Tucking snotty tissues into the seat backs

Tucking snotty tissues into the seat backs
Shutterstock

So you had a sneezing fit during a flight – no big deal, says Rebecca. It happens to airline professionals, too. What is a big deal is when you tuck those used tissues into the seat-back pocket. That’s something flight attendants would never do because chances are, at some point in their careers, they’ve had to fish out a pile of wet, gross, snotty tissues after landing.

Advertisement

Asking where you are

Asking where you are
Shutterstock

Flight attendants are not programmed with their own personal GPS system, but somehow passengers seem to forget that mid-flight. Flight attendants wouldn’t, however. “Passengers will often randomly point out the window at something 35,000 below and ask, ‘What’s that?’ or ‘Do you know where we are right now?’” says Suzanne. When she says she doesn’t know, the passenger sometimes follows up with: “Can you ask the captain?” Of course, that’s not going to happen since he or she is busy flying the plane.

Discover 13 things that airlines won’t tell you. 

Taking off your clothes

Taking off your clothes
Getty Images

Yes, sometimes it gets too warm on an airplane, but you have to keep your clothes on. This is non-negotiable. Does this really need to be said? Apparently! Rebecca says that passengers occasionally disrobe “because they are uncomfortable – like the guy sleeping on a red-eye flight who decided he was hot and took off his shirt.” She had to politely let him know he couldn’t do that, and of course, he complained. This is just common sense, but there is actually an airline dress code and following it may actually get you an upgrade.

Giving yourself a pedicure at 30,000 feet

Giving yourself a pedicure at 30,000 feet
Shutterstock

Rebecca has seen it all on a plane, including passengers cutting their toenails and fingernails in their seats. “I can’t tell you how many people have decided that the plane is a great place to get a mani/pedi!” she says. Not only is that rude and messy, but it also isn’t hygienic. Flight attendants deserve to be pampered after being on their feet all day, but there’s no way you will see them cutting their toenails on a plane.

Doing yoga in the galley

Doing yoga in the galley
Shutterstock

While stretching and even walking around during a flight is important, doing yoga on board – especially in the galley – is not recommended. For starters, there isn’t enough room for a makeshift yoga studio there. Plus, says Rebecca, “the galley is our work space, and these particular passengers don’t understand that in any normal circumstance you wouldn’t just walk into someone’s office and start stretching or doing yoga!” Apparently this happens more frequently than you might think.

Not planning ahead for special dietary needs

Not planning ahead for special dietary needs
Shutterstock

Flight attendants know that not every flight will have food and meals that cater to every passenger’s dietary needs, so they bring their own food with them, just in case. Some vegetarian or gluten-free passengers, however, will come on the plane without their own food and be shocked to learn there’s nothing they can eat on board, says Rebecca.

Crowding the boarding area

Crowding the boarding area
Shutterstock

For Suzanne, the differences between how passengers and flight attendants behave while flying begins before takeoff – in the boarding area at the airport. “Flight attendants would never line up in the boarding area,” she says, especially before the plane is even on the ground. She’ll often wonder, “Why are you standing there? You’ve got an assigned seat!”

Here are 13 more things you should never do at the airport.

Treating everything like an ottoman

Treating everything like an ottoman
Shutterstock

Rebecca points out that flight attendants never turn the plane into their own personal ottoman, yet she has observed passengers “putting their feet on seats, tray tables, and on other passengers’ armrests.” She doesn’t understand how passengers fail to realise “that they are not in their own home and other people have to sit where they have put their feet.”

Here are 10 things aeroplanes aren’t cleaning as well as they should. 

Touching the beverage cart

Touching the beverage cart
Getty Images

Got the munchies or need a napkin? Flight attendants have two words for you: Be patient. Unfortunately, some passengers don’t want to wait and can’t keep their hands to themselves. “Some passengers feel they can just grab, touch, or help themselves to anything on our cart,” says Rebecca. Not only is this kind of entitlement rude, but it’s also potentially unsanitary. The problem is compounded, she says, when the guilty passengers become very offended when called out on their inappropriate behaviour.

Here are 10 more things polite people don’t do on airplanes.

Handing over a dirty nappy

Handing over a dirty nappy
Shutterstock

Never hand your baby’s pooey nappy to a flight attendant to dispose of on your behalf. Either throw it away in the lavatory garbage can or wait until garbage bags are circulated after meal and beverage service. But above all, put it into the bag yourself. No matter how cute your baby is, his or her dirty nappy is not.

Never miss a deal again - sign up now!

Connect with us: