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#12452 by Kraken
29 Apr 2006, 14:45
If I am travelling in UC and a friend is travelling on the same flight in Y, would the cabin crew allow the friend to visit you in UC & sit on the ottoman for a chat? NB: Friend is not after any food or drink whilst visiting UC.

I think I can guess the answer (i.e. No), but wanted to enquire with some seasoned VS customers. I know some airlines - notably BA - are red-hot on drawing the curtains between the classes as soon as the captain pings the seatbelt sign to indicate the crew are OK to move around the aircraft after takeoff.
#115011 by preiffer
29 Apr 2006, 14:49
Not sure about the ottoman/seat area, but as far as the UC bar goes....

Yes, providing:

a) you're nice to the crew
b) it's not that busy at the bar/in general
c) you ask the CSS/FSM first.


I brought two Y friends up to the bar for half an hour or so during my flight to SFO in Feb. It wasn't that busy, and I'd checked with the CSS. They had a couple drinks, we chatted for a bit, and they went back to watch their movies.

A lot of it will depend on the crew and how busy things are on the day though.
#115031 by mas66
29 Apr 2006, 17:41
Hi

I have had a drink or two at the UC bar with friends in Y ..as preiffer rightly says it will almost entirely depend on the crew ... I have to say that the few times I have asked I have never been refused but have always limited it to a half hour or so rather than a marathon sesh' .....

Cheers
Mark :D
#115032 by seany
29 Apr 2006, 17:57
I often have a friend in Y if I'm in J when I travel to ANU, and the crew always let her have any drink at the bar, let her have some nibbles and sit on the ottoman. Mind you, this is only on LGW flights but I'm sure tis roughly the same out of LHR.
#115035 by Jonathan
29 Apr 2006, 18:33
I too have had a friend visit from Y
Trick is not to expect it and be very nice to the crew!

this was on a bos-lhr route
#115037 by slinky09
29 Apr 2006, 18:35
Had this happen too, Preiffer's advise is worth adopting, a little charm in the process works too
#115048 by Kraken
29 Apr 2006, 20:49
Thanks for the replies / advice. As we are travelling on the MAN-MCO route, space at the bar [2 seats I believe] may be limited. I guess we will have to choose a quiet time on the flight for me to speak nicely to the crew and ask.

On a sideline, everyone who replied is either FC Ag or Au - would this have had any bearing on the crew's response? (Am not complaining if it did - it makes good business sense to bend rules slightly for people who spend a lot of money with your company).
#115052 by wafren
29 Apr 2006, 22:24
last year we where upstairs in pe coming home[|)][|)][|)][|)] and some people next to us had some visitors what a pain in the a--- that was, all nice and quiet then yap yap yap 20 minutes saying wow wwwwoooooww this is great have you had a nice time[:0][:(!] etc etc etc until the stewards banged the drinks trolley in them they soon moved back down stairs how dare they invade my private cabin[ii]
#115053 by pegitt
29 Apr 2006, 22:55
Originally posted by Kraken
[br
On a sideline, everyone who replied is either FC Ag or Au - would this have had any bearing on the crew's response?.


No i know of people who are non FC members who have invited guests up for a drink at their suite.
#115175 by Monkey
01 May 2006, 11:02
Personally I hate it when people get their friends from Y up to PE it really grates. You haven't paid no get back the back! I knowI would hate it even more in UC.
If it were me I would go back to Y to see my friend.
But that's just me!
#115176 by preiffer
01 May 2006, 11:07
Hi Monkey,

I think this is a really important issue, and hence the reason for absolutely checking with the crew beforehand - it's entirely their call.

If they feel it will disturb the UC passengers, or that it's too busy - then no, absolutely not, and I agree with that.


During that same flight I referred to, I did actually go back to them for a couple of 20 minute segments. However, a) this can be a problem with space to chat in Y, and b) if the crew have no issue with it and Upper's empty enough for it not be a distraction - what's the problem?

We're talking about a non-interfering element of the cabin (the bar) that will keep one of your (otherwise lonely!) UC passengers very happy without detriment of service to other pax on the same flight. I'd call that good customer service, in my book. [y]
#115177 by Nottingham Nick
01 May 2006, 11:28
Originally posted by Monkey

If it were me I would go back to Y to see my friend.
But that's just me!


When Sky came 'down the back' to visit us in February, on the way back from Miami. We had people around us moaning that we were talking too loud. [:I] It is such a confined area that priveta conversation is almost impossible.

It least if the visitor goes upfront to the bar area, there is less chance of other pax being disturbed.

Nick
#115217 by declansmith
01 May 2006, 16:45
If im onboard I normally will judge it on the day!

It is difficult as if you say yes to one person then you have to say yes to everyone else.

Also people pay the premium for the quieter cabin and generally judging by the looks on others they get annoyed with visitors.

Quite often on the LHR 744 PE customers from upstairs will come to the bar and order a drink and then the Upper deck crew will notice so we always politely remind them the bar is for UC customers only.

In my experience you allow the customer to bring there friend to the bar for half an hour and next thing is 2 hours later they are still there!!!

On a recent flight some customers had the kids in Y and the family asked if they could come up during the flight and we said it would not be possible because it was so busy, on the other aisle we had the same problem,imagine if we had said yes there would have been five 'extra' passengers in Upper Class!!

Anyway having said that it will depend on the day because of the crew and also the aircraft especially on the LGW a/c which has the smaller UC cabin!
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