Originally Posted by kiwibigdave
And a big welcome to FT from me too
nz_crew.
One question for you, not a technical one. What is the general feel amongst long-haul crew about the new classes? Maybe you have some specific feedback from pax about how good or bad the Business Premier / Premium Econcomy / Economy split is, or some views on the cabin structure; the herringbone BP layout, PPE upstairs on the 747 and in just 2 rows on the 777, the new AVOD in Y etc
Basically there have been plenty of threads here from pax but I wonder how it has affected the day-to-day working life of the crew
As a Y class f/a I far prefer the 'new service' which was introduced last year. Basically with the arrival of the refit and the impending restructure of the ISD position the service was juggled around to accomodate the loss of the ISD. The biggest change was that Galley 2/3 (located between doors 2L and 2R at the front of economy) changed from a J class galley to a Y class galley which has helped immensely.
FAPS are, I believe, divided in their opinion of the new service. It's definitely more difficult for them, as they are responsible for Premium Economy upstairs in addition to Business Premier, and because the BP aisles are too narrow to accomodate carts, everything has to be run by hand - premeal drinks, entree, main course, dessert, cheeseboards, etc. Because we only use 14 crew on the 747 (13 working crew with the new FSM position coming in) you have one position that 'floats' (more like sprints) between upstairs and downstairs, which can result in chaos if not carefully managed.
The product itself we are all very proud of and the passengers love it. We are already seeing a huge increase in customer satisfaction (one category was up over 30%, when a 5% gain is regarded as huge). I have been on some flights where the IFE has hit snags, but the various software patches that have been developed by the manufacturer, Rockwell Collins, seem to have ironed out the vast majority of them now.
The PE being upstairs on the 747 I believe was dictated by weight and balance considerations, as well as wiring galley locations. The only problem is that some passengers seem to perceive it as a downgraded business class rather than an upgraded economy class but this perception seems to be steadily decreasing. Feedback from passengers who travelled in it has been overwhelmingly positive and it seems to be regarded as good value for money.
Sorry to have raved on for so long! Hope it answered your question anyway
Originally Posted by FlyMan
I actually addressed this question to "FAPS" a couple of times before, but they did not have definite answers. Why doesn't NZ serve L&P and Hokey Pokey ice cream on board? I truly believe it is "Kiwi experience." Not to mention, at least L&P is available in the AKL lounge and I had to grab extra for the flight. Let me know if I should write a letter to some big guy in the HDQ.
I really don't know why, FlyMan! I assume that it would be quite expensive to carry L&P instead of Sprite/7Up, since it would have to be flown to all our catering distributors at each station or double-catered out of AKL, whereas Sprite/7Up are universal and are stocked by each catering company as a matter of course. It would be nice to be able to offer it however.
You could probably make the same argument for Hokey Pokey but personally I think it would make a far greater impact than L&P and really should be carried. Perhaps you could write to Customer Relations [
[email protected]] - all catering issues are forwarded to the relevant department.