What does the flight crew with 1 and 2 bars do?

Question

For the first time, last week, I flew on a Continental 777 flight to London, and saw people with one and two bars on their shoulders and sleeves. I thought they might be for a change of crews, but if so why would they only have the one or two bars if they fly about the same amount of time?

Answer 1

Yes, they probably were Flight Attendants.
The senior PURSER, not "bursur" as posted, having the most bars.
There are a few airlines that use "cruise pilots" who only fly the enroute portions, while more senior pilots do the take offs and landings, that wear two bars but I do not believe Continental is one of them.

Answer 2

More than likely they were senior cabin crew. Chief Bursar and Assistant Bursar. Four bars is usually the Captain and three is the First Officer.

Edit: Purser and Bursar are both technically correct terms. Purser is more frequently used in the travel industry, I will concede that. The term originates from "the clerk of burser" or "the clerk of bursar," both ancient nautical terms that referred to the officer who was in charge of finances and supplies, in particular docking the cost of food and supplies from the wages of the crew.

Answer 3

They were no doubt flight attendants. At the airline for which I worked, one of our summer uniform blouses for both male and females had epaulets (bars). It was available for all of us, whether flying the purser position or not.