Passengers on a recent British Airways flight from Johannesburg to London received no pre-landing breakfast ahead of their arrival into the UK. Flight attendants said this was because they needed more rest after finding their crew bunks broken. As crazy as that may sound, that appears to be standard protocol.
No Breakfast For You! Passengers Receive No Breakfast On British Airways So Flight Attendants Can Rest
On July 19, 2023, BA56 departed Johannesburg (JNB) three minutes early and arrived in London (LHR) 19 minutes early. Even so, passengers were offered no pre-arrival breakfast or even a cup of coffee.
According to a passenger onboard, cabin crew blamed this on “broken” crew bunks (perhaps someone can explain to me how crew bunks can break…I thought they were literally like bunk beds in a permanent lie-flat position?). View From The Wing notes that when crew bunks are out of service, contractual obligations require not only business class seats to be blocked for crewmembers but that extra rest time be given.
That would explain why the flight left on time and arrived essentially on time, yet the crew could not help.
I first saw this story on Thursday on FlyerTalk and was surprised to see this is a fairly common occurrence on British Airways. In fact, I am surprised I have never run into anything like this myself. Apparently, when crew rests are broken or when flight times are shorter than scheduled, both European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and contractual requirements mandate that crews take a minimum amount of rest in order to keep their duty legal.
Certainly, canceling a meal service is preferable to canceling a flight, but I also do not fully understand, based upon actual flight time, why service cannot be adjusted or better allocated from the very start to ensure that pre-arrival meal service is not just jettisoned. For example, why not speed through dinner service (serving multiple courses at once) so that breakfast need not be sacrificed?
CONCLUSION
Passengers received no breakfast on an 11-hour flight from Johannesburg to London so that flight attendants could rest onboard. While I understand that flight attendants were likely simply following standard protocol, I do question whether there is something flawed with a system in which there is no time on a very long overnight flight to serve even a cup of coffee before landing.
I’ve had this happen on BA regarding breakfast on a few occasions but due to “anticipated turbulence.” Once, ok, but it’s occurred half a dozen times. And not once was there any turbulence at all. I really think they look for any reason to avoid the morning breakfast service at this point.
Would be interesting to find out if there was any breakfast on board in the first place.
If the captain gives a directive to remain seated , then they follow . It is a preventive procedure , and it isn’t worth anybody’s injury .
Also BA only blocks a few seats for them to rest, so most of them have to suck it up and remain awake . Therefore breakfast would have to be served understaffed .
Blame airlines for being cheap and send long haul flights with just bare minimum crew .
Face it BA’s service is flawed thus anyone booking BA should expect the worst and hope for the best. On a trip to London we flew First going over and biz coming back, Business service cabin was superior to that of First flying over, go figure and then this past May we had to fly on early best we could get was premium coach and that was pretty ^$^%#$ nice all things considered. So much so our next trip we booked premium coach two outboard seating all the while knowing it is BA so we always brace for it!!
This was a very poor excuse by the airline to justify the actions of the flight attendants. It has nothing to do with safety. They should have said statutory and contractual obligations required waiters to be given a certain amount of time of rest in the business class seats more than required for crew bunk areas which were out of service. The flight attendants could have voluntarily been good people and given up 30 minutes of their slotted rest time (which is excessive compared to the crew bunk areas and business class seats are probably better) but they didn’t. They made a choice and passengers suffered.
These hard workers deserve a 35% raise.
Actually, we got 30.5% (Seriously )- but thanks for your additional support
The company underpay their staff and the aircraft they fly are dirty and in need of a revamp.
The crew perform a safety critical job, not just providing food service for the passengers. Landing is the most critical phase of flight, and I can see why EASA regulations require that crew are fit and well rested for landing. Should the plane crash on landing, or if a passenger should become ill during the flight, they would be the ones to attend to it. As boarding PA’s usually say, they are there for your safety as well as your comfort.
