What "crew rest" facilities do you have on your A/C?

[WeLieInTheShadows]

Hi all.

I'm doing a little research into rest facilities available to Cabin Crew on various aircraft types.

For example.....

At BA.....

B747s have bunks for crew rest.
B777s some have bunks, some have "high comfort" seats at doors 1 & 2, and a curtained off area in the last row for crew rest.

Maybe your airline does not allow you "crew rest" as such at all, and you are "on call" for the whole flight, no matter the length.

What tips or tricks do you use to maximise the space and get the best out of your rest, especially out of those night flights.

As much detail as possible would be great, but any info anyone can supply would be really helpfull.

Cheers all

[britboy2]

At Thomson we have no crew rest :ugh:just a bar box to s:\it on :ugh:longest flight we do at the moment is the cancun 11.00h and male 12.00h.

We also do SSH,RMF, HRG,ect there and back 14h+ days with no rest areas and some times 3 shorthalls before it:\ .

But i must like it as still here ;)

[Juan Tugoh]

A rough guide will be whether there are rest facilities for the pilots - if they require them to extend a duty period then the cabin crew will also get some rest facilities. Companies do not spend money on these things unless they are a legal requirement. Max FDP without rest is 14hrs(UK) - assuming an ideal time of departure, allowing a max 13 hour flight without some way of extending the duty day.

[bondim]

I have been told that some crew on charter and lo-co airlines resort to sleeping on the flight deck floor when knackered. Doesn't surprise me!

[jet2impress]

Bondim..... I suspect you haven't seen the flight deck of a 737. It would be struggle to sit on the floor never mind lie on the floor to sleep. On the other hand though, the 757 is much more accommodating, you would easily get a couple of hosties bedded down for the night. :zzz:

[bondim]

Airbus cockpit floors are rather spacious, I find! :)

[Denti]

On the busses you can indeed sleep on the floor and many cabin crew or pilots do so on those long night SSH flights. In the 737 that is impossible so we have to resort to just sleep in our seats, not very comfortable, but then we are not supposed to sleep at all ;)

[WeLieInTheShadows]

All very interesting.

SO at Thompson, not crew rest facilities AT ALL. Not even on LH sectors? That's rough!

What about other airlines? Or sectors over 13 hours?

What provisions does your airline make or give you?

Juan...

Thank you for the pointer about the pilots rest being a guide. However I'm aware that some airlines (BA being one) allow their crew "rest" on ALL long haul sectors (flight and cabin).

I guess it's all in industrial agreements. However I'd really like to know what other airlines have.

[glider12000]

At XL longest sector I did was 12.30 LGW to Manaus in Brazil.

Only 160 passengers on the 767 so we were able to get some rest on the back row as the services were short with 9 crew.

But no official crew rest facilities.

[magicmorris]

At EK...

330 - No crew rest, just curtained seats
340-300 - No crew rest. just curtained seats
340-500 - Crew rest, in bunks, below the cabin (8 bunks for 15 crew)
777-300 - No crew rest. just curtained seats
777-300ULR - Crew rest, in bunks, above the cabin (10 bunks for 18 crew)
777-200 - No crew rest. just curtained seats
777-200ULR - Crew rest, in bunks, above the cabin (8 bunks for 16 crew)
380-800 - Crew rest in bunks at the back of the economy cabin on the main deck (9 bunks for 26 crew)

On all aircraft the flight crew rest is in the same are as the cabin crew, but separated.

Crew rest is on a flight over 9hrs45mins.... anything below that no rest is required!

[cart_elevator]

At Qantas

747 - cabin crew rest bunks in tail of aircraft
A380 - cabin crew rest bunks underfloor
A330 - 4 curtained off pax seats - up to 13 hr sectors (even though pilots get bunks)
767 - 4 curtained off pax seats - up to 12 hour sectors (even though pilots get bunks)
737 - I dont believe there is any crew rest facilitites (I might be wrong)

Generally, pilots get TVs/IFE in their crew rest, but cabin crew dont (except on the A330 seats).

Pilots always have a private, single, crew rest area. where as cabin crew have to all bunk in together.

Geez you guys at XL do great with 9 crew on the 767, at Qantas we only have 7 :ugh:

[Abusing_the_sky]

Geez you guys at XL do great with 9 crew on the 767, at Qantas we only have 7

Not anymore they don't. Unfortunately, XL went into administration in 2008

BBC NEWS | Business | Airline industry faces turbulent times (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7612120.stm)

But that's a different story.

At Ryanair there are no crew rest areas. The crew at the back usually eat their dinner sitting on their J/S. There is no privacy either (it's not nice when people queuing for the toilets stare at you as you eat your dinner); the management took off ALL curtains on ALL a/c some years back.
At the front you can't really seat on the J/S and eat your dinner as you have pax in row 1 looking at you. The galley is very small, so you end up having your meal either sitting on a bar box (wasn't my favorite, eating while people do their business in the toilet and then the "aroma" hits you :\) or standing up, hiding your head in the little gap between the oven and wall.
Having a meal at FR is THE ONLY break CC get. I gave up after a while, just didn't eat at work.

[CornishFlyer]

Abusing the sky-Same at easyJet. Eating a meal when someone comes out of the toilet after "dropping the kids off", being sat right next to said toilet door is not a pleasant sensation I can tell you!

