Tour of a Boeing 777

One thing cool about the company I fly for--I am qualified to work any of the aircraft we operate, anywhere in the world.  My least favorite is the Boeing 757--too many passengers and not enough Flight Attendants.  My favorite plane to work is a 767.  I just like the smaller size.    My second favorite to work is this one- the 777.  The one I am showing you is configured with 12 seats in First Class, 49 in Bitter Business Class and 197 in the Village Coach.

These First Class seats lie flat--those are pillows and blankets in the seats.  Usually, a Senior Mama will bid to work the First Class galley--it's a very easy position to work.  Only 12 passengers to tend to, and most will sleep after the meal.  And, on an International flight, one of the First Class seats is the pilots' crew rest seat--so, there is one less passengers to worry about.

This is half the galley in Business.  The person that works the Business galley does a lot of work.  She coordinates the whole she-bang: drinks, hot towels, linens, hot nuts cocktail snacks, wines, entrees, and dessert cart.  On an International flight, there will be a second service, which is usually not as intense as the first one.  All of this for 49 people.




Those aluminum boxes are called "carrier boxes".  Each one contains something different.  One might have the coffee service items, another will have linens or glassware, another will have orange juice and coffee creamers and lemons and limes.  A couple will have bags of ice, with tiles of dry ice on top.  On the wall in the Business galley you can see the "cork puller" which is used to open bottles of wine.  (Now, though, most of the wine comes with screw caps.)

The carts, under the counter top, also each have something different.  Two of them are beverage carts, with soda, beer, wines and liquor and glassware.  A couple of them have the basic trays for dinner--preset with a salad, appetizer, wine glass and silverware.  All the "aisle" person has to do is place the hot entree of choice onto the preset tray and place in on the passenger's table.  A couple more of the carts have the trays for the second meal service, which is done just before landing.






Coach seating












Our seats in Coach have individual monitors and there is a variety of programming--sure helps pass the time on a long flight.












This is the galley back in Coach.  Once again, the same sort of things as in the other two galleys--just 5 times as much!  And, the service isn't really even nice--we have to do it quickly--just a drink, another drink, chicken or pasta, coffee, that's really it.  And we do that 197 times for the first service, Later, the second meal service is more like a drink, slap a continental breakfast on your tray, then a "thanks for flying with us!"






The Coach galley is U shaped, with this being the 4th wall.  Carts and carrier boxes all over the place!















Lavatory in front of the 4L jumpseat.














Here is my favorite thing about some of our 777s: the Lower Lobe Crew Rest.  Located below the passenger cabin, in the crossaisle in the Economy cabin, most of our  passengers never see us descend down the stairs between meal services.

This is my friend, Remle, going downstairs of the Crew Rest area.  (These pictures were from training.)







Once below, there are six bunks with fresh linens for each crew person.  There is a curtain on each of the bunks that pull closed for privacy.  Inside the bunk is an air vent, a light, and an audio jack to listen to the inflight entertainment. There is also safety equipment down there, an escape hatch, and we have all memorized very specific instructions on how to fight a fire should one occur down there.







I usually change into yoga pants and a comfy shirt so I can really relax and not have my uniform so wrinkled when I go back to work after a break.


These two bunks are configured behind and under the stairs.









My friend, Keelan, who is now Chicago (ORD) based.












Finally, a cool tidbit about the Crew Rest area on a 747:  it is located way up in the tail of the aircraft and you get there by climbing a spiral staircase behind a door at the very back of the Coach cabin.  (Okay, it's a very skinny spiral staircase--don't get any visions of granduer here--after all, it's an airline I'm talking about!)  It looks similar to this Crew Rest, but has an additional two La-Z-Boy type recliners in there.)