In many airlines, cabin crew are shown to be sitting in different areas. Is it common for airlines to offer different seating configurations for a particular airline model? Also, are there any advantages of the same?
For example, in A320, you will find cabin crew seating in the aisle at the rear of the aircraft in some aircraft, near the toilet.
Crew seating is partly concerned with the regulations requiring a crew member next to certain exits. Airlines choose different combinations of seating based on class and galley/lavatory arrangements and this changes the number of required exits and crew required to sit next to the exits. Some long hall airlines require berths for crew rest and sleep - I imagine some airlines may have employee union requirements.
All this requires ongoing customized cabin arrangements. Airlines often change the seating during mandatory maintenance (a, b, and c checks) to accommodate different routes, cultural expectations and changing economy.
Interestingly, the cockpit itself may vary. According to FAA regulations large aircraft must have at least one observer seat (usually called a "jump seat"). But, I have seen cockpit options that vary the number and type of "jump seat" in the triple 7.
For example, one cockpit of a Boeing 777 offered two padded conventional seats or three fold down "bench" type seats. I guess one company wanted the FAA observer to fall asleep and another company wanted to discourage "observers".
