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Ichthypresbyter

I think on the A340 the crew rest area was actually in the hold, accessed by stairs down from the passenger cabin:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-France/Airbus-A340-3/214...

It was integrated into a cargo pallet, so could be removed on planes serving routes where it wasn't needed:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Lufthansa/Airbus-A340-313/43...

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the pallet idea is interesting. I bet it must be really well insulated from the noise!

I've heard of them having toilets downstairs too, and a quick search confirms this: https://simpleflying.com/airbus-a340-600-cargo-hold-toilets/ -- although these are permanent fixtures.

Lufthansa A340s have the downstairs toilets as well.

I just experienced those! In March I was flying MUC->SFO (the day before Trump "closed the borders", lucky timing for me). Due to COVID the plane had been downgraded from an A380 (which I was excited to try out, since I'd never been on one) and instead was a smaller Airbus which was also new to me. First time I went to the bathroom I was totally caught off guard. No idea this was a thing, had never even heard of it.

So novel that I took pictures to show my friends when I got back in the ground :-)

The A340 I flew also had the toilets downstairs on the cargo level. A stair would lead to a small hallway with 7 toilets. I quite liked the arrangement.

The A340 was the first plane where I became aware of the crew rest, because there was a downstairs area with passenger lavatories and also the crew rest behind another door, it was labeled as such.

It's a weird layout though, because in order to make headroom for the downstairs, it blocks out some seats 'upstairs'.

Not sure if it’s that plane, but there is one where the entrance is in the middle of the aircraft through a bathroom-type door.

Always a laugh seeing 2 or 3 crew enter a few minutes apart from each other.

Between the nasty, dry bleed air and this, yet another reason to hate the A340.

You hate a specific plane model because the crew rest area is below the passenger cabin?

Sure. You collect stamps. I hate an airplane. A man’s got to live!

You don't?!

Would it make you feel better if I said I don't particularly like this particular aircraft and the alternatives are so much better?

There are entire websites dedicated to helping you find a flight on a particular aircraft because some passengers know the difference between a good aircraft and flying rattle can.

what websites are those?

I'm not so surprised that a passenger would have a preference on the model of plane, although "hate" seems like an extreme overstatement.

I'm confused about why you'd care about an amenity that's purely for the crew. It's not obvious how anything about it could affect you while flying, especially its location in the aircraft.

What's the problem with the air that is specific to the A340?

Air from the outside is dry, and there are strategies to mitigate this. One of them is recirculation, and in some cases, humidifiers. But my understanding is that recirculation is controlled by the crew, and humidifiers are an option the airline may or may not take.

Unless an airplane has a condenser of some sort, and I don't know any plane that does that, there is no magic. Moisture has to come from inside the plane, either though passengers breathing (that's the idea with recirculation) and/or heavy onboard water tanks (humidifier).

787 have humidifiers built in.

A340 is the most beautiful plane, you barbarian. Can't you see the perfect proportions?

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