Flight attendants spend hundreds of hours in the air each year, so they learn to notice small details about the planes they work on and the passengers that fly on them. Here are the 10 things they notice on a plane that you will probably miss
Whether spotting nervous passengers from their body language or always knowing where the nearest exit is, flight attendants experience air travel in a totally different way.
- Passengers without bags: “I notice if people don’t have bags with them, and sometimes that strikes me as odd,” a flight attendant for United Airlines spoke to Business Insider.
- Passengers in a bad mood: You can tell by the person’s body language or facial expressions or if they’ve been crying. I know that air travel is really hard for people said the United Airlines Attendant.
- ‘Ding’ has a meaning: There are “dings” for phone calls when the plane has reached an altitude of 10,000 feet, and when the seatbelt sign is turned on or off, among other events,
- When passengers need help: I’m noticing the passenger that’s a single mom with their kid that might just need a little bit more help or a just a little bit more patience,” a flight attendant for Delta said.
- Nearest exit: “I know where my closest exit is,” Lauren Redling, a flight attendant for the private-jet charter company Worldwide Jet, said.
- Holding the bags into their laps: “I always notice if they’re trying to hold their bag in their lap — always,” a flight attendant for Envoy Air said. “They can try to hide it from me. I always notice.”
- Where is the bathroom?: “I, for one, always know where the lavatory is, whereas the average passenger doesn’t,” the Envoy Air flight attendant said.
- Anxious passengers: “I can tell an anxious flyer from a mile away,” Kevin Cain, an air hostess for PSA Airlines, said.
- Dirty areas of the plane: “Passengers seem to not think that anything is dirty on a plane, which is just funny,” Sally Ann MacLagan, a flight attendant for Mesa Airlines, said.
- What do passengers wear: “I have concerns if they’re wearing a winter coat and it’s summer,” MacLagan said.
