Why is there relatively many cabin crew aboard ?
 

The FAA requires a passenger/cabin crew 50:1, which means one steward(ess) for each 50 passengers. But I have seen in many cases that in a flight with 300pax there are at least 10 stewardesses. I am not talking about ultra long haul flights which require a duplicate crew (where the inactive are not on duty in the rest area), but about the medium / long hauls with a single crew on duty.
Why do airlines employ so many flight attendants ? Because of that passengers (yes even in Y) expect they are in a restaurant ?

The minimum crew requirement is exactly that, and some airlines choose to have more crew to provide better service or crew rest requirements.

I would say that airlines usually stick to the minimum on single aisle aircrafts. On small jets (e.g. ERJ135), turboprobs (e.g. Q400) and single-class 737/A320.

With bigger aircrafts usually come a) several traveling classes and b) much more service to take care of. The minimum of flight attendants would simple be insufficient to offer a decent service (even in Y).

You mean all these years of them training us to accept by faith that they are just there for our safety did not establish a precedent? People still expect drinks???

Well, it looks like some people still call them stewardesses, so.....

50:1 might barely work in an all-economy configuration, but few airlines (if any, outside special situations like sardine flights for Haj) fly all-economy configurations. You need a much higher ratio of flight attendants to passengers in premium classes. If a 300-passenger aircraft on an international route has 230 economy seats, 50 business class and 20 first, you'll need 5 FAs for J, about three for J and at least two for F. That's ten right there. These are rough figures, airlines differ in both aircraft configurations and staffing levels, but it supports the number in the original post.

In addition while the medium / long-haul might not require a full set of duplicate crew, they may require rest periods. That alone may necessitate additional crew members to ensure they always have sufficient on-duty staff.

Those extra staff probably help when you are paying attention (meal times and landing) so it seems overstaffed, but may be cycling in and out of their rest break during cruise when reduced staffing levels are needed since most people are sleeping, etc.

Well, this is certainly the first "why is an airline giving me such good service?" thread I've seen on FT.

My impression is that Asian carriers use more FAs than USA legacy airlines.

A 300 passenger aircraft would, I imagine, generally have eight full exit doors requiring at least eight cabin crew.

A couple more for the premium cabins is not that many.

Not if you work for LH ... they regularly send out bulletins explaining their passengers that the customers asked for less upgrades, less luggage allowance, fewer drinks etc ....

It made the word 'enhancement' an invective on the LH forum. Or "hate speech" as modern college students'd refer to it.

I don't know how 6 flight attendants could evacuate 300 economy passengers in an emergency.

I'd sure as heck want more than 1 FA in business class or first.

I don't think I've been in F with fewer than 3FA for 9 seats no matter how many pax there are.

767-300 in all Y: 290 seats, 4 exit doors (plus overwing exits), so in theory only 4 CC needed if you count one per door.

I've noticed ANA do have FA's positioned at the overwing exits, but UA don't on theirs (the ANA planes are a touch denser though, i.e. have less business seating and more Y, so maybe that changes the requirements for door staffing).

The same way zero, one, or fourteen evacuate 300 pax: via the announcement.

But for the heavier doors with a floatation device ... I think I'd be good to have a trained professional.

For non-safety related service, absolutely.