Qantas is Making Flight Attendants Sleep Next to Passengers On 12 Hour Long-Haul Flights

Australian flag carrier Qantas has been accused of forcing flight attendants working 12-hour long-haul flights to sleep beside passengers in the cabin because the airline has been using aircraft which don’t have special crew bunk facilities installed.  Due to the length of these flights, it is a legal requirement that flight attendants are assigned a rest period in which they can get some sleep but photos reveal how cabin crew have been made to sleep across a row of four Economy Class seats.

Photos obtained by the publication Australian Aviation show at least four centre rows of Economy Class seats blocked out for cabin crew rest with thin mattress pads placed across the seats and blankets hanging over the top in an attempt to block out some light.  Aviation regulators normally require crew to rest in a dedicated facility or, when that’s not possible, a Business Class seat separated by a privacy curtain.

The makeshift crew rest facility is currently being used on some of Qantas’ Airbus A330 fleet which are used on flights between Brisbane and Los Angeles.  The average flight time on this route is around 12 and a half hours with a time difference of 17 hours.

Regulators have given the all-clear for Qantas to make flight attendants take their rest on Economy Class seats but a privacy curtain should have been installed to block out light.  Apparently, pandemic induced supply chain issues have delayed the installation of the privacy curtain.  

Pilots can make use of a dedicated crew rest facility with fully lie-flat seats which is completely separated from the passenger cabin.

The photos emerged after a difficult few weeks for Qantas which has seen the airline blasted over its treatment of passengers and its employees.  Long-haul flight attendants based in Australia are currently battling the airline over an attempt by the airline to change their terms and conditions.  Qantas has applied to the Fair Work Commission to terminate its Long Haul Cabin Crew agreement as a “last resort to change restrictive and outdated rostering processes”.

While the dispute continues, the airline has been accused of “offshoring” jobs overseas.  Qantas has launched a massive recruitment drive for UK-based flight attendants who will operate flights between Europe and Australia.  Qantas is also using lower-paid New Zealand-based flight attendants on some long-haul routes.

Qantas says it has been forced to use New Zealand-based cabin crew on some long-haul flights because of the ongoing contract dispute that restricts the number of aircraft that Australian long-haul crew can work on.  

“A small amount of flying is being done by New Zealand-based crew because the union was not prepared to support Australian-based crew working on longer routes with some of our A330 aircraft, including the Brisbane to Los Angeles route, on terms that we were able to agree to,” explained Qantas executive manager for cabin crew Rachel Yangoyan.

“We wanted to have our Australian-based crew do this flying, but without the union’s support for this to happen, we’ve instead had to use New Zealand-based crew on some of these flights,” Yangoyan continued.

Despite a rebound in travel demand, some Australian flight attendants are still waiting to return to work owing to the contract dispute and a delay in training.  Qantas says a decision to send some flight attendants to retrain in Dubai at the Emirates training facility is temporary and that Qantas approved trainers will be conducting all of the training.