They have to be fit and well rested? In no universe is there any rule saying a flight attendant must be fit in the EU or UK, Plus was every bed broken, or just one? Yes they are there for your safety, but you are putting them up in a pedestal.
Look at the regulations that are posted on both the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) websites, not to mention the US Federal Aviation Administration with regards to legally required crew rest requirements. These rules are not simply union agreements or a “nice to have”. They are the law.
Wrong.
What exactly does the flight attendants do during landing that’s making it safe for the passengers?
If I paid extra for premium service that includes a meal and you knew before hand I wasn’t going to get the meal and failed to give me the option to catch a later flight, then I expect a partial refund or flight credit!
They make sure that you and other ignorant, entitled members of the travelling public, can evacuate an aircraft should an emergency occur on landing and your life is put at risk.
They aren’t there to serve you, they’re there to save you. Take your head and remove it from up your arse!
You are there to serve, get your facts right. You are underpaid because you are cheap sky waiters. In the US you’d be paid a few dollars and get paid tips based on how superior your service level is or is not. Perhaps sky waters should receive tips instead of a salary and they may lift their game if they can lift anything considering how most are unfit and grossly over weight.
Was it necessary to post such a rude reply?
Do you really want someone to explain you “how crew bunks can break…” ROTFL
Many reasons, air flow not working, bed bugs, communication to bunks inop, oxygen masks issue, escape hatch inop, but I’m betting air flow, no not air conditioning A number of things. You see, people call us waiters and yet you have no idea of why a crew bunk would not be occupied.
I was a flight attendant for 43 years for starting with TWA for 30 and then 13 years at American Airlines. I have never read such nonsense in all my life! Crew rest areas are stationary and do not break… Perhaps the entrance going into the crew, rest area was malfunctioning, or something else was going on -they just don’t break. And here’s another thing: On an 11 hour flight there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever to skip the pre-landing service for your customers who have paid quite a bit of money to travel on your carrier.
Steve if you were a FA then you know air flow indicator is a reason not to enter bunks.
So let me get this straight. The crew bunks were inopt for whatever reason. It really doesn’t matter. Someone, probably the purser or maintenance before the flight, deemed them unusable. In that case, either there were seats set aside for the staff, or if discovered inflight and full, actually didn’t have seats. The article doesn’t say. Regardless, in amy scenario, why would this be an excuse to make the customer suffer? I don’t know about BA, but at my airline we contractually get 45 minutes and are grateful that depending on length of flight may get more time. Something doesn’t make sense here. Sounds like pissed off staff who decided to stick it to management. The way BA has treated their FA’s since covid, I can’t blame them.
If you don’t know what the overflow number is at the 777-300 3L/R door detachable slide/life raft is, or what’s wrong with this statement, then stop being an armchair flight attendant.
We have a 787 with inop crew bunks, because of bed bugs. It’s been flying for over a week.
I often read the BA forum on flyertalk for a bit of quick entertainment. The loyalty of some of the posters to a rubbish airline is nothing short of remarkable. Forget about service quality, if anyone dares to mention things like baggage chaos or cancelled flights, they resort to angry comebacks like ‘BUT OTHER AIRLINES CANCEL FLIGHTS TOO!!!1’. Of course they do, but when LHG serves many European destinations from 4,5, or even 6 hubs it’s usually pretty easy to get rebooked to a reasonably convenient alternative, whereas with BA the choice usually boils down to suffering a 24+ hour delay or buying a ticket on another airline and then taking them to court.
Needless to say that I will only fly them if there really isn’t another option, and I have happily managed to stay away from them for years.
“The world’s favourite airline.” (TM) (sic)
Your question, “Why not speed through the dinner service” etc etc. So, compartmentalize with me here. To speed through dinner service (su’h as a one shot), it could be seen again company policy, reprimandable. However, if rest is effected by a bunk issue (and ys, bunks can break), and in this case EU Safety Regulations come into play, the crew would not necessarily get reprimanded for skipping the arrival service as they are complying with EU Regds, regardless of what BA policy may stipulate.
