Narrative:

At about top of climb; I was advised by the number 1 flight attendant that we only had 7 of the required 10 F/a's (flight attendants) on board. Shortly after that it was discovered that the 3 missing F/a's were in passenger seats because they thought that they were deadheading. It was then discovered that 2 of the 3 were not 777 qualified. The one qualified F/a assumed his/her normal duties as did a deadheading qualified flight attendant. All cabin doors had been armed prior to takeoff by working F/a's. The number 1 F/a had been advised by the gate agent prior to departure that we had the required 10 F/a's on board. This was witnessed by at least one more crew member. Crew schedule/tracking should have never assigned 2 unqualified crew members to work the flight. The 3 F/a's who thought they were deadheading; should have been advised that they were actually working the trip. Maybe then they would have spoken up about being not qualified. The gate agent who was checking off the required crew on a crew list; crossed the 3 off as working crew members; but they would of had boarding passes and seat assignments as dead headers.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B777 crew; pilots and flight attendants; describe the confusion after discovering the flight attendant crew is understaffed in flight. The events surrounding the procedural and human errors are discussed.

Narrative: At about top of climb; I was advised by the number 1 flight attendant that we only had 7 of the required 10 F/A's (Flight Attendants) on board. Shortly after that it was discovered that the 3 missing F/A's were in passenger seats because they thought that they were deadheading. It was then discovered that 2 of the 3 were not 777 qualified. The one qualified F/A assumed his/her normal duties as did a deadheading qualified Flight Attendant. All cabin doors had been armed prior to takeoff by working F/A's. The number 1 F/A had been advised by the gate agent prior to departure that we had the required 10 F/A's on board. This was witnessed by at least one more crew member. Crew schedule/tracking should have never assigned 2 unqualified crew members to work the flight. The 3 F/A's who thought they were deadheading; should have been advised that they were actually working the trip. Maybe then they would have spoken up about being not qualified. The gate agent who was checking off the required crew on a crew list; crossed the 3 off as working crew members; but they would of had boarding passes and seat assignments as dead headers.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.