Flight attendants have been revealing behind-the-scenes secrets that passengers rarely know - and it makes for pretty disturbing reading.
From the reason you should never walk around barefoot to why cabin crew never drink the coffee, their insight will change the way you see air travel forever.
Be warned, you can’t unlearn these.
1. Don’t take your shoes off
“So many incidents occur on the plane that everyday passengers don’t see or consider. [On] my last flight an elderly man accidentally shit on the floor, stepped in it, and walked on like it was nothing. Do not walk around barefoot. Pee and poop happens, all over. I feel like I witness an ‘accident’ regularly - in their seat or in the lav. People get nose bleeds or their wounds open. Obviously when we land, it is thoroughly cleaned. But inflight our resources are limited.” - seeyou_never
2. The real reason for your flight delay
“I dated a flight attendant for a while. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is that sometimes delays are caused by flight attendants not showing up and the airline scrambling to get a back-up scheduled. Like a flight attendant was partying too hard last night and decided to call off two hours before that $1500 cross-ocean flight you just popped on.
“She loved to party as did a lot of her co-workers and was often hungover or ‘out of it’ on flights. Even though pay was shit, their union made it very hard to get fired so call offs were kind of no big deal.” - tz100
3. Wash your hands after touching your seatbelt
“Never saw a seatbelt get changed out or washed either - even after they were puked on, pissed on, etc.” - selkiee
4. The best meal to choose
“If a meal service is on offer go for the kosher option, so you know it was prepared that day.” - penguinopusredux
5. Why you can’t use e-cigarettes onboard
“Flight attendant for a European airline for the past six years here...Yes smoking really is an issue on board, please please don’t do it. We’re all trained in firefighting but it’s still extremely dangerous to do so on board. Vaping on the other hand is completely harmless but forbidden anyway, purely because it may entice other passengers to light up real cigs. The only real problem with e-cigs are the lithium batteries.” - Munkyspyder
6. You never know how someone will react in an emergency
“I was cabin crew for five years - long haul only - and whilst we’ve all passed the exams and tests and bla bla bla and have a refresher every year, you never really know how anyone will react in any kind of emergency. Firemen and police are tested on a weekly basis, but in the five years I was crew, there was nothing I personally experienced that put any of the proper training into use. I’d like to think I’d not not freeze or fall to pieces, but you just never know.
“So definitely pay a bit of attention for the three mins of the safety demo and figure out where the nearest exit and it’s alternative are because you never know, you might end up having to help yourself.” - HadHerses
7. Never drink the hot drinks
“I wouldn’t recommend drinking coffee or hot tea from the plane. It’s made with the potable water and those tanks are rarely cleaned out. None of the crew usually drink it. I had a passenger on one of my flights fill his water bottle up using the sink in the lavatory and I stressed to him that it wasn’t a good idea but he didn’t care.” - kerryb1989