Seat or Bunk which is best???

[airpoint]

Seat or Bunk which is best??

For crews on Longhaul flights do you have any comments on what you think is more comfortable ,practical,benefical or enjoyable!!while you are on your break.
(That is of course if your airline gives you the time to rest never mind eat!!) ;)

And what is your duty time /sector lenght before you can use these seat's or bunks?

I only ask this question because i will soon have to make a decision for the rest of cabin crew in my airline wether or not to except what our company has offered to gives us and i would appreciate any info .
Because if i get this one wrong it will be impossible to change and i'll have 1,600 angry Cabin Crew after me!!!

Thanks for your time, :)
Airpoint.

[This message has been edited by airpoint (edited 20 January 2001).]

[Xenia]

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif
I decided, for once in my life, to restrain myself not to answer this question... :) :)

[This message has been edited by Xenia (edited 20 January 2001).]

[flyblue]

No doubt: the bunks.
We have bunks on our 777, and I can tell the same trip is definitely less tiring when you can get a good horizontal rest (we do the same trips on 767 with crew rest seats). Some people at the beginning thought it could be a little claustrophobic, but they changed their mind since then. As soon as you lay down you are off!
We are allowed to use it on any longhaul flight, in the time between the end of the first service, when the movies start, and the beginning of the second service.
I hope for your 1600 you will make this choice!

[GalleyWench]

Airpoint, Without a doubt, the bunks are best. Actually, of more importance to me is WHERE is the crew rest and HOW is it 'segregated' from the cabin. On our old 777s, the crew rest ecy seats are next to the toilets behind flimsy curtains that pax feel compelled to open or stand near and converse at top volume. Our new 777s have bunks below the toilets. The company outfoxed us with the # of bunks, forcing us into 3 breaks vs. 2. If your breaks are not in a walled area than insist on heavy curtains in an area away from toilets! Our 47-400s have a great bunk room in the tail, the only drawback is the sometimes wicked turbulence! The union limits for breaks are as follows: block to block time must exceed 8 hours for a MINIMUM of 1 hour break, if block time exceeds 12 hours you are guaranteed 2 hour minimum and must have a bunk for your break.

[flyblue]

Referring to what GW says, I must specify that our bunks are underneath the passenger cabin floor (cargo department, built up in a heated and conditioned container called Lower Crew Rest). The LCR has a door that can be opened only with a key and is not accessible for pax. No noise problems. The number of bunks is 7 for a crew composition 11 F/A (with one always available for deadheading pilots or F/E.

[airpoint]

Thank's Xenia,GW and flyblue,
Fly blue the joy's of being a rep you get to make the recomadation and then get beaten with it by your members,but hey somebody has to do it!! :rolleyes:
We learnt the hard way about the toilet noise and Q's ,and got them chanaged to crew toilets so now you can go to a nice clean loo
and we even got the rest aera moved to the other side of aircraft so your fellow crew don't wake you when they flush !!mind you it took nearly two years.
We have 6 ecy pax seats for 5 crew with a curtain ,this is for a flight time of 10.30hrs on A330/200.
We have a union rule that you have one 1/2hr eating break and then a second 2 1/2hr sleep break on this duty time of 12.30hrs.

I have heard rumour's that on A330 there is an option to have a palatised crew rest aera that can be removed depending on what route the aircraft does ,and body know different??

Xenia ,can you not even be tempted?? :) :)
Airpoint

[This message has been edited by airpoint (edited 21 January 2001).]

[This message has been edited by airpoint (edited 21 January 2001).]

[Flygor]

I'm afraid I can't comment from experience - crew rest on the long haul flights I operate is usually 20 mins (if we work very fast!) on an atlas box in the galley (yes charter!). My preference would be for a bunk (I would find it difficult to sleep or get very comfortable in a seat) in an area not readily accessible from the cabin - I dont think that a curtain provides an adequate barrier from noise or interruption - a small minority of pax will attempt to open the curtain. I have experienced this both with galley curtains, and when screening a toilet off for use by a disabled pax. IMHO if crew rest inflight is an option then it should be made as comfortable as possible.

[Tomb Raider]

Must agree with Flygor,I spent 7 yrs sitting on atlas boxes in galleys whilst flying longhaul charter flts,and can't stress enough the difference bunks make to body and soul now that i have that privilage!
Go for the bunks if you can.

[qfcabin]

we have bunks on 747.400 in the tail, and they ar e excellent..only prob is the turbulence but hey!! some 200 300 services into europe have underfloor crew rest..bunks again and these are also terrific.but other 747's and 767's have crew seats for rest(6 on 747...4 on 76).usually separated from pax by curtains only. there is no comparison between the two types..go for bunks!!!

[Sick Squid]

No comparison... having suffered both, bunks definitely, by a country mile. Nothing can beat getting horizontal rest, and if it is away from the madding crowd, even better....

Now, I'm restricted to 45 minutes tactical nap in the operating seat... if there was a God he'd have put bunks on the 737!

On a serious note, you just have to look at the different factoring applied to Flight Time Limitations viz. bunks and seats... bunks always win, and rightly so.

[airpoint]

Thanks ,
Flygor,tombraider,qfcabin and sick squid
Your comments were appreciated, :) :)
here's hoping that we get our bunks.
If any body has pic's or specs of rest areas it would be great as I have contacted a number of manafactures of rest area's to no avail.
Thank you all again ,
airpoint. :)

[GalleyWench]

Airpoint, A brief update on bunk answers. We heard a rumour that BA had a flight where the pallatised bunk area on the 777 broke free and moved 7-10 feet from its original position. Apparently it is held in place by 2 straps which gave way...Yikes! One of my colleagues turned in his sleep in the bunk and inadvertently kicked a hole through to the (preassurised) cargo hold. So maybe a stronger hold is in order!

[airpoint]

He was just sleeping then EH!!!! ;)

Well thats one for the 'bunks'!! ;)

airpoint :)