First, the Captain sounds like a horses a**e, and you are right, as they say in the military, 'flexibility is the key to air power (or happy crews)'.
Emirates has the rule not for post 9/11 reasons but because on long night sectors it is not unknown for both flightdeck crew to fall asleep. An american aircraft once over flew its destination with the crew asleep.
If there is a concern from the Cabin Crew that they may miss a call, ask the flight deck crew to call you or ask if you may call at 30 minute intervals. On a 330, the flightdeck nearly always call the cabin crew at night coz the call buzzer in the cockpit frightens the bjesus out of them. As always, the key is communication, if you know you are going to be busy, load shed.
Having said that, how often do you actually have the situation where there is no one in the galley? Not that often really. It only takes 10 seconds to call and then even the most obnoxious capitano will be appeased. Some crew manage to call or visit the flightdeck even on the busiest flights at regular intervals, some wouldn't crack it even with only 1 passenger in first.
Ghost
