Why oh why oh why? [Warm cabin]
Mar 16, 2019, 6:01 am
#31
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I am not sure why it does it and hopefully someone will be along to tell us but the B744 has me running to the temperature controls about 40 minutes before landing as it drops to around 19c automatically.
Mar 16, 2019, 6:22 am
#32
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I usually ask them what temp the cabin is set at, often on ET the crew has admitted they set it to 24 degrees celcius, this is on long haul night flights. Someone else on FT once said recommended temp by ET/Airline manufacturer is 20-21 celcius on night flights. Once I confront the cabin crew with this statement they usually admit this is true and adjust the temperature. Even in light clothing I don't get any sleep on a plane which is more than 22 degrees. And I've often woken up with severe headache in a 24 degree celcius cabin. I should add, I am by no means "well insulated".
For you that are cold, bring a jacket or a blanket and stop complaining.
Mar 16, 2019, 6:26 am
#33
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We do have a company policy which we should be following, however we have aircraft types that seem to have their own policy and we only realise this once they have changed.
Mar 16, 2019, 6:29 am
#34
Join Date: Dec 2016
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You can set that temperature at 22 all you like but a 747 that’s been on the ground in CPT all day is having none of it and will be boiling hot whether you or I like it or not.
Mar 16, 2019, 7:01 am
#36
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I don’t think you can draw that conclusion. I know that I can’t get to sleep without some kind of covering - it just doesn’t feel ‘right’ otherwise (not just on a plane). I wouldn’t be surprised if others were the same.
It shouldn’t be difficult to get right - there is an objective answer. Plenty of articles online explain why 16-18 degrees is optimal for sleep; here’s one from the Sleep Council:
https://sleepcouncil.org.uk/perfect-sleep-environment/
It shouldn’t be difficult to get right - there is an objective answer. Plenty of articles online explain why 16-18 degrees is optimal for sleep; here’s one from the Sleep Council:
https://sleepcouncil.org.uk/perfect-sleep-environment/
IMHO, however, unfair point about the supposed "objective answer". First of all, those temperatures are typically intended for bedrooms where most people will be covered by a proper bedding - often in the UK or the US a full duvet which can cover them entirely, and not a small, thin and flimsy blanket which I can decide will cover either my feet or my torso but certainly not both. Second, in the article that you quote, "is thought to be" is chosen on purpose as a deliberately very vague phrasing because the authors are perfectly aware that recommendations vary widely. Indeed, the one you picked - 16-18 - is the lowest I could find. This one, for instance, chooses 16-20 instead: https://www.simplemost.com/science-s...use-body-heat/
Even more interestingly, however, the recommended temperature tends to change by country and language. So if you look for a French version, you may well get a recommendation of 18-20 https://www.vanmarcke.com/fr-be/blog...mbre-a-coucher and if you cross a further border to Catalonia and search in Spanish the recommendation moves to 19-22. https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20...preguntas.html I don't even want to imagine what I would find if I spoke Japanese!
And then, of course, you have those who acknowledge that there is no "objective" answer agreed by science: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/arti...-summer-nights which goes back to the point some of us made earlier that there is no "ideal" temperature that would work for everyone, because preferences vary by cultural habit, individuals, or even for a given individual depending on the season/external temperature, the humidity, their level of tiredness or even their mood. In short, just like questions such as "how hard should a mattress be?", "what is the ideal pillow?", or "which airline has the comfiest seat?" there is no simple universal answer, but just a lot of different preferences out there.
Of course, for an airline, which will typically transport very different people, from very different countries, going to and from very different places and even opposite seasons, wearing very different clothes, it is even more unlikely that they could find a perfect answer. To make things worse, all those different people will do different things at any given time: you may be working while I sleep, I may be sleeping when you eat, etc. and typically, whenever people do make recommendations about temperature, those differ for a bedroom vs a living room, etc.
Mar 16, 2019, 10:13 am
#37
Join Date: Feb 2012
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It’s a rather different size to the 747 but you can add the Embraer 190 to the list of aircraft with hard to control temperatures. The temperature is set on a very imprecise dial on the front control panel - the majority of crew set it to somewhere around 21 degrees but on many of the aircraft you can end up with a roasting hot front half of the cabin and freezing at the back, feeing a drastic change around row 14. Or you could have a hot rear end and a chilly nose… and it can suddenly swap over during a flight, too! The 170 doesn’t seem to suffer from this effect quite so noticeably.
If it’s cold outside and the front door is open the system tends to overcompensate no matter what the temperature is set to so once the APU kicks in it becomes quite toasty rather quickly. Conversely if it’s hot outside you sometimes find pellets of ice coming out of the vents at the rear of the aircraft, particularly just after takeoff.
