British Airways has reportedly updated its crew rest policy, to allow flight attendant to occupy empty seats in first and business class on long haul flights, assuming the aircraft don’t have dedicated crew rest facilities. While I’m all for crew being able to rest as well as possible, this definitely doesn’t give off the most professional vibe.
British Airways’ controversial new crew rest policy
As reported on FlyerTalk and flagged by PYOK, British Airways has a new policy when it comes to crew rest on select flights. On long haul flights, it’s common for crews to have a dedicated rest period between the services. On most wide body, long haul aircraft, there are dedicated crew rest bunks, completely separate from the passenger compartment (most passengers don’t even realize these exist).
However, British Airways also loves to cut corners where it can, and that includes with crew rest facilities. On all Boeing 787-10s delivered up until this point, and on select Boeing 777-200ERs, the airline doesn’t have dedicated crew rest facilities (they cost money to install, and also increase the weight of the aircraft, and in turn, fuel burn).
On these flights, crews are expected to rest in the galley jump seats. Essentially there are some jump seats in the galley that are separated from the cabin by a curtain, which are referred to as “high-comfort attendant seats.” However, these definitely aren’t comfortable.
So British Airways is now updating its crew rest policy on these flights. Specifically, on these aircraft, British Airways crews can now sit in any vacant seats on the aircraft, including in first and business class, as long as they don’t ask other passengers to move in order to facilitate that.
The guidance also requires crew using passenger seats for rest to remove or cover their uniform items, and to use the bedding provided in the cabin. I guess the idea is that the crews blend in more, and that it’s not obvious that crews are resting in passenger seats.
I’m all for crews resting, but this doesn’t feel “premium”
Ultimately this “solution” only exists because British Airways opted to not install dedicated crew rest facilities on some aircraft, even though it should’ve. These planes aren’t just operating short long haul flights, but they’re even operating routes like Seattle (SEA) to London (LHR). These are long flights, though not ultra long haul flights where regulators mandate dedicated crew rest facilities separate from the cabin.
I can totally appreciate that it’s really unpleasant for crew rest facilities on these aircraft to just be limited to jump seats in the galleys — what an uncomfortable way to rest.
However, optics also matter, especially when you’re selling premium products. For example, imagine you spend $10,000 on a British Airways first class ticket and there’s only one other passenger booked in the cabin, so you feel like you have a nice, private cabin. Then after the meal service, you suddenly have every seat full, with six flight attendants hanging out, watching movies, and chilling.
Is that actually a problem? Well no, not really. But it certainly takes away a little bit from the feeling of exclusivity. Honestly, you most commonly see flight attendants hanging out in passenger seats on long haul flights on poorly run government airlines, where the crew just treat the premium cabin seats as their playground.
Now, in fairness, I’m not sure British Airways is actually trying to be that premium, so perhaps that’s all fine. Ultimately British Airways’ biggest competitive advantage is that it has a large number of Heathrow slots, and that’s a valuable asset.
I should also mention that some airlines do have dedicated pilot crew rest facilities in premium cabins. However, I view that as being a bit different — in these situations where’s typically a curtain around the seat, and that seat is also blocked off on the seat map. As I see it, it’s not the same as a “take any seat you wish if it’s open” policy.
Bottom line
British Airways has updated its policy on crew rest for aircraft without dedicated crew bunks. Historically, crews have only been able to rest in their galley jump seats, which are of course not very comfortable. Now that policy has been updated, and crews can also sit in any vacant seats on the aircraft, including in first and business class.
I think British Airways was super cheap by not installing crew bunks on select 777s and 787s in the first place. While I don’t think this is a huge deal, it’s also decidedly un-premium to essentially treat the seats that people are paying thousands of dollars for as places for the crew to just hang out between services.
What do you make of British Airways’ new crew rest policy?