WASHINGTON – From packing to paying to security, traveling by plane is a stressful experience.
But Reader’s Digest says there are a few things flight attendants won’t tell passengers that can make the experience in-flight more pleasant.
- Make sure to push your carry-on bag all the way into the overhead bin – don’t leave it sticking out for the flight attendant to fix.
- Flight attendants will try to disarm an unruly passenger by introducing themselves, or point blank asking why an unruly traveler is treating them poorly. Often, other passengers approve.
- The average age for a flight attendant is 44.
- When they hand you a cup of coffee and ask, “Cream and sugar?” but you don’t hear them – it’s safe to assume what they’re asking. No need to ask 10 times.
- Please keep your child from playing with the call bell.
- It’s a lavatory door – not rocket science.
- If you have a baby, bring diapers; if you’re diabetic, bring syringes; if you need an inhaler, bring it, etc.
- There are others on the plane besides you. Don’t clip toenails or do any other unsavory tasks underneath a blanket.
- Traveling overseas? Bring a pen. There’s a good chance you’ll be filling out forms to enter a foreign country.
- Stop tattling on other passengers unless it’s something serious.
- Just because you’re traveling to West Palm Beach doesn’t mean you’re first class.
- Wait to go to the bathroom until the food cart is out of the aisle.
- Is it that hard to say “hello” and “goodbye?”
- Don’t touch them.
- Attendants really aren’t allowed to lift your luggage into the overhead bins for you. They can only assist.
- Please don’t try to join the mile-high club. Besides, those bathrooms are cramped and gross.
- If flight attendants page a doctor or get a defibrillator, it’s not a good time to ask for a drink.
- You can only pee in the lavatory, period.
- Yes, it’s OK to use the lavatories while you’re on the ground. It’s not like they spill out onto the tarmac.
- They don’t want to touch soggy tissue or loaded baby diapers.
- Don’t slowly scour your area for tiny pieces of trash. There are 150 other passengers to serve.
- Sometimes it takes a long time to find a wheelchair – they’re subcontracted through the cities airlines fly into.
WTOP’s David Burd contributed to this report. Follow @DavidBurdWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
