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

Nobody is ever pronounced dead on a commercial flight. The crew will perform CPR until the body is removed from the plane. Otherwise, the coroner’s office can impound the aircraft for days, until their investigation is complete. If a physician on board declares the patient dead, well, bummer for the airline. More than once I came in to work to find a deceased passenger in the locker room, waiting for the coroner to pick up the body.

Also, dead people are transported as cargo on commercial flights. We refer to them as human remains. If you see a long rectangular cardboard box the size of a coffin being carefully loaded into a cargo bin by several rampers, it’s human remains.

You have a set limit of how many hours you can fly, and you need 12 hours of rest between duties, i've once seen a pilot Wait 2 unnecessary minutes to turn off the engine to make the flight attendant out of hours for the next day.

The only dirty thing about my job was the airplanes. they never wash the floors, the seats. it’s gross.

The Galley!

Not a Flight Attendant but exEngineer and trust me, if the aircraft galley were inspected like any other food business it would be condemned within the first trolley!

That’s excluding the dirty water tanks and cleaning crew using one rag from ceiling lights to floor trim.

If you ask anyone who maintains aircraft, you bet they’re buying their meal at the airport.

There's a 600 page book in the cockpit with every. Single. Thing. that can possibly go wrong, from a bulb going out to an engine falling off, a biohazard or a bomb threat.

I used to work as a flight attendant and I've seen a lot of stupid and crazy [stuff]. The alcoholism, drug abuse and depression is common in the domain. It's hard for a lot of people to live a superficial life. It's fun at first to see new places and new destinations. But at some point rome or new delhi is just another place at work. Sound downing but I've seen a lot people complain about this and me as well.

This little secret has been in the news lately, pilots and flight attendants are usually only paid when the aircraft door is closed. I am a flight attendant for a regional carrier get paid per diem, about two dollars an hour from the moment we sign in until the moment our trip is finished. However, our hourly rate is only paid when the doors closed.

While the hourly rate might sound good ($20-50+ depending on carrier and seniority) we are typically only paid 75 to 85 hours a month.

I buddy of mine has been a pilot for the better part of 30 years and says that back 15-20 years ago the Russian/Soviet pilots and crew had to been watched like hawks (sometimes even being locked in a room) because there was a high chance of them getting absolutely s**t faced before when they were supposed to fly.

There is an alarming amount of things that can be broken/inop on a MEL (minimum equipment list) and the airplane can still fly.

I was a flight attendant: we had a boiler in the back galley that provided warm water that we used to serve hot drinks (coffee/tea/chocolate).

Well, the tanks in which water is stored are rarely cleaned thoroughly.

I had that water myself every now and then (since it was the only free thing we were allowed to take from the bar -we had to pay for water bottles!!!-), but if I fly as a passenger I try to avoid it as much as I can!

I can’t even imagine the amount of germs and mold that can be forming in those tanks!!

Ah, also, the water intake for the refill of that tank is centimeters away from the waste disposal valve…

The toilets are near where we sit, and no matter how hard you try to cover the fact that you’re taking a dump. It makes a different noise than if you just go number 1.

No matter what stupid thing you see or read about getting a 'free upgrade' 99% of the time it’s all bollocks.

My primary job, is 'Credit Card Salesman'.

My secondary job, is preventing people from writing letters to corporate or appearing on the 6-O'clock news.

My tertiary job is to keep us from getting sued when you run to the bathroom during turbulance.

FA here... crop dusting. Basically farting whilst we walk down the aisle due to the bloating. If you fly frequently theres a high chance an fa has farted right by your head as they walked down the aisle.

Flying isnt glamourous, one of my friend got spit on and cornered by a passenger and the company and the police did absolutely nothing about it. Also have heard of a few pilots trying to get sexual favors in flight, to no avail (from my knowledge).

Pilots are on their phones or reading the newspaper all the time.