Hidden bunks, sneaky Twix’s, serving 400 teas and coffees and 233 meals and walking almost five miles – welcome to a day in the life of a Virgin Atlantic cabin crew.
Intriguing time-lapse footage has been released by the carrier that reduces a working day on board a Dreamliner flight from London to Los Angeles to just a few minutes.
It begins by showing 25-year-old stewardess Emma Ashley arriving at London Heathrow on a chilly October morning for a briefing with flight service manager Mark Gallagher and the rest of her team.
Intriguing time-lapse footage has been released by the carrier that reduces a working day on board a Dreamliner flight from London to Los Angeles to just a few minutes. At the start it shows the crew briefing at Heathrow
Stewardess Emma Ashley (pictured), from Surrey, is one of 10 crew members on the flight
The crew grab a bite to eat in the galley as they take a break from serving 233 passengers
At this meeting Mark tells the crew about special requests, the identities of VIPs and safety updates.
Then it’s on to the plane – a Boeing 787 called Lucy in the Sky – and off to Los Angeles, 10 hours and 28 minutes away.
Emma is one of 10 cabin crew and the clip underscores just how busy they are.
She serves drinks, pretzels, lunch with wine, tea and coffee, hot snacks, ice creams, water, juice, afternoon tea, hot towels and landing cards and sweets to 233 passengers in the economy and premium economy cabins.
She does get some time out, though, in a hidden crew bunk and in the galley, where the crew nibble chocolate – one is filmed grabbing a quick Twix – eat meals and make the odd round of tea.
Emma, who’s from Surrey, said: ‘The Heathrow to Los Angeles flight is one of my favourite routes to fly. Especially when you’re leaving grey London and you know you’ll be in LA in a few hours.
The Dreamliner has a hidden crew bunk – where Emma has a read
One crew member grabs a Twix part-way through the 10-hour flight
‘The flight was really busy but the customers were lovely and really appreciative especially of the ice creams served half way through the flight – they were really popular.’
Mark, 47, who’s from the Wirral and been with Virgin Atlantic for 19 years, added: ‘We had such a good bunch of crew on this flight. It was busy and everyone worked really hard but we also had a lot of fun.
‘Los Angeles is a great route to fly, especially now we have the 787 aircraft flying it. It’s my favourite aircraft and really popular with our customers, too.’