I am certain, that if dinner was done as a one-shot, someone would in fact have a hissy fit about it. So better skip in a protected position.
Oh dear, I’m an American who’s never flown on BA, but I’ve now booked 2 different BA business class flights to the EU through Heathrow in early 2024. I certainly hope it’s better than the comments here have lead me to believe!
LHR is a hellish airport to connect in. Be prepared for a marathon and nasty security.
“why not speed through dinner service (serving multiple courses at once)” … Because then you’d complain about that.
Coming from the service industry I would say that this is not the environment to cut services or courses short. Believe it or not you get less complaints skipping an entire service….as they did. If you know, then you know.
I can hear them say, “I’m not a Waitress!” in a British Accent. I think making food better on airplanes will actually make things worse. There is more room for error for complaints of cold food, too sweet, too salty, bad food, or the wrong food, And more work for the Flight Attendants. Fasting and NO food is the way to go. Its healthier and the Mama’s home cooked meal awaits when you arrive.
Avoid BA unless there is no other option. Once in business hit the call button since haven’t seen any FAs, one came by in some minutes, turned it off and said don’t hit it again.
Same. I always sleep through meal service on flights.
I fly across the pond 2-3 times a year. Flew BA in 2004. that was my last time darkening their door. it was so rock bottom horrible that nothing surprises me, even 20 years later.
That crew shy away from serving breakfast is actually no surprise. Bad customer experiences in a service industry are generally training or supervision issues. I suppose motivation is in there somewhere.
Left them fly; you don’t need to be on board with Bloody Awful.
Right, so let’s talk about the facts, not the click bait: cabin crew rest is a LEGAL REQUIREMENT, imposed by the CAA and EASA, and it’s not just for BA. It is a requirement for every single airline, and they HAVE TO follow the number of hours requited. So it’s not like the crew or the airline are choosing to skip a service because they don’t feel like doing it and want to get some extra sleep.
The reason for that requirement is simple: on long flights, like this one, cabin crew needs to be ready and rested at any phases of the flight, but most importantly on take off and landing, which are the ones where statistically most accidents and incidents happen. Therefore, with the rest, cabin crew will be fresh and ready to respond to any emergency that could potentially happen on landing, despite being at work for 12+ hours. After all, the main reason cabin crew is there is for passengers safety, security and first aid. Service is important, but it ranks lower than these three ones.
What the cabin manager decides is which service they will prioritize in that case, which rightly was the dinner one, keeping in mind passengers will be onboard for many hours after they board, so it makes more sense. Also, the crew very likely knew about the issue and very very likely informed the passengers, giving them the chance to get something to eat at the dinner service.
A chat with any flight attendant would have been enough for the author to know this, but I guess nowadays doing research is not really important, as long as you have a juicy headline.
I don’t think anyone has suggested that they shouldn’t adhere to the relevant legal requirements, but it all boils down to the way in which it’s managed- it’s one thing to hand out prepackaged snacks and/or announce upfront that sandwiches, nuts etc will be available to pick up from the galley throughout the flight and quite another to leave people starving, particularly since many pax will then have to rush off to catch their short haul connections which will tend to only offer a tiny BOB selection even to those who have forked out four-figure sums for a premium economy ticket.
What rubbish. There is no such legal requirement. Show me the CAA requirement for horizontal rest
You might want to look at section B page 10/11 of this CAA document..
https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP371.PDF
Or maybe, just maybe, Google CAA inflight rest. It was literally the first result.
So what is the normal rest requirement on a flight of this duration? How much does it increase when the crew is forced to rest in business class seats vs the crew bunks?
I think what passengers think is happening here, and it probably is happening, is that the crew are choosing to work during times at which the passengers have few requests, and then choosing to rest during meal service.
Crew cannot just all go on rest during low service levels. A proportion of crew have to stay on duty and swap to do safety related duties such as fire watch passenger welfare security etc
The objective of rest is the crew are alert at most critical phases of flight i.e. taxi take off and descent to all doors to manual. That’s when accidents are most likely to happen.
