Another door that always interests folks is the unmarked door to the crew rest quarters on the 777. Where does that go????
It may be located in different places on different configurations, but ours was across from a lav in the main cabin with no markings whatsoever. I never looked behind me to see the look on people’s faces when I entered, but they always looked at me as I exited like “where in the Hell did YOU come from?”
Well, once behind that door you climb about 6 steps straight up. Another seniority mitigating move. You then enter a great little cabin-above-the-cabin that is quiet. Ours was configured with 2 bunks forward where the most senior person slept (separated from off-gassing and snoring…) and then a center area with 2 first class reclining seats for anyone who wanted to read or listen to music or watch a movie. Immediately aft of that area were 6 bunks, 3 on each side, set up something like a sleeper car on a train. They were cubby holes where you could pull a curtain closed for privacy. Inside you had air vents, entertainment jacks, a mirror, disposable linens, a blanket and a pillow. It was Heaven. On long-haul flights the wonderful thing was that you could be ALONE for a period of time. On my ATL-DXB flights which ran close to 17 hours, we could sometimes get a 5 hour crew rest. On shorter flights it might be a 3 hour rest. Whatever you got was yours and that was golden.
During briefing you would choose your crew rest (you go up in shifts) by seniority. Nobody particularly wanted to go first because you really weren’t tired yet. The middle was better because it broke the flight up. I liked the last shift the most because I would arrive at my destination rested and when I came off crew rest I knew it was just one quick service and done. The last one was always most popular. After 30 years or so sometimes I got what I wanted and sometimes I didn’t. It kept me humble.
Everyone kept watch for when it was time for their particular crew rest. Woe be to you if you get between a crew member heading towards crew rest and that door. It’s serious. The designated crew member calls upstairs about 10 minutes before shift change to wake everyone and everybody knows it’s time to get your bunk cleaned up, set up for the next person, get dressed and out so you don’t slow the process down. Everything is timed to the second and once again, there’s no consideration for sexual orientation. If you don’t want to see someone putting their skirt or pants on out in the aisle up there, don’t look. Trust me, none of us want to see it and nobody looks. You can’t sleep in your clothes and you can’t get dressed in those bunks. Hence the dressing in the aisle.
One by one we stumble down the ladder and out the door, squinting at the light like zombies. Of course the first stop is the lav to brush your teeth and such, and I was always amused when leaving the lav on an aircraft when the next person in line would look at me like “Oh, it’s you…” like we don’t use bathrooms or they shouldn’t wait for us.
Back to reality as we know it, showtime!
The cabin above the cabin. Where your crew goes to get a break.
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