Nigel, hear what you are saying, but I think you have to put things into perspective a little bit. Anyone from another airline, or SLF could totally get the wrong idea by the way you are portraying things.
YES, on a Cairo we MAY take bunk rest. But why not? We will typically get maybe 45-60 minutes rest on a Cairo. And if any of you were us, on an aircraft with overhead crew rest and bunks what would you choose to do with your (short) break? To take your rest sat on an atlas box in a busy galley? (which is of course your perogative) Or, escape the madness for 45 minutes to the quietness of the rest area and read, nap, or do what takes your fancy Within reason lol)? Saying that, we can also operate to DAR or EBB or NBO on an aircraft with NO crew rest area. Not making that point to appear like it is our right to have bunks, but just reinforcing the point that the only reason bunk rest would be taken on a CAI is because the a/c on that route happens to have them fitted.
Would either of the pilots not use the Flight Crew bunks on a Cairo for a short nap if they were tired?
YES, a minority of crew will moan when we are full in Club. But the majority of us ALSO raise our eyebrows at these people and think 'what a work shy git!'. They are no different to a minority of the flight crew who get on the bus, face like a slapped ar*e, who don't even BOTHER to say 'hello' to anyone or god forbid introduce themselves. But again, we are talking about the (unfortunate) minority.
As for the Captains authority and bunk rest issue. I believe that on the said IAD flight the Captain, without discussing it with any of the cabin crew, he simply LOCKED the crew rest area. Now surely that is not the actions of a good manager? I always find that GOOD Captains command a hell of a lot of respect from their cabin crew. If I was on a crew where the captain got all of us together and expressed a good arguement (such as the one you mention) for why we should have 'all hands on deck' or not use the crew rest area then I would certainly take notice. But just to stroll to the back of the aircraft and lock it.....?????
And as for the BASSA magazine, yes you are right. It can be very OTT and sometimes a little nasty and insulting. But fact is, at BA you would be mad not to be in a TU. And BASSA just happens to be the more effective of the two TU's we have to choose from.
