if Lhr Cai is the only flight for the crew I really don’t see a need for crew rest. These flights are never more then 5 hours really and then there is 36 hours on the ground. Do crew really need rest in flight?....

I think the more pertinent question here is were the crew that were on duty at any given time briefed properly by the SCCM to complete regular cabin patrols in all cabins - as they should be doing. If this had been the case, customers would have easily been able to request service/food/drink outside of the service.

If the crew had been briefed properly, the OP and his fellow customers may not have noticed. After all, on the vast majority of longhaul services, 50% of the crew will be on a break outside of the service periods - the official entitlement to the break is not really relevant - if the length of the flight, service and pax loads allow, a break will be given regardless.

The remaining crew should be patrolling the cabins at regular intervals and not hiding anywhere.

p.s. Thanks to the OP for sharing their experiences. Despite the obvious and very disappointing failures, it was a very interesting read

What you have to take in to account is that we are on duty 90 mins before a flight and 45 minutes after a flight so around a 7.30 duty, what job doesn’t allow you a 20 minute break to have something to eat?

Good on you for making the effort ^

I’m not a CAI regular but must confess that in similar scenarios I don’t always give feedback, as I perhaps should (in part because I feel it’s likely to be a waste of time)

Does your monthly grievance bring any sort of useful, personalised response ... ? Or are they so accustomed to you writing that they now have a cut & paste ready to send each month in return ?

The lounge I used did indeed require you to re clear security and the further along the corridor a further passport check.

The lounge wasnt so much a lounge lounge as a collection of seats and tables in a corridor. One side had reception and food and the other an satellite duty free shop.

At 7am there were no seats and we stood until a group left and we got 3 seats for the 4 of us.

Food was was exceptionally poor but relatively abundant and mostly consisted of lots of bread.

I havent been in Cairo for over 20 years so I don’t know if this was normal or a temporary location. It felt like a pop up lounge.

@ binman - sounds not unlike the (generic) ‘VIP’ lounge at Abidjan which a colleague and I experienced many years ago.

Within approximately two minutes of entering we decided that the general departures area offered rather more comfort - and hygiene.

Our expectations were very low at the start so in the event it proved more of a mild amusement than serious disappointment.

The sad bit is that nothing the OP posted came as a surprise to me. Granted, it usually doesn't happen in full combination, but none of the things mentioned by the OP are extraordinary.

Let's face it: BA is milking the London direct market to the maximum, and for anything else is only considered a valid option when they are ridiculous cheap (the fact that OP is travelling CAI-HNL is pretty telling).