moore1984

Experts,

I may be getting old and a bit of a moan but I was shocked by what I encountered recently during a BA flight back home from North America.

My Mrs and I arrived at the airport after a great holiday. I was in a good mood and asked the check-in assistant what the upgrade fee would be from WT+ to CW. I had enough money on me to pay him there and then for the two upgrades.

I was informed that there was only one seat available and he would not be able to accommodate my request.

Following completion of boarding, I looked through to CW and only 7 of the circa 24 seats were taken. I was sitting in seat 10B in the CW cabin on a 777-200.

After the seat belt signs went off and the drink/meal was served, all but one of the cabin crew disappeared through to CW. I later went a trip to the WC and found that the majority of the crew were sprawled out in CW. Some were sleeping, others reading or playing cards.

Surely this isn't normal practice?????

T8191

You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment.

dunk

Could you clarify ?

You say you wanted to upgrade from WT+ to CW, then later say you were sat in 10B in the CW cabin

That apart, I would be annoyed too. I doubt the check-in agent was lying; more likely the stupid computer says "no" and BA missed out on a few quid.

>> Surely this isn't normal practice?????

What ? Using the CW loo when you're sat in WTP ?

T8191

A very forensic analysis there, dunk ^

nh1980

I don't begrudge anyone a rest but if you say the majority of the crew were sprawled out and not on their break, doesn't seem quite the professional thing to do en masse. That said was it a night flight and was there a noticeable drop in the service seen you and the other passengers were expecting?

In any event, worth writing in about the upgrade situation

T8191

I tried that when our 3-Class from MBJ to LGW suddenly became a 4-class. No meaningful response from BA … in fact I don't think we even got one, come to that.

We were in CW, the aircraft was rammed, and F was being used by … some people. Consensus was that they might have been BA staff on a [whatever], but there was no way a pair of Silvers were getting to use the F seats.

Strange things happen, Captain.

1010101

sounds like he left his other half down at the back of the plane

T8191

Impossible … his profile says he's British … possibly

J-Class

Could it have been 'computer says no' because the computer understood that there wasn't enough J catering loaded and therefore didn't want to sell you a service BA couldn't fulfill?

ScruttonStreet

i've been on plenty of half-empty CW flights but I have never seen any crew member 'sprawled out' in the unoccupied seats having a kip. Seems very odd to me......

sunrisegirl

On some aircraft there's a crew rest seats in CW. Also crew are entitled to breaks during the flight and perhaps chose to take them there rather than using the crew bunks.

It could be that you couldn't be upgraded, even by paying, as there was insufficient catering on board. This often prevents upgrades being offered unfortunately.

But you were already in CW in 10B so not sure where you wanted to move to?

HIDDY

No idea but if it bothers you that much you should name the flight number and date.

BingBongBoy

No, it is not normal practice.

The most likely explanation is that the cabin crew rest bunks were, for whichever reason, unserviceable and not able to be used. On certain flights, cabin crew must have a certain period of rest, of which it must be possible to have horizontal rest. The usual practice is that, if this is the case, a certain number of Club World seats must be blocked from passenger use and available to the crew to use in two rotations.

malkie

None of you seem to entertain that a large group booking failed to make the flight.
Easy explanation for the open seating. The OP could have raised the issue on board, and perhaps have had their mind put at rest.

moore1984

Sorry, I meant to say 10B in the WT+ cabin.