[azidane]

On a flight in August from Seattle to Cairo via London on BA I was in the upper deck on a B747 and the flight was totally full and I saw a lady and her daughter sitting on the jump seats at the top of the stairs and enquired about this and I was informed that they were the wife and daughter of a BA pilot and as the plane was full their seats had been given to fare paying passengers, I felt sorry for them though, having to endure a 10hr flight on jumpseats with no IFE could not have been fun.

[travelwell]

at Heathrow T5, if you go to the ticket counter, sometimes they can sell you an AUP (airport upgrade) from WT or WTP to Club for around £400 which is still quite a lot of cash but way less than a normal price club world ticket, but I dont think you get the increased tier points, your tier points stay at the level you originally booked.

[MartynSinclair]

“What do you mean by bench seats?
Nor am I sure what you mean by somebody being allocated 2 beds?”

(suggest you read the thread BA Seat 60B)

“Do you work for Netjets or similar?” – Not quite sure of the relevance

“Take it that’s what you mean by not being able to get free seats on executive jets”. Fortunately, my job comes with a free seat…on which I work.

“But as you say, you get perks in your job, ie. fees for exams, so it’s good you get something” – exams and assesments are all required as part of the job

“Please don’t be jealous of airline staff” – as if……

“some of them are very poorly paid” – then go and get a better paid job

“and get little or nothing in the way of perks that the corporate industry do” – If your airline is not in the corporate world, exactly what is it in???

[MartynSinclair]

Azidane – I too would be concerned to see a wife and yound child using the bench seats at the top of the stairs in CW. 10 hours on one of those, with no IFE would test anyone’s stamina to long haul!

Best to have waited for the next flight when seats could have been spare or as another option, could have purchased a revenue ticket.

I also thought for security reasons (BA policy), wifes of duty pilots were not permitted to fly on the same aircraft if hubby is flying (if that was the case here)

[azidane]

Martyn, I know I would not have spent 10hrs in that seat for any reason, just prior to arrival at LHR after an overnight flight when I went to the toilet the poor lady looked absolutely miserable with her daughter sleeping on her lap.

Dont know their particular circumstances but BA only has 1 flight a day to Seattle (both flights to/from Seattle where totally full and on the way there was upgraded to First) so it could be that SEA flights are regularly sold out, especially considering that BA offers the best international network out of SEA and this was evident in the fact that most of CW was taken up by Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing employee’s judging by the tags on their luggage.

Not sure if they were the wife and daughter of the pilot flying us but the FA said they were the wife and daughter of a pilot.

[MartynSinclair]

Azidane – I know its the season of goodwill and all that, but I do not think it is acceptable, for a rafter of reasons, to use crew bench seats for adhoc passengers which these passengers quite clearly were. The seat is not suitable for 10 hours, as you point out – so why use it.

As other people have pointed out and as I have heard first hand, crew are buying full revenue tickets when necessary.

[travelchamp]

MartynSinclair – the bench seat you refer to is a jump seat and staff can travel on it with permission of the operating Captain.

Staff choose to do this rather than being left behind at a destination, perhaps for days on end if flights are full. This is often the only seat available so, as you will see, staff do not always get a business class seat.

And I don’t work for an airline thank you, but my partner does.

[Senator]

I noticed at GLA last week they were promoting an upgrade from WT to WT+ for £179 one way

[MartynSinclair]

“the bench seat you refer to is a jump seat and staff can travel on it with permission of the operating Captain”

There is always a choice to pay for a ticket and buy a seat rather than suffer 10 hours on a bench. That way nobody gets left behind for “days on end”.

Are moaning for your partner or on behalf of your partner??

[travelchamp]

Not moaning, just stating facts.

Yes of course there is a choice to pay for a ticket but last minute ticket purchases are very expensive as I’m sure you know.

Many staff could not afford that so a jump seat is a preferable option. If they’re happy with it, I’m not sure how it adversely affects any passenger.

[MartynSinclair]

“but last minute ticket purchases are very expensive as I’m sure you know”

….. again you are right. Perhaps I could also ask the Captain to let me use the bench seat just behind First, if I need a ticket at short notice. Wow, do I know how expensive tickets at short notice cost………….as do many other travellers on this forum.

I do not feel comfortable with overflow passengers (staff /partners/aliens) either seat sharing or using the bench seats on the upper deck.

[Tete_de_cuvee]

A while ago, I was informed the surfeit of crew/bench seats was to enable crew to quickly get seated and strapped in regardless of where they were when severe turbulence occurs.

Having the seats used by others could put the crew at risk as they play musical chairs looking for unoccupied ones at the wrong end of the cabin. Though nowadays with larger, modern aircraft riding turbulence a tad better it may not be regarded as a safety precaution.

[Author]

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