LHR/MEL/Europe FF

If the flights are full, the crew have to rest in the galley.

Do I think crews need a dedicated rest for a nine hour flight? Pilots yes, but cabin crew, while nice to have, should be able to handle 12 hours of being awake without needing to sleep (and that includes travel to the airport, the briefing, and the flight)

If they can't manage that, CX should make sure rosters for the longer regions such as MEL (which is generally under 9 hours) come with plenty of rest before departure from HKG. Would the crew be bored and sleepy as a result of nothing to do? most probably. but unable to handle an emergency? I have every confidence they can.

AA crews fly LAX-HNL turns, and jetstar crew were/are flying MEL-DPS turns. Not ideal... but most of us are awake, go to work, and come home with a more than 12 hour period of being awake. If jet-lag is an issue, change the rosters.

on the other and if they can get some shut-eye in a passenger seat, what does it matter? I don't see it as an issue for the brand or image of the airline. Unless the pax was a bit of a DYKWIA, who cares if crew are in pax seats? It's a plane, and a seat, and we all have to be practical.

jagmeets

I doubt anyone is really bothered about the crew using the biz seats. It's the disturbance that can be an issue, esp if one is priming for a full work day ahead of these short redeyes.

duckied

Just to clarify I have absolutely no issue with the cabin crew on these flights being able to take their rest in J although I do agree I am surprised they don't have a 'designated' crew rest area or seats. My biggest issue was the noise. Two of the crew were sat opposite each other (21A/D) and were constantly passing a tablet back and forth and giggling about whatever the content was. I don't really agree with the crew having to rest in the galleys ever, especially on a nine hour flight to Sydney. But proper provisions should be made.

If i'm honest I think the attitude of the crew on flights often reflects that of the IFSM. When I boarded my flight in India I could tell she was of the 'cannot be bothered' type. No interaction whatsover. And this seemed to brush off on the rest of the crew.

I'm happy to say though, flew CX J HKG-SYD thursday night on the 161 and were blown away by the crew working in J. So much so I used the feedback form on cx.com to compliment them.

Cathay Boy

If these two people were pax that were making loud noise, etc. I don't think anyone would give them any sympathy. And yes I would also be very disappointed if two crew sat behind me and make enough noise to disturb my sleep. I think we all appreciate the hard work of CX crew, but at minimum it's not too much to ask to be considerate to pax that needed to rest.

QRC3288

That is a bummer. Agreed. I am sympathetic to crews and have no problem with them resting in J, but if they're screwing off with one another that's another thing entirely. Sorry to hear that.

And yes, it frequently has to do with crap ISMs who set a bad tone for younger FAs in flight. If they crews don't respect the ISM or the ISM is just bad, service usually suffers as a result. Poor ISMs IMO is still the single biggest issue facing CX, because it trickles down through service standards on the entire plane.

mkjr

i was on a flight from YYZ-HKG and there were 4 FA's in plain cloths in J - rear J cabin and they pretty much chatted until take off (this was the 1:35 departure) and then pretty much ate and went to bed and then work out about 1 hour out and got changed into their uniforms and presumably started their day. probably dead heading. does this happen often?

subject2load

Totally with the OP on this, and I think the concerns have been expressed in a fair & measured way. I don't think it's asking a lot to expect cabin crew members to remember that - for the entire duration of any flight for which they are rostered - their first duty of care is to the passengers, without whom their job simply does not exist.

It's a long time since I have flown with CX, and I'm not likely to have cause to do so any time again soon (it was the title of the thread that just happened to catch my eye when logging on to the forum....). Of the flights I HAVE made with them I have nothing but positive memories, and would like to think that the circumstances described were something of an isolated occasion and not an indication of a general malaise or serious decline in the service standards & overall quality of a carrier that has enjoyed an excellent reputation over many years.

QRC3288

yes. hard to say exactly the reason, but it is very common for CX to ferry FAs around for a variety of reasons. Could've been a tech issue on an earlier/later flight leading to crews being out of position or hitting crew hour issues, could've been a plethora of sick calls on one direction, could've just been a weird rostering quirk, etc. Hard to say precisely but it indeed is normal. By flying FAs as passengers for certain segments, it's a way to reposition staff without violating labor rules.