Originally Posted by
ijgordon
I assume they go from 3 FAs for 14 down to 2 for 8, no? Yes it’s slightly less favorable but has to be considered in the context of the crew requirements for the rest of the plane, eg, they may need an extra crew for a larger J cabin now, so no overall change, and then it comes down to the relative yields. Lots of moving parts in this calculation…
Yes, it should be 2 crew members on an 8 F, but on several planes, I suspect there would be no (regulatory) need for extra crew members in J or W or Y if any of those cabins is enlarged instead of F. And yes, exactly, it is then a question of yield, but BA have never made a secret of the fact that F is not the cabin on which they make the most money: W and J are overall significantly more profitable. It doesn't mean that F loses money, and again, on some routes I'm sure it is a healthy earner, but my guestimate is that on an increasing number of other ones, BA will decide that F is not worth it.
As I said, it's a merely guestimate on my part and may very well be wrong, but it is a guestimate that was certainly trying to take into account those moving parts and more (such as the fact that complexity in the fleet leads to losses as sometimes you end up using a 4 cabin plane on 3 cabin routes which is suboptimal.