captainbritboy - obviously you didn't read my above post: I've been on a number of short haul & long haul flights recently (post Spet 11) and with the exception of the lo-cos (for obvious turnaround reasons), I have had a success rate, the better side of 50% of crews generous enough to offer me a chance to come up front. And they love to see people with an interest in aviation - spotters or (in my case) air cadets or many others. So it didn't really matter whether it was after a 13hr fliht or 2hrs, they were equally pleasant.
Maybe you had a bad experience, where they said no?
Jordan