Visiting upper deck on 747

Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:20 pm
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Visiting upper deck on 747

I am going to be flying in F on a 747 for my first time. If I ask nicely to the flight attendants will they let me walk up to the upper deck just to look around. Not wanting to sit up there, just more of a curiosity and say I have been up there.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:28 pm
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Originally Posted by jm62
I am going to be flying in F on a 747 for my first time. If I ask nicely to the flight attendants will they let me walk up to the upper deck just to look around. Not wanting to sit up there, just more of a curiosity and say I have been up there.
Not during the flight at least. They might allow it before take off or after, if the flight isn't so full.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:32 pm
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If you really want to have a look, I suggest after the flight, once all UD CWs have left
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:38 pm
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I have taken a quick walk through the UD when I was flying BA F, and this was during the flight. I had never been upstairs on a 747 and was curious, and might not get a chance to ever fly in one.

When I did it, I asked the FA at the bottom of the stairs if it would be okay to take a quick look. She could see I came from the F cabin, if it mattered. She did walk up the stairs ahead of me to let the upstairs FA know. I followed her up the stairs and took a quick walk up towards the front.

It is probably a YMMV situation, but being in F and asking politely will likely go a long way. Given the cockpit door is up there I knew it wasn't a sure thing, so I made an effort to phrase my request as a question/favor.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:38 pm
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Don't see why it would be an issue to have a quick look after the meal service. dont think you would be disturbing anyone at that time.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:45 pm
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Reduced foot traffic is one of the reasons folks go to the upper deck, among many others.

Not sure why somebody who wants to see the cabin has to walk up and down. It's so small, one could easily come up the stairs and stand at the back with the cabin crew member and have a very nice look without creating footfall traffic by those who might be sleeping or resting.

It's just a technicality, but I thought the reason non-upper deck pax were not allowed to visit was because that is where the access to the cockpit is. And somebody who wants to "visit" and on that visit seems to want to walk toward the cockpit might be one of the reason it's discouraged in the first place!

Even cabin crew in my experience try to limit their own foot traffic during rest times (like the overnight flights).
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:47 pm
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Originally Posted by randomflyer
It's just a technicality, but I thought the reason non-upper deck pax were not allowed to visit was because that is where the access to the cockpit is. And somebody who wants to "visit" and on that visit seems to want to walk toward the cockpit might be one of the reason it's discouraged in the first place!

Even cabin crew in my experience try to limit their own foot traffic during rest times (like the overnight flights).
Because you don't want to wake up the pilots
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:48 pm
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Originally Posted by will2288
I have taken a quick walk through the UD when I was flying BA F, and this was during the flight. I had never been upstairs on a 747 and was curious, and might not get a chance to ever fly in one.

When I did it, I asked the FA at the bottom of the stairs if it would be okay to take a quick look. She could see I came from the F cabin, if it mattered. She did walk up the stairs ahead of me to let the upstairs FA know. I followed her up the stairs and took a quick walk up towards the front.

It is probably a YMMV situation, but being in F and asking politely will likely go a long way. Given the cockpit door is up there I knew it wasn't a sure thing, so I made an effort to phrase my request as a question/favor.
You mean common sense broke out?

Young pox has visited me there without trouble and most times without being stopped or questioned.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:52 pm
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As others have said, ask nicely and ideally outside meal times and the crew will likely let you up the stairs and have a look from the back galley.

Again, as said, it's a small cabin so there isn't anywhere to "have a look around" and it would be just like a visitor having a look around the F cabin (ignoring the fact that they would be a "lower cabin pax") - there isn't really anywhere to go apart from looking at it from the back and those pax on the UD won't know (or care) that you are traveling in F so won't be impressed if you do a royal visit with a good look around.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 3:57 pm
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"Royal visit!"

I wouldn't mind, as long as they give the royal wave, as they proceed up and back--so I know they are royalty and belong there and aren't just plebs making that floor vibrate up and down as they walk past--twice.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 4:03 pm
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I often wave boarding and disembarking and in all sorts of other situations.

I often feel for the queen when I have to do what I imagine royal visits must be like: get shown around, look interested, ask a non offensive but somehow relevant question watching someone else do their work / their thing, smile and move on......
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 4:18 pm
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Originally Posted by will2288
She could see I came from the F cabin, if it mattered.
Well, yes, I suspect it did matter As a matter of course, FAs would be very reluctant to let passengers come up to the upper deck - especially from Y which I suspect, by law of numbers alone, is where the majority of requests will come from. "Resident" passengers would probably not appreciate having people coming to visit the surroundings while they rest or eat, and the FAs would probably not want one of them to complain. As others have mentioned, if you are curious about what the upper deck looks like, the right thing to do (both in terms of not putting the FAs in an awkward situation, not imposing on the people sitting on the cabin, and maximising your chances not only to visit the place but even to take photos, see what the seats are like etc) is to wait till the end of disembarkation and after the upper deck cabin has been emptied, ask if you might go up and take a sneaky look. I'm pretty sure they would say yes at that particular time.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 5:26 pm
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Originally Posted by orbitmic
Well, yes, I suspect it did matter As a matter of course, FAs would be very reluctant to let passengers come up to the upper deck - especially from Y which I suspect, by law of numbers alone, is where the majority of requests will come from. "Resident" passengers would probably not appreciate having people coming to visit the surroundings while they rest or eat, and the FAs would probably not want one of them to complain. As others have mentioned, if you are curious about what the upper deck looks like, the right thing to do (both in terms of not putting the FAs in an awkward situation, not imposing on the people sitting on the cabin, and maximising your chances not only to visit the place but even to take photos, see what the seats are like etc) is to wait till the end of disembarkation and after the upper deck cabin has been emptied, ask if you might go up and take a sneaky look. I'm pretty sure they would say yes at that particular time.
I would say that the points made previously in this thread apply more or less equally to all permutations of inter-cabin visiting.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 5:51 pm
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I strolled up to the upper deck once and was intercepted by a FA once I was there and told that security now prevented people including that deck in their walks round the plane. I was in F but that does not matter. They do not mind you strolling round the rest of the cabins.

If you get to the upper deck why not ask the occupants of 62A/K to stand up for a few minutes so you can get a good appreciation of the attractiveness of these seats. They can get up and out easily. It could start a very interesting FT thread!
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 6:01 pm
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Originally Posted by Greenpen
If you get to the upper deck why not ask the occupants of 62A/K to stand up for a few minutes so you can get a good appreciation of the attractiveness of these seats. They can get up and out easily. It could start a very interesting FT thread!
I would not recommend this whatsoever. You would very likely get a negative response from the passengers in 62A or K who would probably not take kindly to some stranger asking them to get out of their seats, and I would suspect once the CC spotted you bothering the UD passengers they would quickly send you back from whence you came!
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