What is downstairs on a plane?

November 20, 2008 4:14 AM

Where do the air hostesses/stewards go when they go downstairs on long haul flights?

The door to the stairs is in the middle of the plane by the toilets and pretty much looks like a toilet door. They go down stairs and turn a corner and that is all you can see.

I'm not sure what kind of plane it is on but it probably a 747 or 767. Are there any photos out there of this space?

posted by meech to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

Best answer: Looks like it's a cargo compartment. They may be getting stuff out of storage for the galleys. I thought it might have been a crew rest area, but Jane's says that's on the upper deck.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:05 AM on November 20, 2008

Best answer: It goes to a crew rest area typically, but does depend on the airplane and airline. Airliners.net is the mecca of plane photos. Here's an album of crew rest photos. Or, if you're looking for something in particular, go to the photo search page and search interior views for keywords "crew rest," and also narrow down by airline and aircraft type.
posted by blue mustard at 5:07 AM on November 20, 2008 [5 favorites]

Can you give an example of what airline and route you were flying? That would help narrow down the equipment type.

It is far more common for crew rest areas to be above the main cabin on Boeing aircraft.
posted by grouse at 7:27 AM on November 20, 2008

Best answer: sounds like a lower deck galley
posted by A189Nut at 7:49 AM on November 20, 2008

If you watch any action movies that take place on a plane (Passenger 57, Airforce One, Snakes on a Plane, etc) you'll get a pretty good idea of what it's like down there. Just storage mainly.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:26 AM on November 20, 2008

Response by poster: Wow - those areas are amazing. And just as I suspected - while I'm crying myself to [not] sleep with my knees round my ears, they're hanging around here.

The flights I've been taking are on older Singapore Airlines planes, Auckland to Singapore and onwards, so realistically it's probably something a bit crappier like this.
posted by meech at 10:38 AM on November 20, 2008

Cool photos although those appear to be upstairs (based on caption and the curvature of the ceiling.

To see the working galley in action, see if you can get a hold of the short lived FX series Thief which featured scenes in the lower galley.
posted by mmascolino at 11:25 AM on November 20, 2008

Response by poster: those appear to be upstairs

True. It seems that downstairs must be a galley and they sneak off for a kip by going up.
posted by meech at 11:33 AM on November 20, 2008

Best answer: According to Singapore Airline's website, they fly the 777-200 and/or -200ER and 777-300ER to Aukland. I only found one photo of a SQ 777 crew rest, but it does say that it is downstairs.
posted by blue mustard at 7:10 PM on November 20, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks blue mustard. I'll carry that image in my head next time I travel.

I was reminded of my curiosity on this matter when the murder on last night's Bones took place in the crew rest area of a plane - it was huge and I was pretty sure it was all TV lies!
posted by meech at 8:48 PM on November 20, 2008