easyJet A320 four sector day from the cabin manager's seat: the briefing, the four turnarounds

easyJet Bristol, cabin manager, and the four sector day thread on here is from the crew member's view. From the cabin manager's seat it is a different day and the new cabin managers ask me what it actually is. Here is a real one, last Tuesday, Bristol to Faro to Bristol to Alicante to Bristol.

04:45 sign on

The crew room, the four of us, the briefing: the safety questions (the A320 doors, the fire, a medical scenario), the plan for the day (four sectors, the turnaround targets, the sales focus for the day, the catering), anything unusual (a wheelchair passenger on sector two, a crew member on her second week). Ten minutes, warm, structured. The crew who are briefed well fly well.

Sector one, Bristol to Faro

The boarding (the bins, the bags forward early, the A320's 186), the cabin secure, the service (the drinks run, the buy on board, the commission), the landing prep, the cabin secure. Two and a half hours. The paperwork during the service: the sales reconciliation, the passenger count, the incident log if there is one (there was not).

Turnaround one, Faro, 25 minutes

The cabin cleaned by the crew (the easyJet turnaround is the crew's), the security check, the catering swap, the boarding of the return. The cabin manager at the door with the paperwork and the count, the crew in the cabin with the bins. We made it in 24. The crew who make the 25 minutes are the ones who clean while the passengers are still deplaning.

Sector two, Faro to Bristol, and the wheelchair

The wheelchair passenger boarded first with the assistance, the family of five who booked separately solved at the door, the service, the paperwork, the landing. The second week crew member did the PA and I watched her hands shake and then stop.

Turnaround two, Bristol, 35 minutes

The crew change that did not happen (we kept the same crew for all four, which is the Bristol pattern), the catering, the fuel delay of ten minutes that ate the turnaround, the boarding of the Alicante with a stag party that I spoke to at the door before they boarded. The cabin manager's door conversation with a stag party is a specific skill.

Sector three and four

Alicante and back, the stag party fine after the door conversation, the sales good on the outbound and dead on the return (the hungover Sunday pattern on a Tuesday), the second week crew member doing the service like a third month one by sector four, the paperwork, the landing.

15:10 sign off

The paperwork submitted, the sales reconciled, the second week crew member's feedback written (good, with the PA noted), the day done. Four sectors, 1,100 passengers, 24 minute and 35 minute turnarounds, one wheelchair, one stag party, no incidents, one crew member who grew up.

For the new cabin managers

The briefing is the day. The door is where the problems are solved before they board. The paperwork is done in the service, not at the end. And the second week crew member is the person you are actually there for.