At last.
In this day and age, one who still flies BA should expect anthing
Totally agree with Leo’s comment above. Come on people, think.
– crew bunks are located in a crew rest area, and this area might have malfunctioned, for example: air flow problems, temperature/airco problems (either too hot or too cold). So that might be the culprit. Means that crew had to stay in the cabin for the whole time with perhaps no possibility to sit, or nap.
– labour agreements and EASA rules are there for a reason. It’s to protect the crew from safety hazards like this. Fatigue is a bit safety hazard for the crew. Remember, crew are responsible for the safety of the passengers. Crew are employees, not your slaves, nor the airlines’ slave. You maybe say they should have gone against the rules and give passengers a cup of coffee, but then you also say that crew should cross their borders, go against rules and sacrifice themselves for a cup of coffee. Passengers might expect this the next time too then. Where do you draw the line then?
– it’s not like the airline or crew makes these kind of decisions lightheartedly. For sure they do their maximum efforts to make it work because they want their customers happy. But sometimes it is what is and a line has to be drawn.
Shouldn’t they have taken a break in the middle of the 11 hour flight, between mill services, and not at the end? I’ve considered all my employment to be in customer service whether it be retail, finance, or non-profit work and internal problems should always be unseen to the consumer.
They did after the service. But the required rest meant there isn’t enough time to do the secondary breakfast service without cutting breaks short.
How much rest do they get? Does not having adequate crewe bunks mean more time? So what it sounds like many are suggesting is if the crew bunks are available, the crew must have more time allotted. Is this the case. Please explain fpor the lay people.
high fares, seat selection and crazy prizes and now service sucks
BA failed in its obligation to provide legal rest in the crew rest area. Wether this is preferable to delaying or canceling a flight to attend to the maintenance issue is a matter of opinion, but it was BA’s decision. The crew should not be scapegoated or criticized for BA’s decision.
My bag was delayed in my recent trip with BritishAirways from cairo to Atlanta. Until now I didn’t receive my bag nor update in where’s my bag. When I contact them they told me I have to follow up with the connecting flight service while my bag last scan in Cairo. Terrible experience
This is true, and it’s one of the most inconvenient aspects of industry baggage policy. You always make a claim with the last carrier to deliver you to your final destination on the claim check in question. All carriers contact each other to obtain bags, and this is done a million times a day. Unfortunately, carriers like BA can only help if your final leg was flown on them.
The following may help to understand the situation faced by BA on the day.
The bunks on BA’s 380 are a self contained unit located under the main deck cabin floor. They contain 12 bunks and are used to provide horizontal rest for cabin crew. This is required on long range flights, when it is required to extend the “flight duty period”. This will vary, based on the time of crew report, the preceding rest period and whether or not the crew are acclimatised. When horizontal rest is required, it must be taken in one continuous period in an appropriate environment. 12 of the crew will take rest after the first meal service is complete, they will then change over and the other 12 will rest. All of this is mandated by EASA/CAA rules, it is not a nice to have, but a legal requirement.
The bunk unit has certain safety features, all of which must be fully functional for the unit to be used. Standard equipment such as oxygen bottles for each occupant, fire fighting equipment such as smoke hoods, portable extinguishers must be fitted. The unit also has numerous smoke detectors, automatic fire suppression systems, an independent air supply and lighting. All must be fully operational for the unit to be used. If that is not the case, then the bunk unit will be deemed inoperative and cannot be used………in “Matthew Speak” is “broken”.
If this is the case, the airline is faced with blocking 12 flat bed seats in business class, they must be located together in one cabin to reduce disturbance to the crew at rest.
In certain circumstances this can be avoided. This will be based on the the restrictions I’ve listed above.
