Passengers sat in crew seats LHR-LAS
Yesterday I was on the BA275 from LHR-LAS. The plane was brought to the gate late and therefore it was catered late, so whilst the boards showed the gate open, the boarding sign didn’t show until 4.25pm. Within 2 mins it had changed to flight closing, so had a mad dash from the lounge to the gate.
i was in the UD and when getting to the top of the stairs, there were a couple of lads standing by the wardrobe to the right and as I got to my seat the purser came up and said to these guys “are you two together? Good, follow me” and took them back down the stairs.
i thought nothing of it but 5 mins later 2 other people came up the stairs (a 20 something male and an older lady) who seemingly weren’t together (and I later found out they were not) and were asked to sit on the ‘crew seat’ (I’ve never seen crew specifically sit there but it’s the double pull down seat) at the top of the stairs. It seemed strange but I thought there must have been some seat swapping going on. Turns out that after we took off, these 2 people were still sat there, now with a blanket each, just buckled in, sat within inches of each other. After about 7 hours of the flight, of which I’d slept the last 4 hours, I went to the bathroom and the male passenger had his head slumped forward asleep, in what looked like a very uncomfortable position.
After we we got served our 2nd meal, they were given something which I think came from economy. As we disembarked, the male flew down to the stairs whilst the rest of us, including the lady, were asked to hold back.
Whilst I appreciate this isn’t usual, is this something that happens every now and then. I initially thought they may be relatives of the crew but neither said goodbye to anyone in a way that would make them familiar with anyone and it just felt awkward that these poor passengers were sat there without even an iPad to watch. If they found out before departure some seats weren’t working, would passengers be offered this as an alternative to being offloaded? When I was in the lounge I had asked about paid upgrades to F but was told every seat on the plane was taken.
Hopefully some wise heads on the board can explain what circumstances need to occur for that to happen.
and don’t get me started on the bread roll being served 15 mins before the starter trolley came by...