"However I have lost count of the amount of times I have been in the galley stretching my legs on a long haul flight and witnessed the crew reading a newspaper or the Hello magazine. I know the what my reaction would be if I discovered my employees doing this!
Dezso,I am sorry but this comment is very rude and I think you should apologise. You think cabin crew should not be having the chance to sit down and read a paper after the service is completed? Before you say anything, I am aware of our duties regarding cabin patrols and other paperwork but I find your comment very insulting and I could be inclined to make similar comments about the flight crew community. Maybe, we should stop reading the paper and come and give you a massage because you ve been sitting down for far too long giving orders to the cabin crew that you are hungry when they are running around like headless chickens during the meal service!
I am unsure of how to get the links from other threads .... so I just copied and pasted .....
Anyway just to clarify I am not actually a Pilot, I am a customer who fly's with you on a regular basis using your 777 and 747 aircraft to fly across the Atlantic (although that is now being challenged due to increasing restrictions with our travel policy, in order to save money).
I was aware that through talking to your flight attendants that you normally use an area in the belly of the aircraft and that was used to sit down and rest and sometimes sleep, away from the customers. I have also seen a curtain drawn around the exit doors where I believe that the flight attendants can rest in private. So I am not in anyway challenging your rest entitlements!
My point is that I often see other crew sitting down reading papers when I enter the galley. Sometimes they jump up and offer me drinks and snacks or just engage in conversation. On other occasions I find it hard to make eye contact and when I ask for a drink I made to feel like I am a nuisance. Sometimes your crew are prompt at coming through the cabin offering drinks and other times you hardly see someone, it is inconsistent.
My point is that if your people have time to read a paper or magazine then they have time to deliver 50 passengers a hot towel. How can you or your Union argue that this request is unreasonable? Does the union object to the food that you have to deliver and does your employer have to obtain permission to change the menu? I mean where does this nonsense end?
I just know that my customer facing employees usually go to the rest room/kitchen area on their breaks and eat/read. I would be furious if I found them reading papers at their desks in work time.
So I am sorry to disappoint you with the lack of apology but I certainly will not be apologising for my observations and comments.
I would state that in my opinion the BA Flight Attendants are much better than the American Carriers but you are falling behind in terms of Virgin and the Far East carriers. I am a BA supporter and I would hate to see the company go under but I fear if the trade union is up in arms over a hot towel then I cannot see how they can seriously sit down and talk about the really important stuff.
Maybe it is a tactic to argue the smaller points so you cannot argue the larger more important points, but the clock will be ticking and I continue to read depressing news from the travel industry, nobody is immune in this downturn. I have had no choice but to lay off some of my staff recently and it is heartbreaking but the reality is that nobody is immune from the mess that we are in. Maybe you need to embrace any enhancement that is being offered and be grateful that your company is investing, no matter how small it may appear.