Ex JNB the following may be possible in extreme circumstances and the following may apply……..The crew will be acclimated, the report time is not too restrictive and the flight time is one of the shortest segments requiring horizontal rest. Therefore rest could be taken using the high comfort rest seats located by certain doors on both decks. These seats recline and are fully curtained off, but do not provide horizontal rest and there are only six of them. Most of them are located by galleys or toilets, so not the quietest of places and service can not be run when they are in use. Rest would have to be split into 4 periods instead of 2, and would have to be taken right up to top of descent. This will heavily restrict the duty hours for the cabin crew. The crew would be “just” legal to comply with legal requirements to operate, and detailed paperwork would have to be submitted to the relevant authorities.
All in all, the decision to not serve the second meal would not have been taken lightly. The options would have been cancel breakfast or cancel the flight.
See all those words and not a single thought given to the paying passengers.
It’s all just what FAs want and feel entitled to. Why do they even need rest? Passing through the cabin a couple times, oh no, better go lie down.
Because the objective is for them to stay most alert at critical phases of flight, that is taxi take off , and descent to all doors back in manual. Safety is part of the service. Let’s put it this way if you want to talk customers. Those critical phases are likely most when accidents occur. You want your crew to be most alert at those points to be able to prepare for an emergency landing/ evacuation/ fight that smoke fire event because even you lay down you trapped your phone in the seat mechanism which had now overheated when you tried to return the seat upright/ not blow an evacuation slide inadvertently because of tiredness. That’s where the customer element comes in.
The article is silent on the class of service referenced: First, Business or Economy. Should it matter, maybe… Bottom line: is breakfast service supposed to be provided as per the schedule and ticket sale? If yes, then it is incumbent on the airline to provide it and for the crew to adjust their individual schedules to accommodate it. If not, then you are basically on your own. But hey, this may be why BA is not most people’s first choice of European carrier. It’s a company that has royally (pun intended) messed with FA contracts over the past few years, which probably doesn’t elicit any “above-and-beyond” service from its personnel.
Oh cry me a river! We pay for the service, they can rest after their shift!
You actually pay to get from A to B… now you see that river? Maybe you should cry down it too…#SomeoneElseWhoHasNoIdeaHowCrewHoursWork
Oh Honey, we know why they need rest. If they could just slam click and go to sleep when they get to the hotel, they could do their job.
As an international/ long haul frequent flyer since 1999. I agree that flight attendants do much more than serve meals. They are vital to the industry. With that said, the industry itself is sinking to the depths of false and deceptive advertising . I recently flew BA to Amman and paid a full fare Business Class ticket, when we arrived on the co share carrier, there were no business class seats at all, instead we were given a an empty seat between us! Impossible to rest, especially with a bad back! Shame on the airlines for engaging in such deceptive practices. And BT.W. the flight staff offered an empathetic ear. An unwritten and frequently occurring phenomenom these days !!!
You were in a business class seat, BA are quite clear about what their ‘Club Europe’ product entails. Now, of course AMM isn’t exactly in Europe, but it’s still the product sold on that route. Naturally, not many would spend serious money to fly on an intercontinental flight in a seat with 30″ pitch, that’s why BA have all but given up on competing for local premium traffic with the likes of TK, MEA, or even Aegean (the latter also has convertible seats but at least the C service tends to be really good) and are mostly interested in selling connections to/from North America.
Oh darn I’m skipping breakfast what a nuisance – actually not cause I always take a pack of bars, snacks and even sandwiches with me.
But way to be spoiled, in any case you will surely find a way to “survive” similar or worse situations – or not – whatever.
It was a funny irrelevant article to read 😀
It is not the passengers who are spoiled…
Aren’t there a lot of current and former BA employees and their family and friends who are on that part of Flyertalk? That must have made that thread very hot.
We speak of companies (and sometimes unions) engaging in regulatory capture of government. Maybe there is a social media equivalent to regulatory capture. What should it be called? Cancel culture?
I wasn’t aware of this, but it would make sense, considering all the vitriolic pro-BA FA comments on that thread.
“Don’t cry for me Argentina”, but it seems like not being a corporate, statist or employee apologist — or even all three — on some captured forums gets some to get super annoyed and looking for ways to silence even the rule-following voices they find to be inconvenient and too capable of not letting the apologist narratives go unchallenged. BA is said to have some of that and maybe then some on FT, but it’s not really new and has long been extremely cliquish.
