henkybaby

Sitting in the Crown Lounge in AMM I just had to share my first experiences on RJ. Never seen anything like it... We boarded late and because the flight came from HKG the boarding on the plane was chaotic. That is always the case with flights that stop on the way but this was ridiculous. The crew were all over the place except dealing with pax (flight was 100% full) and we got a welcome drink after about 10 mins. But no, that is not what I was surprised about.

Lots of passengers were sleeping. I mean 'seat flat' sleeping and even when we left the gate the crew were still running around doing Allah knows what except preparing the cabin for takeoff. Passengers were still asleep during the safety demonstration which was given by only one very disinterested crew member whilst the rest were still running around like the headless chickens.

I could see the turn for the runway fast approaching when the cabin electrics failed so also the seat power and controls. I was not upright, my neighbor was not upright and at least 2 pax were still sleeping... The captain called for the crew to take their seats as he turned onto the runway and at that exact time someone noticed that people were still fully flat and snoozing. Whilst accelerating down the runway one of the cabin crew woke up the passenger, got him out of his seat, adjusted the seat manually to upright, threw the passenger into the seat and at rotate the totally groggy pax was sitting there without a seatbelt (that had gone missing in the seat adjustment) and the crew were still walking back to their seats. IMHO it would have been safer to have left him. There was at least 1 other pax sleeping and nobody's seat was in the upright position. Also, all luggage (including mine) was left on the floor.

This 'easiness' with safety continued when landing. Nobody took any notice of the seatbelt sign. Crew did not intervene when passengers got up a mere minute before touchdown to get something from the overhead, seats where all over the place as was luggage...

Now, I slept like a baby (best angled lie flat seats I ever experienced) and we were there on time. I did not eat since we left at midnight so I can't comment on the rest but I am stumped by the way the crew behaved...

Just wanted to vent to the crowd here. It is good that BA is more safety conscious. Wonder if I am allowed in the cockpit for my flight to AMS.

PS I was tempted to get my phone out to film the experience but oddly enough I felt too embarrassed.