It would be pretty awesome to be a flight attendant. You literally get paid to travel. However, there are some cons that come with a job that’s seemingly full of perks.
Much of it is dependent on the passengers, but these FAs’ secrets are finally out.
People love trying to join the Mile High Club.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last week, then you know about the two people caught trying to join the Mile High Club while on a flight to Ibiza on Ryanair. Passengers filmed the whole thing which, of course, went viral; as it turns out, the guy was on a bachelor sort of trip and has a pregnant fiancée back home. Passengers said most people were laughing but some wanted to move, and the Ryanair employees didn’t do much.
However, once the video went viral, The Sun reported that they came out with a statement saying, “We are looking into this matter. We will not tolerate unruly, disruptive or inappropriate behaviour at any time and any passengers who appear to behave in an unacceptable manner may be liable for further sanctions.”
The coffee is most likely decaf.
Flight attendants report that most likely the coffee you are drinking is decaf.
Some personnel will make separate pots, but a lot of them will only make one, plus the idea that they don’t want a bunch of fidgety passengers. They want sleepy ones.
Men’s Health interviewed a couple flight attendants about their secrets, and one mentioned the coffee saying, “Quite a few flight attendants are pretty lazy about making separate decaf pots. I always did, but even the regular coffee only had half the normal caffeine.”
You shouldn’t drink the water.
Planes have giant water tanks in them. The thing is, that water is generally used for the sinks as well, meaning it is not the cleanest by any means. Therefore the coffee is probably not the cleanest. But hey, it’s hot water and that should kill most the germs, right? Maybe not.
The reason the water is most likely not the best is because those tanks are rarely cleaned, if ever. The same water in the plane’s holding tanks is also used for the toilets. John Goglia wrote about airplane water for Forbes, and let’s just say, after reading it, you’ll be bringing on your own bottled water.
Organs and coffins may be on board.
They both just may be on your flight. It is not an every flight sort of thing, but many flight attendants say it’s pretty normal to have a cooler on board with organs as well as coffins below.
In a post on airliners.net, employees of airlines admit, “It’s extremely common. Most airlines operating planes that are large enough to do so transport human remains in the cargo hold. The bodies must be embalmed and in at least a shipping casket. Shipping caskets are inexpensive metal caskets that are contained in a large cardboard box, for lack of a better term, and metal straps wrapped around it at several points.”
No one officially dies on flights.
According to Business Insider, “Technically only a doctor or licensed medical professional can pronounce someone dead, meaning no one officially dies in the air (unless a doctor is on board, presumably).”
Every airline has different answers but they’re all reasonably similar. The flight attendants are trained in certain medical procedures and protocol, but there is not too much to do if someone dies until the plane is landed. They will move the body to an empty row, strap them in, and cover them with a blanket. Yikes.
Texting is fine during takeoff and landing.
It’s 2017—this shouldn’t even be a thing anymore. The only real danger here is when you use your phone as you go up in elevation or come down from it, the frequency pings off several towers trying to find a signal rather than just one like when you’re on the ground.
If everyone was using their phone on every airplane in the area, then it might jam up the cell towers signal a bit but nothing crazy. That is why the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) banned phones on flights, not the FAA (Federal Aviation Association).
The myth was even busted on Mythbusters!
Flight attendants fart all around you.
Everybody does it. Especially flight attendants. When you think about it, they’re stuck in a little confined area for the most of the flight except when they walk around. Why would they want to stink up their area? Exactly.
So when you get an extra nice flight attendant checking if everything is okay for the third time, it may be because they have some gas and wanted to fart.
According to The Sun (an incredibly reliable source, of course), “Flight attendants regularly complained about the excess bloat and gas that they suffer from as part of their job. During a flight, crew will try to refrain from passing wind in the tiny galley area where they spend most of their time. Instead, they will save their colleagues’ delicate noses by spreading the gas throughout the cabin.”
Be nice or your drink will suffer.
Since most airlines charge for food these days, it’s rare you’re really ever eating unless it’s an international flight. In that case, some flight attendants warn to never eat the dinner rolls.
As for drinks, many attendants say they will only pour half of the hard stuff into a customer’s drink who is either rude or drinking too much.
One flight attendant told news.com.au, “I’ll take a cup and scoop in a lot of ice, and when I pour the soda or juice in, there’s, like, two tablespoons. I call it the A**hole Special.”
They want to take off ASAP.
No one likes the boarding process, especially the flight attendants. One of the main reasons they dislike it more than the passengers is because in many cases, they’re not getting paid yet.
“We don’t get paid until the doors close and the plane gets moving,” former flight attendant Shawn Kathleen, creator of Passenger Shaming said. She says many flight attendants are paid by the flight hour, and that clock doesn’t start running until the doors close and the flight is underway. “We’re just as motivated to get going as the passengers.” Now you can understand why it seems they are impatient as they are herding us like cattle into our seats for take off.
Now you can understand why it seems they are impatient as they are herding us like cattle into our seats for take off.
