A flight attendant reports being asked by the purser to assist with security duties while the pilots...

Narrative:

During the service the pilots requested a break. The purser came to me to ask that I help fulfill cockpit security procedures. Unfortunately I was working the cart (by myself) with another flight attendant and cart in front of me. There was no place to move and/or stow my cart. I advised that I was unable to leave my cart unattended and could not assist in fulfilling cockpit security duties and asked that she wait for a few minutes. The purser seemed surprised and in discussing the far later she mentioned that she hadn't considered the far as she was 'so used to what other flight attendants did.' this was an excellent and very knowledgeable purser so her response surprised me. It concerns me that other flight attendants may be inadvertently violating far's as they try to accomplish all their required duties. It also concerns me that there are not enough flight attendants to fulfill all of our required duties. The company reduced staffing to reflect the reduced 'meal service offerings' but has not considered the staffing reduction's impact on safety and security procedures.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Flight Attendant reports being asked by the Purser to assist with security duties while the pilots take a restroom break. She is alone on her cart with no place to stow it and is surprised the Purser had asked due to regulations concerning unattended carts in the asile.

Narrative: During the service the pilots requested a break. The Purser came to me to ask that I help fulfill cockpit security procedures. Unfortunately I was working the cart (by myself) with another Flight Attendant and cart in front of me. There was no place to move and/or stow my cart. I advised that I was unable to leave my cart unattended and could not assist in fulfilling cockpit security duties and asked that she wait for a few minutes. The Purser seemed surprised and in discussing the FAR later she mentioned that she hadn't considered the FAR as she was 'so used to what other flight attendants did.' This was an excellent and very knowledgeable Purser so her response surprised me. It concerns me that other flight attendants may be inadvertently violating FAR's as they try to accomplish all their required duties. It also concerns me that there are not enough flight attendants to fulfill all of our required duties. The company reduced staffing to reflect the reduced 'meal service offerings' but has not considered the staffing reduction's impact on safety and security procedures.

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.

Attributes
ACN	958101
Time
Date	201107
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

A flight attendant reports being asked by the purser to assist with security duties while the pilots take a restroom break. She is alone on her cart with no place to stow it and is surprised the purser had asked due to regulations concerning unattended carts in the asile.