35 Of The Darkest Airline Industry Secrets, Shared By Flight Attendants

I used to be a flight attendant and when someone was really rude I’d just go to the computer we had to reset the inflight tv screens and I’d keep resetting theirs sporadically so that they couldn’t watch their movie. Very petty of me I know.

Not a secret - but if you’re nice you can get quite a bunch of stuff for free.

Example - I was on a flight home (American Airlines) and there was a baby behind us that was just nooooottt having it. Pretty much cried all the way from Phoenix to Chicago. I felt awful.

I was in the aisle, and saw that both the parents were taking turns walking around with the baby. So I asked them if they wanted something drink or a snack…I figured even the human interaction would be nice.

I ordered them something and just went back to my movie. A few minutes later - I got a tap on the shoulder and got a little 'goodie bag' with some treats, and drinks and a little voucher for 24 hour** access to the AA lounge.

Be nice people - it pays off!

We won't hesitate to tape you to the seat if the situation demands it.

Back pre-911 I was traveling globally for the military (not American. Canadian and Brit).

Whenever I stopped in at a major Canadian airport I would grab a mess of Air Canada luggage tags.

Alot of my American contemporaries would ask for them when flying commercial to put on their luggage, especially when flying through the Middle East and Africa.

The American luggage was targeted for abuser, theft, etc

They never touched Canadian bags.

A friend of mine who works for Emirates told me this little gem. Whenever they fly into Saudi Arabia, Emirates makes the flight attendants lock the entire galley including all the food, water and drinks, all the napkins and cutlery too. This is beacuse in the past, Saudi Arabian authorities would come on board and literally take anything they want and walk out. And there was nothing the airline or staff could do.

If you bring a box of chocolates for the flight crew, you will get all the free snacks (and sometimes beers) they can throw at you.

My old coworker had been a flight attendant for like 20 years and knew all the secrets. This was his best recommendation for a good flight.

The flight attendants already know what you are going to say. Every joke, come on, request, complaint. They KNOW you are going to say that thing. If this is their 3rd flight of the day, they’ve heard it 6 times already.

No one is clever on an airplane.

I once overheard a phone call at the gate check-in. A flight attendant was hungover, slept-in and was going to be pretty late.

A minute later, the person at the kiosk made an announcement about how some pre-flight maintenance was going to delay the flight.

I was thinking like, 'you lying sonofab*tch'. Lol

Flight attendants dont get paid on the ground. Only flying hours are paid. We are slave labor on the ground and duties are continually added to our unpaid work time because the company knows they dont have to pay us. We show up 2 to 3 hours before we even start getting paid and some days we will work up to 14 hrs and only get paid for 5 or 6 of those hours. It should be illegal.

Please be kind when you are boardng the plane and getting all pissy about your bags etc, the flight attendant is a volunteer while she is helping you on the ground, she is essentially doing you a favor.

They ought to change the name "Flight Attendant" to reflect the PRIMARY responsibility instead of the incidental tasks performed when everything is going ok. I've been suggesting "Cabin Safety Officer" for years. I bet with that name, they'd have to take a lot less s**t.

We have a list with every passenger’s full name and seat number. Sometimes when we’re bored we’ll Google you.

Flight attendants get equally if not more annoyed when flights are delayed. A lot are paid only for the 'flight time' - meaning they aren't paid to sit at the airport to wait....or even to greet customers during onboarding...

For that reason alone, the longer the flight the better. Imagine working on a short route where your actual work is 3-4h but you're paid for 55 minutes as that was the duration of the flight.

Used to work for a UK airline (non crew).

It was normal for passengers that died onboard to be kept in their seats until landing. They would be wrapped in blankets and propped up to look like they were sleeping to not freak out other passengers.

Former flight attendant here. First of all I’d like to say that everything varies from airline to airline and country to country. I worked for a Latin American airline. The environment was quite toxic, there was A LOT of harassment from the pilots and copilots.. some of them would abuse the position of power they had to make some indecent proposals to the air hostesses. Maybe this is not a secret but for me it was a shock when a pilot (aged 40+) would text me during my days off to hang out (I was 19), I don’t even know from where he got my number and I felt very uncomfortable around him. This was nothing in comparison to other things that many of us experienced.

Source: my mom is a flight attendant.

When flight attendants greet you as you step on the plane, they're doing two things: 1) checking to see if you're drunk/stoned, and 2) checking to see if you're strong/buff, so in the event of an emergency they can tap you in if need be (i.e. need to pull open the emergency door or lift something, etc.)

My friend is a flight attendant, she told me they change their emergency code words every few months. Once an emergency code word (could be something like “marvellous”) is used by a crew member when speaking over PA to pilot, pilot will automatically lock cockpit and not open the door again no matter what.

A significant number of them are homeless. Living out of their suitcase and the crew break room.

I was a pilot for a low paying regional airline in the US. The pay for new flight attendants is pathetically low. Since they spend 90% of their lives on the road anyway some don’t have a permanent place to live.

Not a flight attendant, but used to be a supervisor for a major US carrier. We had an employee whose child had a science project about germs. She brought her kid in on an overnighted aircraft and they took samples from all over. The galley, lavoratories, seats, tray tables, just about everywhere. The area with the most amount of fecal matter was the tray tables. Yep. I also never drink anything that is never sealed because I have witnessed cleaners who clean the lavoratories then jump to the galley without changing gloves.

Flight attendant here.

If someone acts like a major jerk mid flight, we will have security meet you on the ground at the destination.

We have limited resources available, so if you get b****y about wanting steak but we only have chicken left, there are literally zero things we can do about it. There is only so much space we have to stock all the goodies.

There may be major drama going on between crew members, but we do our best to hide it and give good customer service. I have literally cried behind a wall before because a crew member was being condescending and rude, and walked out into the cabin smiling afterward.

We make fun of people for being rude, being inconsiderate of others, playing videos out loud, clipping toenails, eating salt dried fish and leaving the bones on the floor.....

People will literally ask us about mileage points and why they didn’t get upgrades and why their bag got delayed and how they’re going to miss their connection. If there is a major delay flying into a city, we literally hide in galleys to avoid people asking us questions.

If a passenger is rude to our face, we will crunch up the snack mix or cookie before handing it to them, essentially giving them a bag of crumbs.

I worked for the ground crew at a private airport. Flights from other countries have to throw away all uneaten food right off the plane, as it is International Waste, and needs to be incinerated.

Additionally, if flights for private planes are delayed, their food that was standing by has to go somewhere... So they gave it to us. So tasty.