Narrative:

On day three of our trip; approximately 30 minutes after take-off; I; flight attendant #2; was sitting in the aft jumpseat at the rear of the main cabin. I had apparently fallen asleep on my jumpseat when the #4 flight attendant attempted to wake me up to start our service. Flight attendant #4 was unable to wake me. She stated my eyes rolled back in my head and I was not responding. I had lost consciousness. The captain was notified; medical personnel were paged on board and two passengers responded. I was put on oxygen and they attempted to start an iv but were unsuccessful and the airplane turned around to return to our departure airport. Before we landed; I regained consciousness but was extremely exhausted and weak. Emergency medical personnel met the flight and I was taken to a medical center for further evaluation. Several tests were done and it was determined that I was exhausted and fatigued. I was also given food and was released to return to work without any restrictions. I feel that the cause of this incident was the events of the day before; day two of our trip. That day started with a xa:20 sign in at washington reagan airport in washington; D.C. I had a layover less than 10 hours. On that morning I had a sandwich and a cup of coffee for breakfast. I was scheduled to work from washington; D.C. To ZZZ1; then from ZZZ1 to ZZZ; sit for 3 hours then work from ZZZ to austin; texas arriving at xj:20. There were weather issues at ZZZ and we were unable to land so the airplane diverted to austin where we remained on the ground with passengers approximately 3.5 hours we then departed for ZZZ and were unable to land so we returned back to austin and remained on board the airplane with passengers for a few more hours. Finally around xk:00 we attempted ZZZ again; this time we landed and sat on the ground about another hour awaiting a gate; when we finally got a gate we sat another 30 minutes waiting for the gate agent to come open the aircraft door. Passengers and crew deplane and we find out we are now going to lay over in ZZZ but we don't have hotel rooms. We wait at the airport until the hotel desk is able to secure us rooms for the night. We are assigned to stay at the hotel and when we arrived; the rooms are not available. At xq:00 the crew calls crew schedule to advise then that we are extremely tired and we need more rest. We are given an extra 30 minutes and we are now scheduled for a xy:30 sign in with a xz:30 departure. I am now getting about 6 hours sleep after being on duty 15.5 hours; which is over our legal rest break. On this last morning; I awaken extremely fatigued but I try to push myself because this is the end of our 3 day trip and I just want to get home and rest. Shortly after take-off I lose consciousness and I'm not responsive. I feel this incident was extreme. In the future I would not like to be kept on duty over 12 hours without adequate food and rest. I had not eaten any substantial food in over 13 hours and being stuck on an airplane without the ability to get food is unacceptable. Airlines/FAA should consider the safety of airline crewmembers. I feel this could have been avoided if substantial food and adequate rest was achieved. After several doctor visits; emergency room; general practitioner; neurologist all conclude extreme exhaustion with documentation to support these findings.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier flight attendant lost consciousness during flight because of fatigue and lack of food.

Narrative: On day three of our trip; approximately 30 minutes after take-off; I; Flight Attendant #2; was sitting in the aft jumpseat at the rear of the main cabin. I had apparently fallen asleep on my jumpseat when the #4 Flight Attendant attempted to wake me up to start our service. Flight Attendant #4 was unable to wake me. She stated my eyes rolled back in my head and I was not responding. I had lost consciousness. The Captain was notified; medical personnel were paged on board and two passengers responded. I was put on oxygen and they attempted to start an IV but were unsuccessful and the airplane turned around to return to our departure airport. Before we landed; I regained consciousness but was extremely exhausted and weak. Emergency medical personnel met the flight and I was taken to a Medical Center for further evaluation. Several tests were done and it was determined that I was exhausted and fatigued. I was also given food and was released to return to work without any restrictions. I feel that the cause of this incident was the events of the day before; day two of our trip. That day started with a XA:20 sign in at Washington Reagan airport in Washington; D.C. I had a layover less than 10 hours. On that morning I had a sandwich and a cup of coffee for breakfast. I was scheduled to work from Washington; D.C. to ZZZ1; then from ZZZ1 to ZZZ; sit for 3 hours then work from ZZZ to Austin; Texas arriving at XJ:20. There were weather issues at ZZZ and we were unable to land so the airplane diverted to Austin where we remained on the ground with passengers approximately 3.5 hours we then departed for ZZZ and were unable to land so we returned back to Austin and remained on board the airplane with passengers for a few more hours. Finally around XK:00 we attempted ZZZ again; this time we landed and sat on the ground about another hour awaiting a gate; when we finally got a gate we sat another 30 minutes waiting for the gate agent to come open the aircraft door. Passengers and crew deplane and we find out we are now going to lay over in ZZZ but we don't have hotel rooms. We wait at the airport until the hotel desk is able to secure us rooms for the night. We are assigned to stay at the hotel and when we arrived; the rooms are not available. At XQ:00 the crew calls crew schedule to advise then that we are extremely tired and we need more rest. We are given an extra 30 minutes and we are now scheduled for a XY:30 sign in with a XZ:30 departure. I am now getting about 6 hours sleep after being on duty 15.5 hours; which is over our legal rest break. On this last morning; I awaken extremely fatigued but I try to push myself because this is the end of our 3 day trip and I just want to get home and rest. Shortly after take-off I lose consciousness and I'm not responsive. I feel this incident was extreme. In the future I would not like to be kept on duty over 12 hours without adequate food and rest. I had not eaten any substantial food in over 13 hours and being stuck on an airplane without the ability to get food is unacceptable. Airlines/FAA should consider the safety of airline crewmembers. I feel this could have been avoided if substantial food and adequate rest was achieved. After several doctor visits; emergency room; general practitioner; neurologist all conclude extreme exhaustion with documentation to support these findings.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.