Lufthansa keeps making strange decisions with the interiors of its aircraft, and not learning from the experience of other airlines. They’ve crammed so many seats into their Airbus A320neo aircraft that there’s virtually none left for the galley – and this leaves them to seat a flight attendant on a folding chair.

In order to install additional rows of passenger seats, the the airline installed a space-saving galley-and-lavatory at the rear of the aircraft. Leaving no room to work, flight attendants use folding “camping chairs” on longer flights because normal built-in jumpseats would block access to the toilets.

Lufthansa A320neo landing at London Heathrow, Copyright: jarekk / 123RF Stock Photo

Airbus introduced the ‘Space-Flex’ concept around 2013 to add more seats to their narrowbody planes. This was first used by low cost carriers like Wizz Air that didn’t offer much service to begin with. Chasing their low cost competitors, Lufthansa and others followed suit.

There are now numerous SpaceFlex manufacturers and similar products for Boeing 737s. The one that Lufthansa is using doesn’t let them keep the normal jumpseats without blocking the lavatory doors. Delta dealt with this same problem a decade ago.

Folded Up Jumpseat On An Aircraft

Lufthansa could move the jumpseats, but this requires extensive certification work. So as a stopgap, the airline introduced foldaway chairs—nicknamed “camping chairs” by flight attendants—so cabin crew could sit without blocking the lavs. These chairs lack seatbelts and anchoring, so represent risk in turbulence.

They plan a longer-term solution in their 38 older Airbus A320ceos scheduled for the same space-saving layout. Lufthansa will install a strengthened partition wall between the galley and the passenger cabin, which would allow conventional jumpseats to be attached on the left side of the cabin so that crew can sit without impeding passengers from meeting their biological needs. However Lufthansa hasn’t said if they will retrofit Airbus A320neos that are already flying in order to have this solution.

@sophiajml The most random interactions are my favorite things about this job &lt3 #flightattendant #lufthansa #lufthansacityline #cabincrew #cabincrewlife #airbus #a320 #a320neo #munichairport ♬ Back on 74 – Stan 🙂

In 2016, Delta Air Lines addressed operational challenges on their Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft by removing a row of seats on one side to enlarge the galley space. This modification was necessary because the high-density seating configuration left insufficient room for flight attendants to maneuver in the galleys. Prior to this change, a crew seat had to remain stowed to allow passenger access to the lavatories or for flight attendants to access galley carts.

Galley carts

Former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker mocked Delta for this, saying,

What did Delta do with these same lavs though, Delta had like the crew seat on the door or some ridiculous thing (cackles) that’s not a threat, I just.. I don’t know why I felt.. that’s really funny.. I don’t know why I felt compelled..

Of course, American Airlines failed to build a mockup of their new standard domestic interior before deploying it and retrofitting planes with it (Project Oasis) leading them to do a second retrofit (Project Kodiak) to address some of their mistakes. And they, too, installed smaller lavatories whose doors opened into each other, and with smaller wash basins that sprayed water back at passengers.

So I don’t know why he was laughing at Delta. Lufthansa, though, should have learned from the experience.

(HT: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)