If it’s cold outside and the front door is open the system tends to overcompensate no matter what the temperature is set to so once the APU kicks in it becomes quite toasty rather quickly. Conversely if it’s hot outside you sometimes find pellets of ice coming out of the vents at the rear of the aircraft, particularly just after takeoff.
Last edited by EJetter; Mar 16, 2019 at 11:14 am
Mar 16, 2019, 10:28 am
#39
Join Date: May 2005
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Side note. You can't catch a cold virus from being cold. Nor does cold temperature make you any more likely to become infected. The only way to catch a cold virus is to catch it from another person who has it. The temperature is completely irrelevant from a scientific perspective.
Mar 16, 2019, 11:05 am
#40
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But not as cold as CX/SQ. seriously chilling inside CX F once, their IFD shook my hand at the end of the flight and said “cool hands, warm heart” once. I didn’t have a clue on how to respond.
Mar 16, 2019, 11:55 am
#41
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What I don't understand .. If I'm cold I can put on a sweater or a jacket or use a blanket .
But when I'm hot.. What all do you want me to take off?
I have the feeling it has gotten better with the temperature being bareble.. But I used to wear nothing but briefs to sleep ..
Guess it saves them pj's.
And on top.. The warmer air is dryer and just yikes.
Malaysian usually is a fridge that even I put on a sweater . Lovely.. AA domestic of course too
But when I'm hot.. What all do you want me to take off?
I have the feeling it has gotten better with the temperature being bareble.. But I used to wear nothing but briefs to sleep ..
Guess it saves them pj's.
And on top.. The warmer air is dryer and just yikes.
Malaysian usually is a fridge that even I put on a sweater . Lovely.. AA domestic of course too
Mar 16, 2019, 12:05 pm
#42
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actually this does remind me of my last F flight JFK-LHR on 777.
thankfully the cabin was maybe 1/4 full and i complained it was hot with no air nozzles. the temp went down a bit but when i was ready to go to sleep the great FA suggested making my bed in 4E as "it is usually most cold back there" and what do you know? best sleep and temp ever but it was definitely much colder than where i was sat in 2A.
thankfully the cabin was maybe 1/4 full and i complained it was hot with no air nozzles. the temp went down a bit but when i was ready to go to sleep the great FA suggested making my bed in 4E as "it is usually most cold back there" and what do you know? best sleep and temp ever but it was definitely much colder than where i was sat in 2A.
Mar 16, 2019, 12:12 pm
#43
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I guess aristoph is more used to other aircraft type, this was a 747, and it will be interesting to know whether the following then happened: it's often the case that the temperature on 747s is whacked up on the ground, when the APU is more or less effective. When disengaging from the gate at IAD, the APU power for heating drops off, and the outside temperature in DC would be close to freezing point, maybe a degree or two above. So if you're not careful - and there is a delay / queues in departing IAD - the cabin temperature will drop. If the delay in departure is extended then you'll have the situation of a cabin getting colder and colder, and very little anyone can do about it. Hence whacking up the temperature at departure time. This condition persists on the 747 for quite a few minutes after tale off, and as indicated 20 minutes after take off the full, if clunky, control, of temperature comes back to the crew. So normally you can only start to complain about sauna conditions around 40 minutes after take off, it takes a good 10 minutes after pressing the dials that the impact works through.
I hope the OP comes back with the outcome, but this a common issue with older wide-body aircraft, and in the case of the 747, being a big lady, there really isn't a better solution on the ground. The newer aircraft - any size - are much better in this area.
BA216 left the gate on time yesterday, at 19:27 local, and got to take off at 19:50, so 23 minutes, which is pretty good for IAD. The OP posted at 19:45 local.
I hope the OP comes back with the outcome, but this a common issue with older wide-body aircraft, and in the case of the 747, being a big lady, there really isn't a better solution on the ground. The newer aircraft - any size - are much better in this area.
BA216 left the gate on time yesterday, at 19:27 local, and got to take off at 19:50, so 23 minutes, which is pretty good for IAD. The OP posted at 19:45 local.
in my experience, stuffy overheated cabins are just par for the course with BA, regardless of aircraft; I was superheated in F on a recent return flight from JNB.
Mar 16, 2019, 12:21 pm
#45
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Thanks for reporting back, though it was disappointing to read that it stayed hot. The reason you are in CW is so as to sleep comfortably. I would nevertheless encourage you to mention something to the crew, it may be that someone else complained. You will definitely have zero impact if you say nothing. Equally they may well have had complaints from other people about being too cold. Though I have had some hot cabins in my time, it's not the norm in my experience.