Where Do Flight Crew And Cabin Crew Sleep On Board?

Ever been on a long haul flight and wondered just where all the crew have gone? The crew actually sleep on board so they are fresh enough to continue serving passengers throughout the flight.

Where do they sleep? You don’t see them in the passenger cabin in seats usually. It’s one of those little mysteries that some people wonder about.

Crew Sleep Here!

Crew rest areas are located in different places on board different aircraft. For example, in the picture at the top of the post, you can see the pilots bunks on a Qantas Boeing 747-238B. They are immediately behind the cockpit upstairs.

On the other hand, cabin crew are often situated above where you sit. Yes, up above the overhead bins are sleeping areas for crew, usually accessed via concealed stairs somewhere on board the aircraft. Other times crew may be underneath the floor in their crew rest.

British Airways 777 Crew Rest

When you go up the concealed staircase, you find a long enough corridor with bunks situated on either side. From memory there are eight of them. These are curtained off from the main aisle for privacy.

Each bunk features a reading light and air vent and a notice to keep seat belts fastened when sleeping. There are a few other buttons and knobs as well, but I have no idea what they do. It is all quite comfortable really. Considering some flights are 14 hours long, it makes sense for the crew to have a proper place to sleep in between shifts on board.

Overall Thoughts

While not luxurious, crew bunks are quite functional. The fact that crew get to lay down to sleep properly rather then being situated upright in a seat is only fair considering they are at work.

It makes you wonder just how much extra space is above the passenger cabin. Maybe one day manufacturers will find some way to add passenger bunks without too much additional weight.

Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Boeing 787 Pilots Rest image by Shahram Sharifi via Wikimedia Commons.
Cabin Crew Bunks image by A.Katranzhi via Wikimedia Commons.