Narrative:

Near top of descent; the flight crew was having their final bathroom break prior to landing. We were using standard procedures for securing the cockpit during this operation. One flight attendant was stationed outside of a galley cart while the crews were leaving that cockpit to use the bathroom. Two pilots remained in the cockpit all this time. I was later informed; that a passenger was asked politely by that flight attendant to move away from the area he was standing. He was standing between the galley cart blocking access to the cockpit and the galley itself. The flight attendant felt that this was a security issue and informed him accordingly. The passenger is a frequent traveler with us and threatened to 'write up' the flight attendant for her asking him to go back to his seat for security reasons. The company has granted frequent travelers the power of supervising working crew members who have a critical safety function to perform on the aircraft. The company even encourages passengers to report on flight attendants performance by sending them emails after their flight asking about the flight itself. I think this is an inappropriate power to give to the passengers which causes pressure on the flight attendants to perform in a way that can be contrary to safety; in order to prevent being reported by a passenger. Passengers have no training whatsoever in our security procedures and it is inappropriate for them to be given this power over the flight attendants. I am writing this report to point out the inappropriate power given to passengers to supervise flight attendants performance on the job.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B777 Captain described a possible security issue while the crew was taking bathroom breaks. A frequent flyer standing by the cart was asked by a Flight Attendant guarding the door to return to his seat. He refused indicating that he will write her up per company policy if he has to go back to his seat.

Narrative: Near top of descent; the flight crew was having their final bathroom break prior to landing. We were using standard procedures for securing the cockpit during this operation. One flight attendant was stationed outside of a galley cart while the crews were leaving that cockpit to use the bathroom. Two pilots remained in the cockpit all this time. I was later informed; that a passenger was asked politely by that flight attendant to move away from the area he was standing. He was standing between the galley cart blocking access to the cockpit and the galley itself. The flight attendant felt that this was a security issue and informed him accordingly. The passenger is a frequent traveler with us and threatened to 'write up' the flight attendant for her asking him to go back to his seat for security reasons. The company has granted frequent travelers the power of supervising working crew members who have a critical safety function to perform on the aircraft. The company even encourages passengers to report on flight attendants performance by sending them emails after their flight asking about the flight itself. I think this is an inappropriate power to give to the passengers which causes pressure on the flight attendants to perform in a way that can be contrary to safety; in order to prevent being reported by a passenger. Passengers have no training whatsoever in our security procedures and it is inappropriate for them to be given this power over the flight attendants. I am writing this report to point out the inappropriate power given to passengers to supervise flight attendants performance on the job.

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.