[Tete_de_cuvee]

This demonstrates the benefit of keeping blinds open until at cruising height.

I cannot comprehend why the Pax ignored a wheel falling off – fortunately the Exeter ATC were on their game.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2059779/Flybe-passengers-watched-horror-wheel-fell-plane.html

[RichHI1]

TAM operate an 11.50 pm flight from GRU to LHR and they offer the full 5 course dinner in First. I would normally rush through some soup and the entree but some people would sit through the whole deal before going to sleep.

[Binman62]

Lights should be off, the reading lights are more than adequate to eat by and invariably ( on BA ex HG at least) that is how theu serve breakfast!
Stephen787 can you provide more detail on Turkish ex IST. there is a fare available to OZ using them and QF ex HKG or SIN which is a steal but flying TK has been a worry.

[Scandinavian]

Lufthansa used to be one of the worst offenders on their evening east coast transatlantic departures. They used to serve a full service – pre dinner drinks, starters and mains served separately followed by desert and coffee. On a full 330/747 this takes a good three hours. With breakfast being served about 90 minutes before landing this left only three hours for undisturbed sleep. They have now reduced the number of moments in their evening meal service thereby speeding up dinner by an hour.

In the perfect world airlines would have a pre-flight dinner service in their lounges prior to boarding, such as BA’s sleeper service. However this puts a huge demand on airport infrastructure when departing away from base since airlines do not have own local lounges that are large enough to cater for a full dinner service. BA for example is very lucky since it has its own terminal at JFK.

Airports are not always keen on airlines offering elaborate servings and e.g. take away products in their airport lounges since they believe that this competes directly with their own airport facilities (restaurants and bars).

One way of solving the problem would be offering two different services on aircraft which have two separate business cabins. One could cater for those wishing to sleep while the other could still maintain an elaborate meal service.

Having dinner at 11.30pm US time on SAS’ Chicago to Copenhagen evening service is disorientating since it is already breakfast time in Denmark…

[FinnFlyer]

This is one of the issues that will never meet everyones hopes, while one wishes to eat, the fellow passenger wants to sleep etc…
Also not everyone wants or can arrive to the airport hours before the flight just to have the meal. Agree that flying east coast USA to Europe, the service should be swift, but flying from Asia to Europe you should have a choice (leaving midnight is only early evening in Europe) to have a full meal with pre-dinner drinks.
But as said, lights can and should be dimmed.
All are a matter of opinion and ones desire, but are there many who can sleep 9-10 hours on an Asia flight of over 11 hours?

[MartynSinclair]

Not as difficult as you may think. The -400 could easily cater for this, perhaps using the upstairs as a sleeper / reduced service zone.

[Scandinavian]

For some reason I alway find it easier to sleep 9/10 hours coming back from Asia. Not in the opposite direction, even if the flight leaves really late.

Having said that European cabin crews generally seem tireder on their way back from Asia too…

[Author]

Posts