British Airways has reportedly updated its crew rest policy, to allow flight attendant to occupy empty seats in first and business class on long haul flights, assuming the aircraft don’t have dedicated crew rest facilities. While I’m all for crew being able to rest as well as possible, this definitely doesn’t give off the most professional vibe.
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British Airways’ controversial new crew rest policy
As reported on FlyerTalk and flagged by PYOK, British Airways has a new policy when it comes to crew rest on select flights. On long haul flights, it’s common for crews to have a dedicated rest period between the services. On most wide body, long haul aircraft, there are dedicated crew rest bunks, completely separate from the passenger compartment (most passengers don’t even realize these exist).
However, British Airways also loves to cut corners where it can, and that includes with crew rest facilities. On all Boeing 787-10s delivered up until this point, and on select Boeing 777-200ERs, the airline doesn’t have dedicated crew rest facilities (they cost money to install, and also increase the weight of the aircraft, and in turn, fuel burn).
On these flights, crews are expected to rest in the galley jump seats. Essentially there are some jump seats in the galley that are separated from the cabin by a curtain, which are referred to as “high-comfort attendant seats.” However, these definitely aren’t comfortable.
So British Airways is now updating its crew rest policy on these flights. Specifically, on these aircraft, British Airways crews can now sit in any vacant seats on the aircraft, including in first and business class, as long as they don’t ask other passengers to move in order to facilitate that.
The guidance also requires crew using passenger seats for rest to remove or cover their uniform items, and to use the bedding provided in the cabin. I guess the idea is that the crews blend in more, and that it’s not obvious that crews are resting in passenger seats.
I’m all for crews resting, but this doesn’t feel “premium”
Ultimately this “solution” only exists because British Airways opted to not install dedicated crew rest facilities on some aircraft, even though it should’ve. These planes aren’t just operating short long haul flights, but they’re even operating routes like Seattle (SEA) to London (LHR). These are long flights, though not ultra long haul flights where regulators mandate dedicated crew rest facilities separate from the cabin.
I can totally appreciate that it’s really unpleasant for crew rest facilities on these aircraft to just be limited to jump seats in the galleys — what an uncomfortable way to rest.
However, optics also matter, especially when you’re selling premium products. For example, imagine you spend $10,000 on a British Airways first class ticket and there’s only one other passenger booked in the cabin, so you feel like you have a nice, private cabin. Then after the meal service, you suddenly have every seat full, with six flight attendants hanging out, watching movies, and chilling.
Is that actually a problem? Well no, not really. But it certainly takes away a little bit from the feeling of exclusivity. Honestly, you most commonly see flight attendants hanging out in passenger seats on long haul flights on poorly run government airlines, where the crew just treat the premium cabin seats as their playground.
Now, in fairness, I’m not sure British Airways is actually trying to be that premium, so perhaps that’s all fine. Ultimately British Airways’ biggest competitive advantage is that it has a large number of Heathrow slots, and that’s a valuable asset.
I should also mention that some airlines do have dedicated pilot crew rest facilities in premium cabins. However, I view that as being a bit different — in these situations where’s typically a curtain around the seat, and that seat is also blocked off on the seat map. As I see it, it’s not the same as a “take any seat you wish if it’s open” policy.
Bottom line
British Airways has updated its policy on crew rest for aircraft without dedicated crew bunks. Historically, crews have only been able to rest in their galley jump seats, which are of course not very comfortable. Now that policy has been updated, and crews can also sit in any vacant seats on the aircraft, including in first and business class.
I think British Airways was super cheap by not installing crew bunks on select 777s and 787s in the first place. While I don’t think this is a huge deal, it’s also decidedly un-premium to essentially treat the seats that people are paying thousands of dollars for as places for the crew to just hang out between services.
What do you make of British Airways’ new crew rest policy?
Not sure what the issue is here. I travel Singapore Airlines frequently in First and Business Class and probably half of the time I have pilots resting in adjacent seats to me on longhaul flights.
How can they be up-front whilst in a passenger seat ?
And another point: if these seats weren’t occupied by FAs, they would most likely go to non-revs anyways who are also employees. I know you make the point to mention this too. I know you’ve said you could never work at a typical 9-5 job in an office or be a crew member but you come across (sometimes) as a person who has some unwritten beef with airline employees which is weird because nearly everyone in the industry most likely earns less than you.
@ JD -- I'm sorry I come across that way to you, but I have absolutely zero beef with airline employees, and greatly respect what they do. As I explained, I think it's ridiculous that they're expected to rest while sitting upright in galley jump seats.
If anything, I think people typically accuse me of being too anti-management, rather than too anti-employee, since I think 99% of issues at airlines originate from poor leadership.
Well they do have doors on the J seats in their 787-10s so why would this bother other passengers ?
And even without doors, how is this different than another passenger (who are likely to be more disruptive than crews on average).
If you want privacy, fly private.
I give BA (and many other airlines or crews) crap for many things but this doesn't seem to be any problem.
Exactly.
I mean BA is for sure not the leading airline in making decisions that feel premium and I appreciate you mentioning several points like the ridiculousness of expecting FAs to rest on a jumpseat and how it’s not uncommon for airlines to constantly block some seats for crew rest especially for pilots.
But I don’t understand the exclusivity piece. You paid for one seat, you get one seat. What difference does it make if the...
I mean BA is for sure not the leading airline in making decisions that feel premium and I appreciate you mentioning several points like the ridiculousness of expecting FAs to rest on a jumpseat and how it’s not uncommon for airlines to constantly block some seats for crew rest especially for pilots.
