Flight attendants reveal the things that annoy passengers. Are YOU guilty of any of these bad habits?
“What’s the one thing passengers do that really burns up your landing gear?” Go!’
That’s the message posted by Jay Roberts, who has worked for Emirates as a senior cabin crew member, on his Facebook page – A Fly Guy’s Crew Network. And the answers came thick and fast from flight attendants around the world, eager to know what passenger behavior annoys them the most.
Do you owe one of them?
A much-repeated complaint was the lack of response from passengers when greeted.
‘[I hate it when passengers] Don’t answer my hello when I greet you on the plane,” said one crew member. Another does not appreciate the lack of a thank you or a smile from the passengers as they disembark.
Flight attendants from around the world voiced their grievances about passenger habits to A Fly Guy’s Crew Network, run by former Emirates flight attendant Jay Roberts
Joining during a phone call or video chat, or “put your headphones on when I’m trying to brief you or speak to you” also comes across badly.
Mr Roberts himself agrees with these views, telling Web Travel: “The number one thing a passenger can do to start off on the wrong foot is to avoid eye contact or ignore a simple greeting when I greet them.
“Aside from being rude, it disregards the crew’s role as safety professionals. If the plane is on fire and needs to be evacuated, I’ll risk my life and stay behind to make sure you disembark safely. Or if you get sick I’ll be by your side and do whatever I can to save your life and you can’t even acknowledge that I’m standing here saying hello?’
Another crew member is annoyed when passengers ‘insist on giving me their seat number upon boarding’, another when they ‘line up to disembark once the plane has landed’, while another flight attendant can’t take it as a passenger’ opens the overhead locker to take something out during the flight and doesn’t close it’.
there is more
One crew member’s favorite hate is “passengers watching you service an entire cabin before deciding the best time to go to the bathroom when you reach them”.
“I hate when they touch me or touch me to get my attention,” said another.
Mr Roberts tells Web Travel: “The number one thing a passenger can do to start off on the wrong foot is to avoid eye contact or ignore a simple greeting when I greet them.”
Change the little ones on the seat and then hand me their bio-hazard diapers [nappies]’ is another sore point.
“Talk to me while I eat,” wrote one crew member in response to Mr Roberts’ question.
“Going to the toilet barefoot,” wrote another, and “stacking every single thing on your food tray thinking they’re doing you a favor” is also on the list.
Opening the overhead bin in flight to take something out and then not closing it doesn’t sit well with flight attendants
Finally, there’s this post: “Bring in a half-dead Chihuahua blind in one eye and put a service dog vest on him and look at me like, ‘I dare you to say something.'”
Jay Roberts is the editor and creator of A Fly Guy’s Crew Network, “the largest global network for aviation professionals”.
You can find him on Instagram at instagram.com/aflyguytravels.