We had almost same thing happen on a BA flight several years ago. No flight Attendants available on a packed flight for 5.5 hours. They all disappeared! Not even a cup of water was available. Passengers were hot and thirsty. Tried to complain. No one cared. Spouse has refused Any transcontinental flights ever since! Never flew BA again. Never will!
BA used to be my favorite airline. Haven’t flown them since 2014. Had the worst flight from Seattle to London with the laziest bunch of flight attendants ever !
Correct. BA service overall and of FAs in particular deteriorated to beyond the pale decades ago. I gave up flying BA from choice in the 90s, and since then, when occasionally forced to fly BA by no other routing being available, the experience has reinforced my view.
Delusional liberals in America would try to blame Trump
Here’s one more little piece of info for those who are insisting the crew are being divas: it is the crew’s sole responsibility to know and take their legally required break. If they don’t, there will be an investigation and the crew can go through a disciplinary process. Now, if they don’t take their rest and there’s an incident/accident, the crew can be prosecuted and face legal actions. It goes way beyond getting a slap in the wrist for doing a “bad” job.
Some of you should really research the job of cabin crew before coming here to talk about stuff most of you know very little about… Trust me, it’s much more complex and serious than it looks.
But, to reiterate my original point, it’s far easier to make bold statements than to research and stick to the actual facts…
Once again, there are ways to mitigate the impact of an issue like that. I can’t imagine anyone being super annoyed at having missed out on a fake sausage and some horrible scrambled eggs, but there must have been a way to offer pax SOMETHING. Of course, the lack of contingency planning should not be blamed on the crew as it’s clearly the fault of airline management.
Those flight attendants knew exactly they have the backings of their unions. If BA take action they’ll simply go on an industrial strike!!!
All of Britain is always on strike!!
If in double, just try getting on a train in London or getting an appointment via the National Health System.
Where’s Maggie Thatcher when we need her the most!!!
Their salaries are pitiful by London standards. Some people have a fear/hatred of trade unions, but the reality is that very few problems are actually caused by them, incompetent management is usually the culprit.
Messed up management and shaving things to the bone for their own personal or financial aggrandizement is not good for the ability to provide good service consistently. It even ruins what little service culture may still remain.
I recently returned to the Western US with BA for the first time in ages, and was appalled by the quality of food on the trans-Atlantic leg. Dreadful meals in Business Class for both dinner and “breakfast”.
The flight attendants clustered in the galley like a group of teenagers in a city center and radiated resentment when I popped in mid flight to ask for a coffee or a soda.
Will not be using them again unless I have no choice, Delta, Virgin, and even United/American have better food and better service.
BA was the first international flight I took for a vacation in the British Isles from the US, exceptional service and on time departure/landing each direction. This was 17 years ago, can only surmise that BA employees, like most employees today are lazy and lack any professional responsibility to excel. Sad, but not unexpected, commentary on today’s workers. The Iron Lady once warned about the ills of socialism.
Different airline, but I once experienced a pre-flight safety briefing where the flight attendant loudly proclaimed “we are here PRIMARILY for your safety, SECONDARILY for your comfort” I knew right then it was going to be a poor service flight. And on the “safety” note my grandmother was a flight attendant for PanAm and I told that extensive medical training was required to be on a flight crew back then. It certainly feels like flight crews today have at best basic medical training, which calls out the occasional bad attitude crew or crew member today for hiding their poor service behind a thin veneer of “safety”. Do not misunderstand, safety is absolutely critical to airline operations, but there are absolutely also times when piss poor crew members hide behind it to shield their own unmotivated or bad-mood crap service. I usually fly on the cheapest fare so good service is basically not expected anymore, but if I had paid for a premium experience (business/first), I would expect to receive it or at least receive compensation for the lack of the service that was paid for.
