire first class service--3 hours per official company written procedures. I had to park two wobbly half carts each at 1L and 1R as well as a heavy liquor cart in front of 1 center left and 1 center right. There are four flight attendants working first class: 2 aisle attendants that can only attend 1 unsecured cart each; plus galley and purser attendants who are setting up four three tier queen carts at a time and preparing meals. There are no tie downs to secure any of these carts; so three of the five carts are unsecured and unattended for the entire service. None of the half carts and many of the regular carts stay in place when brakes are set. They are easily pulled with one finger even when brakes are set. This is not an anomaly or an inoperative cart. All half carts do this and many regular sized carts on this configuration do this. I believe it is a design flaw.also; I could not secure both the rear and forward quarter turns at galley location 310 f/r and 311 f/r. If rear quarter turns are secured then the front cart sticks out; so that front quarter turns cannot be secured. I can only choose one so I chose the front to be secured and hoped that nothing happened. This is an unsafe configuration and I worry about crew and/or passengers being hurt by unsecured carts/faulty galley equipment.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Flight Attendant reported company procedures for First Class meal services result in blocked access and unsecured and heavy carts being potential hazards to passengers and flight attendants in their vicinity.

Narrative: We blocked our flight attendant jumpseats for the entire First Class service--3 hours per official company written procedures. I had to park two wobbly half carts each at 1L and 1R as well as a heavy liquor cart in front of 1 center left and 1 center right. There are four flight attendants working First Class: 2 aisle attendants that can only attend 1 unsecured cart each; plus galley and purser attendants who are setting up four three tier queen carts at a time and preparing meals. There are no tie downs to secure any of these carts; so three of the five carts are unsecured and unattended for the entire service. None of the half carts and many of the regular carts stay in place when brakes are set. They are easily pulled with one finger even when brakes are set. This is not an anomaly or an INOP cart. All half carts do this and many regular sized carts on this configuration do this. I believe it is a design flaw.Also; I could not secure both the rear and forward quarter turns at galley location 310 f/r and 311 f/r. If rear quarter turns are secured then the front cart sticks out; so that front quarter turns cannot be secured. I can only choose one so I chose the front to be secured and hoped that nothing happened. This is an unsafe configuration and I worry about crew and/or passengers being hurt by unsecured carts/faulty galley equipment.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1107039
Time
Date	201308
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Galley Furnishing
Person 1
Function	Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A flight attendant reported company procedures for first class meal services result in blocked access and unsecured and heavy carts being potential hazards to passengers and flight attendants in their vicinity.