Air carrier Flight Attendant reported an escape slide deployment near miss after arrival citing passenger distraction as a contributing factor.
Synopsis
Air carrier Flight Attendant reported an escape slide deployment near miss after arrival citing passenger distraction as a contributing factor.
Narrative
Upon landing the captain made an announcement that 'Tail Tip Procedures' were in place which required us to wait to disarm until the jet bridge was connected. While we waited for bags to be offloaded the back galley was chaotic. There was a family with children that had been vomiting all flight - which also happened in the back galley - and was covered with blankets. There were several people using the lavatories which meant we had to move out of the way. That particular family's call bell rang - they were very concerned because 2 of their daughters weren't able to stop throwing up. They requested to deplane immediately. FA A reached over to call up to the front to ask for assistance to let them deplane asap - while trying to assist the family and people using the lavs and the usual procedure of waiting for the jetbridge; it was unnoticed that neither door was disarmed. We are accustomed to automatically and consistently disarm[ing] immediately and the unusual procedure along with the terrible configuration and commotion in the aft galley caused us to not disarm. I understand it was a mistake and will never happen again. Slide deployment near miss event.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.