Airline passenger news and views

I do not want to sound like a snob but I think I am about to do so. Anyway, here goes.

Marcus had to go to a legal conference in HongKong and I managed to tag along. His chambers makes him (read allows him to) travel business class.

Marcus reads and ignores his surroundings but I like to people watch. What surprised me was that four of these, not-inexpensive, seats were occupied by cabin crew on some kind of a jolly. They obviously knew the on-duty crew who spent a lot of time talking and joking with them.

The really rum part was that there were four other members of this crowd who were presumably seated back in goat class but came back and forth to business class on extended visits, chattering away, kneeling on the floor and sitting on the arm rests.  It was quite bizarre and the duty crew did nothing to stop it.

Marcus, of course, was oblivious and, as I was almost a stowaway myself, it was not for me to say anything but this was a blatantly bad show by the crew showing scant regard for paying passengers.

The perks of free or reduced travel for cabin and air-crew is already in the news because of the strike but, irrespective of that, surely employees have to behave in an appropriate manner and duty staff have to enforce the same standards as they would for any passenger? I think the passengers deserved better and the flight services director deserved the sack – but perhaps I am a snob after all!