There was a time when some airlines had a requirement that a flight attendant be a nurse. But those are long gone. Maybe nowadays it’s some basic first aid training, so basic that it wouldn’t qualify for a first aid merit badge for scouts? Even with training, people get rusty when not needing to use it and not having annual refreshers and tests for the full courses of what they may even have had before.
Meal service is a lot of work for flight attendants. It’s is their takeoff and landing. With a lot of downtime in between. If I had a long layover in London after the flight I’d complain and ask for a meal voucher otherwise I wouldn’t mind as a passenger not being served breakfast. Something obviously happened.
When you buy a plane ticket you buy just that, a seat on a plane from A to B, not even the flight you choose. Everything else is complimentary inc. meals. EASA/CAA mandates that crew has to have adequate rest, yes this is mandatory they aren’t being lazy so anything else like meal services are secondary. Don’t like it? Don’t fly, simples!
Let’s get this right, if you read through the flyer talk pages, and passengers on the flight confirmed, tea and coffee were served as an abbreviated service prior to landing.
That will never happen on a flight departing from the US or any other wealthy country. Africans have always been treated poorly by airlines and this is yet another example.
Typically British…
Brits are one of the most arrogant, illiterate and st.pid people in the World.
Shame on you !!!
I never fly on BA for reasons like this. I am not cattle (who would get better treatment) nor is a commercial aircraft a “cattlecar with wings”.
At least in a military C-130 you no there is NO SERVICE at all and can plan ahead.
On USAF AMC flights you get a boxed meal and beverage with your flight costing $10 for both including the flight. Sometimes the USAF crew even offer passengers parts of their meals. They were very friendly and go out of their way to make us passengers feel like we are valued. Never once experienced that no flight crew available, even when crew rest was taken into account. Everything is planned in advance. I am a former crew member with the US Army. Until 1947 when the US Air Force was established, the US Army had the largest fleet of airplanes and pilots.
Honestly, BA should have been very aware that so many crew beds were inoperative before the flight departed and planned accordingly. They did not and the passengers suffered for it. Obviously, the FA’s are not at fault but rather BA management. The finger needs to be pointed where it belongs with BA management. Heads should roll, but all I read is finger pointing between FA’s and paying passengers on this site. Incompetent BA managers need to go and let’s start demanding BA fire them and replace them with caring professionals. Back to when flying BA was truly a grand service and not a joke.
The amount of people who literally have NO idea on how crew regulations work is embarrassing!. Crew wouldn’t have just cancelled the second service because they couldn’t be bothered, LEGALLY they wouldn’t have been allowed too due to EASA / CAA regulations, you missed out on a sausage. Get a grip! You pay to travel from A to B! They got exactly that.
Who is to blame? British Airways that probably left the bunk beoken after multiple write ups and other crew have sacrifice their rest in multiple ocasion and when they finally jeopardize the service ans this became “news” the bunk is probably being fixed as we speak.
Unfortunately flight attendants make it work and put tapes on shitty service or maintenance that the airlines dont seem to care untill they stop and they finally get it done.
American had a plan with muktiple wrire uos that mepts going doe months untill the plane was in such bad condition, as seats wouldn’t recline in coach, video would not play, bunks missing matt etc they said we not taking this plane back to the Us and the flight was cancelled twice due to unsafe conditions to work.
This is a British airways problem not the crew
British has the worst experience service since I have been travelling. My recent experience going from Dubai to London was horrible. There is British airways office in Dubai, because we miss my flight, I could not get anyone to talk to for over one hour on phone. We had to buy another ticket. All other connecting flights proceeding were councelled without any information from them till now. No one responded to our complain.
“The ills of socialism”? What are you talking about?! The U.K. has had a right wing Conservative government for the last THIRTEEN years. And an increasingly inept, corrupt, self-serving and dysfunctional one to boot.
The levels of ignorance in some of the comments here is breathtaking. Cabin crew perform a safety role which is far more crucial than their service one. In case you hadn’t noticed, there are no police, firefighters or health professionals to hand at 39,000 feet.
