On my last long-haul trip in F, PVG (Shanghai Pudong for those who don't memorize all the airport codes) - ORD, there were three FAs and five passengers, most of whom spent several hours sleeping. I can assure you that they were not overworked, and that's not because their service was deficient in any way.

If the premise of this article were consistently true, we would not always see the purser (by whatever title), who can work whatever cabin he or she wants to, in F or occasionally J.