But I don’t understand the exclusivity piece. You paid for one seat, you get one seat. What difference does it make if the flight is full of paying passengers instead? FAs resting in seats also reduce the likelihood of gallery chatter, something that you point out often (understandably so). I’d rather have an FA sit there than some loud, entitled passenger.
Lastly, this is all quite common on other carriers even if there’s not a clear written rules around it. United often does this on the 767s where the FA crew rests are just enhanced economy seats in the back. Oman Air too especially if the second J cabin is empty.
@ JD -- Blocking economy seats for flight attendant crew rest is common, and blocking a business class seat for pilots is also common. It's the "take any open seat on the plane" policy that's not common (which isn't to say that it's a problem, but it's not common).
I've been in J (1-2-1) TATL flights where J was used by pilots. I was obvious to their comings and goings. Sure, an empty J seat behind is better than a pax there. But, a FA there is probably better than a pax.
Like others here I disagree that BA “cut corners”. It is quite common for airlines not to install crew bunks if aircraft sub-fleets are not being used for flights beyond a certain duration that mandates them. It is not cutting corners but balancing costs against efficiency, which ultimately keeps airfares down.
On CXs A330s, it didn't make sense to add crew rests due to weight, cargo space as the rests are at the hold, and a reduction of seats. So on flights down under and to the Middle East, a section of Economy would be blocked off for the cabin crew while there would be one seat reserved for the cockpit crew during their rest. And when the A330s started to get too small for Sydney...
On CXs A330s, it didn't make sense to add crew rests due to weight, cargo space as the rests are at the hold, and a reduction of seats. So on flights down under and to the Middle East, a section of Economy would be blocked off for the cabin crew while there would be one seat reserved for the cockpit crew during their rest. And when the A330s started to get too small for Sydney and Melbourne, they upgauged to the 77W and A350; The crew rests are overhead for the latter two, so it frees up space for additional cargo.
Depending on the duration of the flight especially on flights to the East Coast, it seems like a sensible approach. It'd only be a problem when the aircraft is used on long-haul flights that are 10 hours or more when the entire crew need a proper crew rest.
They need a rest .
Ben posts: “I think British Airways was super cheap by not installing crew bunks on select 777s and 787s in the first place”.
I post: “Balderdash Ben”! Sour grapes, Walter Mitty Dunn type unsubstantiated drivel.
British Airways has multiple configurations on both the Boeing 777 and 787 fleets.
It is my understanding that many BA 777s and all 787 variants do have dedicated crew rest compartments. Former BA crew have described the layouts in detail...
Ben posts: “I think British Airways was super cheap by not installing crew bunks on select 777s and 787s in the first place”.
I post: “Balderdash Ben”! Sour grapes, Walter Mitty Dunn type unsubstantiated drivel.
British Airways has multiple configurations on both the Boeing 777 and 787 fleets.
It is my understanding that many BA 777s and all 787 variants do have dedicated crew rest compartments. Former BA crew have described the layouts in detail and passengers can even identify some aircraft because the crew rest compartment occupies space where overhead bins would otherwise be.
On some aircraft, however, crew members do rest in passenger seats, usually blocked business class seats, rather than dedicated bunks. This I have observed on certain BA 777s, also, during periods when crew bunks were unavailable or when an aircraft was configured without a particular rest compartment.
I challenge you to provide evidence that BA has ever said:
“We didn’t install crew bunks because we wanted to reduce costs.”
Finally, I do believe it to be “Super cheap” of you to make such unsubstantiated assumptions.
@ AeroB13a -- "I challenge you to provide evidence that BA has ever said:
'We didn’t install crew bunks because we wanted to reduce costs.'"
Of course British Airways has never said that. This is the airline that markets every devaluation as an enhancement.
Aero: Ben specifically mentions the 787-10 on which BA chose to forego the dedicated crew rest area. Other Dreamliners do have one.
More ‘Dumb Dunn’ assumptions Ben, I really did think that you were better than this.
@ AeroB13a -- I don't really understand the names you call me ("Balderdash Ben," huh?), but let me just address your core claim. You're saying that all variants of British Airways 787s have crew rest facilities. That's simply not correct, as the 787-10s don't. Ask any British Airways cabin crew.
I'm not sure what else you'd like me to say there? When we can't agree on facts, it's hard to discuss things much further.
I don't think this is a bad thing per se.
I've seen Etihad pilots use 787 Business class seats to rest on a couple occasions. They also have curtains around some seats that can be drawn for additional privacy.
The 787-10s are used for a lot of shorter haul flights (LHR to East Coast US) so I assume it makes sense to not fit them with weight-taking crew rests.
Save time. Kick the seat in front of you instead of pushing the call button when you want a refill.
This is in principle not something new, flight crews on many airlines have seats blocked in F and J for rest. It is just being extended so that the cabin crew can use seats on a space available basis.
I really don't see how this would detract from my passenger experience. But I do fully agree that the lack of crew bunks reflects poorly on the airlines opting to save in that area.
@ CPH-Flyer -- I'd make two points. First, I think there's a difference between a specific section being blocked off, vs. just being able to take any seat. Second, I'm curious, which reputable international airlines can you think of that use business class seats for flight attendant crew rest? I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I just can't think of any...
Completely agree. As a paying F BA passenger, I can say that this would reduce the comfort and relaxation factor of having a nice empty cabin.
How David, pray tell?