silent129

Are there designated crew rest seats in new F on the international 747s? My father (GS/1K) was flying ORD-NRT recently and was assigned to 2K. When he arrived on board, there was a sign on 2K saying "Reserved for Cabin Crew". The flight attendant tried to ask him to move to business class to sit with my mother. My father refused, saying that he had paid for this seat and that if he were to move, UA should compensate him. Obviously, the cabin crew didn't have any compensation in mind. The cabin crew then made up some other story about how the seat table in 2K was "low" and asked him to move to 4C instead (which also had a "Reserved for Cabin Crew" sign on it). The rest of the F cabin was full.

This story sounds pretty weird to me because I don't understand why a GS/1K with a reserved F class seat would be asked to move to business class for the Cabin Crew to sit in his reserved seat. Are there reserved cabin crew seats in the new F for international flights? Is this an irregular story?

My father felt pretty singled out and is contemplating complaining to 1kvoice (unless there is a higher GS-level complaint email).

zambonisk

Have him either email Global Services (address is on the back of the card) or call GS and ask to speak with Customer relations. In my experience either method will address the issue promptly; by someone within GS.

FriendlySkies

Make sure he calls GS Customer Relations. He should receive a refund if he payed for INTL F, and had to sit in C. As far as the crew rest, I thought they only used row 3 on the 744, not row 2

ScatterX

Does anyone know the frequency of this happening? I'll be flying SFO to NRT and will be in a similar situation. I've heard the same story that the last F row windows are reserved for crew, but are also the best seat to have. How likely is getting bumped?

silent129

I myself have flown on the 777 old F a few times. In my experience, one of the window seats in row 3 was usually taken for crew. However, in these cases, the seats were blocked off on the seat map. In the case of my father, he held a reserved seat and no plane changes had been made, so I'm not sure why he was asked to move. It also seems odd to have a crew rest seat in row 2, when there are 4 rows total in the new F on 747.

UpInTheSky

You definitely have a fair concern, as there are no designated crew rest seats on the 747. On occasion there may be inoperative seats that customers cannot sit in (or must be warned about issues with the seat), but if this involves a downgrade it should handled by a gate agent, not the flight attendants.

UNITED959

This is absolutely unacceptable and I hope he has the name of the flight attendants.

There are bunk beds behind the cockpit on a 744 for pilot rest.

For FAs, I believe they have a crew rest area in the back of the plane; if not, rows of seats in Economy should be blocked for them (or, if there's space, Business Class).

With the exception of an int'l 777 having 3J (I think) reserved for pilot rest (there's a curtain that surrounds it), I have never seen seats in the First Class cabin blocked for crew use.

The guts of some flight attendants continue to amaze me, and what's worse, is that UA management allows it. (NOTE: I don't want to start yet another thread about some of the horrible UA FAs, I am simply commenting on the behavior of one or two given the topic at hand.)

ryan182

I noticed on my last 777 (which does in fact have a crew rest seat, usually 3A but also could be 3J, although it seems 3A is used more frequently IME) that when there wasnt a pilot resting it was being used by an out of uniform FA that was traveling, I assume on a jumpseat or elsewhere, she was there for TO and left shortly thereafter when a FO came to sleep (that BTW has to suck, its 11AM local and you need to sleep) and made several reappearances when it wasn't used for sleeping. I found it odd but not really an issue since it didnt' really impact anyone, to do that on a 747 which has crew rest bunks is just....well bunk. Sounds like someone trying to get their friend a nice ride when it otherwise wouldn't be possible, a real kick in the teeth to high revenue passengers

IADtoWhere

So did a few UA Senior Matrons decide that they deserved better than designated crew rest seats for their ORD->NRT flight?

UpInTheSky

It may help this thread to clarify where crew rest seats are -

B747 - none, as there are segregated crew rest areas

B777 (with bunks - these are IPTE or configured 10-45-198) -
Flights from 8 to 12 hours - 1 C seat
Flights of 12 + hours - 2 C seats

B777 (without bunks - these are configured 12-49-197) -
Flights of 8 to 12 hours - 6 Y seats, 1 F seat
Flights of 12+ hours - 6 C seats, 2 F seats

B767 - 1 F seat, 4 Y seats

Based on what the OP has stated, I think the crew incorrectly used the "Reserved for Cabin Crew" signage.

Flight attendants don't get Economy rest seats on the B747, but have bunks for their rest breaks.

easykristine

How was his service after the encounter with the cabin crew

silent129

Just found out more of the story from my parents. After they realized that my dad wasn't going to move to business without being compensated, the purser came by and told my father that he wasn't being picked on.

Then, for some reason they went to my mom in business class and asked her to move to first (to take my father's original seat in 2K). When she asked why they were moving her, they told my mother that my father was angry at them and refused to sit down in his seat. As I interpret this, it was a lame attempt at trying to cover up their initial brazen attempt to seize first class seats for themselves. So at the end of the day, my mother sat in my dad's original seat (2K) and my father got placed into the other "Reserved for Cabin Crew" seat in 4C. And the crew got no seats in first class (poetic justice?)?

That being said, they are unhappy at the service.

LAXOGG

As others have suggested, I encourage you to contact GS, explain the situation to them and demand an answer. I ask that you post the resolution here. Who knows, there may be a valid reason, although I can't think of one. I believe FAM's sit in C.......correct

silent129

We're working on the draft email now though the Celtics-Lakers game is slightly delaying that effort

zrs70

Not good move on UA's part. But perhaps there is karma involved. Why was dad in F while mom was on C? Shouldn't it have been the other way around.