- Flight attendants tend to know more about flying than the average passenger.
- To unearth their secrets, we turned to the experts themselves and asked them what most people don’t know about flying.
- Among the secrets about flying they shared, some more interesting details include that you can’t actually open the plane door mid-flight (though some have tried) and that many flight attendants avoid drinking the coffee.
No one has more insider knowledge about flying than flight attendants.
By talking to these veteran globetrotters, we were able to unearth 11 secrets about flying.
Whether you want more attentive service or to avoid getting kicked off your flight, read on for the inside scoop:
SEE ALSO: A look inside the secret, crew-only lounge where flight attendants hang out when they’re not flying
You can’t physically open a door mid-flight — and trying could get you kicked off the plane
Annette Long, a flight attendant with 17 years of experience, told Business Insider that, though opening a door mid-flight is impossible to do, trying it will still get you into trouble.
As we’ve seen in previous incidents, passengers who try to make a jump for it while the plane is in the air usually wind up restrained mid-flight and in handcuffs once the plane lands. In some cases, pilots will make an emergency landing to get the passenger off the flight.
"I don’t make those decisions," Long said. "I convey the information to the cockpit and the chief flight attendant, and they make the decision about whether or not we’re going to land and get someone off the plane.
"Most of the pilots say to us, ‘If you’ve got a problem with them, I’ve got a problem with them,’ and they will back us up 100%," Long said.
The plane isn’t getting cleaned as much as you’d hope
"The dirtiest part of the plane has to be the tray tables. People constantly lay their heads on them, change babies diapers, and rest their feet on them," a flight attendant for JetBlue told Business Insider. "I wouldn’t eat off of that even after sanitizing it."
What’s more, "remember, they’re using a rag to start row one, and when they end up in row 35, that rag has wiped a lot of tables," Long said.
Unsanitary incidents occur on the plane that passengers rarely see or consider, like accidents in the lavatory or a passenger’s seat. "Just so you know, when you go to the bathroom and you’re barefoot or you’re in your socks, that’s not water on the floor," Long said.
"It’s just not the cleanest environment," she said.
Flight attendants aren’t really supposed to help you lift your bags
Flight attendants tell Business Insider that they only get paid for flight hours, not for boarding or deplaning. "So, for example, your duty day could actually be 12 hours, but you only get paid for six hours of work," one flight attendant said.
What’s more, flight attendants’ unions won’t cover them if they get injured trying to lift your bags into the overhead bin. And since being out of work and out of money is no fun for anybody, you shouldn’t expect flight attendants to take that risk for you.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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