Fernanjet........ I have been crew for 5 years, the last 2 of which have been with Easyjet. There are many crew here who believe that Easyjet were foolish to have ordered the A319 with 156 seats when that capacity requires a 4th crew member. In the last year the company has constantly cited crew costs as being higher than FR's. The crews response has been.....remove 6 seats from the A319.
Our 737 crews don't have any issues with 3 man crews so the 319's shouldn't be an issue. Service levels shouldn't be too much of an issue. There will be a slightly longer wait to be served but this will be minimal.......most crews choose to work in pairs of 2 during cabin service anyway. The increased commission would be a bonus too and career progression is not affected because there would be no reduction in SCCM's.
Many 3 man 319 routes wouldn't have any problems at all. As i said before, cabin service is often very leisurely on the City routes, busier on the leisure destinations but again 737 crews have been doing it for years. It's also worth while to note that i've been on a 3 crew LH A320.
Finally, I didn't say that people don't spend much on 319 routes. I said that on many 319 routes they don't spend as much as some of the longer distance 320 routes where cabin service is much busier.