Ever Wonder What Crew Rest Areas On Airplanes Look Like?

I stumbled onto a post on Flyertalk which links to an article detailing what the crew rest areas look like on various airplanes. As brutal as international travel is for passengers, it’s even tougher on the flight attendants who are on their feet, working for a large portion of that time. On the 12+ hour long-haul flights, I’ve noticed that typically the crew will work in shifts with one group handling boarding and 1st meal service, with the next group coming in for 2nd meal service and landing.

For pilots, most airlines block off seats in Business or First Class, so you’ll often see them shuffling in and out of the cabin to catch some shut eye. In fact, on all of our Korean Air flights, two First Class seats have been blocked off for pilots. I imagine that for all airlines this is a topic that comes up in pilot union negotiations, since the decision ultimately impacts seat availability and revenues.

Until now, the crew rest area is one area of the plane that I’ve never seen pictures of before, so I found this article particularly interesting. Here’s a sample of the crew rest area on a Boeing 787, which provides a loft-like area that can sleep up to 5.

And as you’d expect, on the Airbus A380 with a larger crew, more crew rest areas are needed. Here’s a graphical rendering of the crew rest area that was put into the Emirates A380 planes, which shows a super bunk bed-style crew rest area which can sleep more than 12 people.

If you’re interested, a lot more detail in the link above. One of the commenters actually made an interesting point – would you actually prefer this style of cabin to the traditional Business Class cabins you find today?