Crew life involves long working hours, often overnight, across numerous time zones, staying away from home in hotels. In order to be rested to perform their safety role in an emergency, as others here have pointed out, there are strict rules around how much horizontal bunk rest should be provided on long flights. It is not simply a matter of choice. Those here who sneeringly look at flight attendants as merely flying waiters might just change their tune if they were successfully evacuated from a burning aircraft and provided life-saving first aid until paramedics arrived, all of which happened to relatives of mine.
That doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t specify they need to rest at the same time or during breakfast service, so why not stagger it and rest while passengers are sleeping instead of chatting like magpies.
Flight Crew Rest Requirements is the 3rd reason for delays according to the bureau of flight statistics. Like all employees, the pilots and the cabin crew need to keep their strict regulations of working time. If they exceed it because their own flight is late for whatever reason, they need to stay on the ground instead of entering the connecting flight. If this happens in a flight this is the only way to deal with it.
What a load of whingers. I have always travelled BA when i can and have received much better service than I have on any American plane I have travelled on. I prefer to have more rest than to have breakfast on the plane if, as I usually do, I arrive early in the morning. I can then go to the Arrivals lounge, have a shower and then have breakfast before going home. Yes, I am a Brit and proud of it.
@Shine You were in Dubai and picked BA to London, when the world’s best airline is actually based in Dubai?? Heard of Emirates?
I will not travel on BA again.
Last year we paid a substantial amount to upgrade to premium economy on a US trip.
Our seats were broken and could not flip back. The footrest just fell to the floor. Our attendant was very helpful and although the crew trued their best the seats would not budge. The crew logged a complaint immediately.
However we were not offered offered alternative seating and spent a most uncomfortable flight on the aircraft.
Upon our return to South Africa I immediately contacted customer care:
Whilst they acknowledged our complaint they would not refund the amount we paid extra for the seats. Instead they offered us 100 pound voucher to be spent on another air ticket by end 0f 2023.
Really!!!! Despite back and forth consultation they steadfastly refused to refund us.
Disgusting service. I have used middle eastern airlines and many other airlines many times and never been disappointed.
BA will not see me again.
In my experience you are lucky if BA actually flies you where you want to go at anything near the time they say they would. Other than their partner, American Airlines who is simply the worst at this, they are always late, usually way late and with little or no know reason. In addition, if you get any service for anything, even a glass of water, you should bow down to them and thank them.
Always funny to read such bolony from US passengers who apparently expect to be hand-fed every minute of their journey. If this is such a big problem for you that it deserves a whole page of “sob, sob – I wasn’t fed for 5 hours”, then you must be a very lucky person in this day and age …..
Grow up!!!
Were you one of the cabin crew members shagging in the crew rest bunks such that there wasn’t time for service?
As a 45+ year purser/flight attendant I can explain the “broken crew rest” problem. Our rest areas are located either above or below the main passenger level. They are equipped with independent fire/smoke detection systems and a separate air flow system. If either of these are placarded as inoperative they cannot be used until repaired.This information is conveyed to us during our pre-flight safety bririefing and is NOT well received. Instead, passenger seats are blocked for our use. As purser, I scheduled the cabin crew breaks and we always have everyone working for the first and last meal/snack service. Unless the aircraft diverted for a medical or fuel problem which could wreck my schedule we would make every attempt to complete the pre-landing meal/snack. It may be abbreviated i.e. no coffee or tea but every completely stopped.
Long Distance flights with BA usually goes like this:
Passengers Board
Quick meal service with one pass
Crew do disappearing until 2 hrs prior to landing
Crew then look for any reason not to do final service
Crew Opens door and discard passengers as quickly as possible
Crew overtakes passengers on way to Customs Hall Full of energy.
Any time I have flown overnight I can honestly say I’ve never seen the flight attendants doing a heck of a lot…….passengers are either sleeping, reading or watching a movie or whatnot. Don’t know how the FA’s could be so tired as to not have the energy to service breakfast.