[VS-LHRCSA]

Back in my charter days, we had 9 crew on the 767 as well - but we also had 327 pax in a 2-4-2 config.

Crew rest was a bar box, not that we ever got that much time to 'rest' anyway, especially on SFB or MBJ.

[HiflierEK]

All the bunks at EK are private and each fitted with the ICE entertainment system if you dont want to sleep. :ok:

[Cart_tart]

Crew Rest? What's that?!?!?!;)

[Exascot]

All the bunks at EK are private and each fitted with the ICE entertainment system if you dont want to sleep Why are the cabin crew only allowed to use these bunks on sectors of over so many hours even when it is night and most of the passengers are sleeping? For example the DXB-JNB B777 route.

[Chuchinchow]

Why are the cabin crew only allowed to use these bunks on sectors of over so many hours even when it is night and most of the passengers are sleeping? For example the DXB-JNB B777 route.

Haven't you forgotten something? Something quite fundamental?

Cabin crew are aboard the plane to work; they are there for safety reasons and to cater to passengers' (reasonable) needs.

How can they achieve this if all they want to do is to get their heads down and to compete in the snoring stakes as soon as they possibly can?

Or is it a case of s*d the passengers: they are an occupational nuisance to the cabin crew, and therefore they can wait until some sleeping beauty of a cabin attendant deigns to wake up?

[TightSlot]

Charming!

There we are then - it crawled out from under a rock and got caught in the daylight, and it doesn't look very nice, wriggling, hissing and spitting venom where we can all see it.

Chuchinchow won't be troubling us again

[strikemaster82]

From a security point of view is it a good idea to be telling everyone where crew rest facilities are? Why does the entire world need more info about on-board arrangements? Sorry to be a party pooper but I just don't think we should post this kind of stuff. :sad:

[Boomerang_Butt]

I don't know what airline you were flying on, but it wasn't Qantas... :}

I can tell you for sure on the A330 & 767 the pilots DO NOT get bunks... at most, on the 767 it is a tiny, crappy little cubicle with a 'high comfort' (read: old first class from the 60's) seat and the compartment is not sound-proofed so you can hear all the goings on from the cabin...

the A330 is better as they have their own compartment somewhere on board but it is not a bunk- merely a seat which reclines *almost* flat...

Yes it is better than what we CC get but then again, they ARE landing the thing at the end of their duty... wouldn't you prefer they be the ones well rested :E

[strikemaster82]

I'd rather you didn't broadcast to all & sundry where we take our rest :hmm:

[Exascot]

Cabin crew are aboard the plane to work; they are there for safety reasons and to cater to passengers' (reasonable) needs.

As a retired captain I don't think that I need to be reminded of this. So at the end of a long night flight would you be happier if the cabin crew were alert or knackered after just dozing in their seats. I was trying to get an intelligent answer from maybe an EK employee who knows the reason behind this restriction. So I repeat, why can't EK cabin crew use the bunks to grab a few hours sleep at night when their duties are light - not all at the same time obviously, before some bright spark picks on that one.

[Shazz-zaam]

Sorry Boomerang Butt, but the A330 Tech crew rest does convert into a bunk. first you have to move the seat as far forward as it will go, then recline it as flat as it will go, at the same time lowering the armrest. Then you unlatch the section which is along the aft wall it is approximately 1.5 m in length and lock it in, oh don't forget to unlatch the fwd headrest section. The bunk is brilliant and very comfortable.:ok:

[TightSlot]

A comment has been made about the suitability of discussing crew rest facilities in an open forum.

There is no secret that aircraft (some) have crew rest areas. The broad location of these areas is also public domain.

What we should ensure is that none of us reveal the precise location or access method for these areas. Thanks for your compliance.

[ditzyboy]

Boomerang Butt -

Both the 767 (Int-GEs) and 332/3 (Int) afford the pilots a full-flat, horizontal rest facility. Both the 767 and 330 DO feature sound insulation.

What airline do you fly for?

[Tray Surfer]

BA:

747 - Cabin Crew rest above cabin.
777 - 200 - Cabin Crew rest above cabin (where fitted) or High Comfort jump seat.
777 - 300 - Cabin Crew rest above cabin.
767 (Long Haul) - last row of economy seats (3 seats)
767 (Short Haul) - no.
Airbus - no.

Short Haul 767 and Airbus crew also operate just under 12 hour duties, but the "rest" is taken on the ground during turnaround whilst dodging the cleaners and caterers, security checking the cabin and boarding the next set of passengers.

Sometimes, depending on load and with permission from the captain, we are permitted to sit in the back row of the aircraft if there is time, usually just on things like the night DME and SOF services. Although the night SOF which operates in the summer schedule has a turnaround of 2H55 in SOF and most crew take pj's and sleep for an hour or so on the ground.

[on time all the time]

Hello,
The Monarch crew rest area is the same as on Thomson....a bar box.
It can be enhanced on the B757 by taking the headrest of the jumpseat off and put it delicately on the box. This luxury can only be achieved on that type of A/c
On the A330 we have 3 comfort seats. They are jump seats which have armrests and recline. Unfortunately their position does not allow to rest on them, the 2 at the back being in the rear galley. So any need to go in a trolley will require to move the resting person and stow the seat. The 3rd one is by R1 in view of everyone, no curtain nothing nada niet rien!!!