Are you a frequent flier? If you are, maybe you know some of these plane secrets. But if you’re not, be ready for what you’ll be going to learn. This might change the way you feel about flying or maybe make it even worse.
#1. The captain can arrest you mid-flight. Though this isn’t actually true (as claimed by several flight attendants), the captain has full authority on the plane. “The captain…can put you in restraints for the authorities to pick up on the ground if there is a problem, but the captain can’t ‘arrest’ you in the legal sense of the word,” says airline expert Chris Lopinto.
#2. Some flight attendants are rule-breakers when it comes to the use of cellphone while on board. On October 2013, two flight attendants were suspended for on-board phone use. One started browsing her smartphone immediately after an announcement reminded passengers not to switch on their electronic devices. Another flight attendant soon joined her and held out a newspaper to hide what they knew was wrong.
#3. Airline blankets have not been washed and babies may have left something on your table trays. Active flight attendant and HuffPost blogger Sara Keagle said that freshly washed blankets are only given to the first flights of the day. After that, they’re just refolded and stuffed back in the bins. She also said that tray tables are cleaned only “about once a day, usually when the aircraft RONs (remains overnight)”, leaving a possibility that babies poo from dirty diapers laid on tray tables were left uncleaned.
#4. You can ask for a whole can of Coke. According to former flight attendant Beth Blair, “If you’ve got a thirst that’s going to take more than a few tablespoons of soda to quench, consider politely asking your flight attendant for the whole can. Most of the time, they’re happy to oblige.”
#5. Some cabin crews don’t get paid until the plane takes off. Airlines may have different pay policies; some may pay when the plane’s door is closed while others may not until the wheels of the plane leave the ground. This way, airlines can save money.
#7. Dim lights are meant to prepare you for evacuation, not sleep. Lights are being dimmed to prevent you from being night blind in case of crash or emergency landing.
#8. Some flight would hold your meal in hope that you’ll fall asleep. Flight attendants have many ways to avoid being bothered by passengers. One of them is making sure you’ll fall asleep by holding off your meals.
#9. The air you breath comes from the plane’s engine. Actually, you’re not breathing air which comes from the engine’s exhaust but from the engine’s compressor. According to Boeing’s website, treated air which comes from the engine’s compressors warms and pressurizes air from outside the plane and is then circulated into the cabin for you to breathe.
#10. You can be upgraded into a first class accommodation after the door is closed. An anonymous flight attendant said that, “Yes, we can upgrade you to business class or first class after the airplane’s doors close. No, we don’t do it very often, partly because on some airlines we have to file a report explaining why we did it, partly because there has to be a meal for you and partly because the forward cabins are often full. Who do we upgrade? Not the slob who’s dressed in a dirty tank top. It helps if you’re extremely nice, well dressed, pregnant, very tall, good looking, one of our friends or all of the above.”
#11. Hold-on handles are there in case flight attendants get pushed off the plane. According to George Hobica (Syndicated travel journalist and founder of Airfarewatchdog.com), these grab handles are often used in times of emergency. “When the flight attendants are manning the exit door, passengers, in their mad rush to get off, have a tendency to push them out of the way, sometimes all the way down the slide. The handles are there to make sure that the flight attendants stay on the plane if that’s what they need to do.”
#12. You can unlock the lavatory door from the outside. In case your child herself inside the lavatory, you can always help her get out without bothering airplane crews. The secret is, you flip up the lavatory sign on the door and slide open the lock.
#13. Passengers steal life jackets. Still according to George Hobica, “People take those life jackets, located under or between your seat, as souvenirs. It’s a vile and punishable offense, and while airlines do check each seat at the start of every day, a plane could make several trips in a day, during any one of which a passenger could steal a life vest.”
#14. Masks only give yous 15 minutes of oxygen. “Typically, as soon as the masks come down, the pilot descends to as low an altitude as possible and finds the nearest airport to land,” George Hobica said. So depending on the altitude of the plane when the mask is pulled, the pilot would have enough time to take you to an altitude where you can breathe normally.
#15. Pilots are served separate meals. According to recent Ask Reddit thread, “Two pilots are served different meals and cannot share, this is done in case of food poisoning.” They are ensuring the safety of at least one pilot.
#16. Some pilots find themselves asleep while on flight. Huffingtonpost reported that based on surveys conducted in U.K., Norway, and Sweden, around 43 and 54 percent of pilots admitted that had fallen asleep while flying a passenger plane.
#16. Plane water is very dirty that you wouldn’t even want to wash your hands in it. According to former Lufthansa cargo agent (as he claims), “Do not EVER drink water on an aircraft that did not come from a bottle. Don’t even TOUCH IT. The reason being the ports to purge lavatory shit and refill the aircraft with potable water are within feet from each other and sometimes serviced all at once by the same guy. Not always, but if you’re not on the ramp watching, you’ll never know.”
Why do the attendants asks passengers raise the windows on take-off and landing? And also why do they need our seats upright?