There are many issues with this ratio, yes airlines in nz operate a 300 with 3 crew, their flight times are over 2 hours, imagine trying to do a 4 sector mel lst mel 45 mins, and mel cbr mel 45 mins, trying to do the service, rubbish clear, restock, and banking all at once. Indeed not serving passengers may get some of them to write in and complain, it will do very little as management have always been about cost savings. My issue with the ratio is crew fatigue, 4 crew on an 800 means there will be no time have a break on any flight! breaks now are very rare, but atleast there is time to shovel some poorly made and luke warm crew food into your mouth while doing banking and flight reports! after a 12 hour day (with delays) then being told to evacuate on the fianl touch down would just cause deaths. there is no word of 3 crew on a -700 yet, but i am sure its not far behind. I regret to say it, but it will take an accident where there is a loss of life to get them to change the ratio. Airlines now days are only concerned with the bottom dollar and giving the management teams big rewards for making the airline earn more money by risking safety and giving poor service, they have lost sight that if an aircraft went down, and there was a loss of life all this will come out and the public will loose faith in the airline and casue it to shut down. Then i wonder if the massive ammount of cash management recieved was all worth it.
