WITH around 25 million people flying this Christmas and New Year, crowded flights tend to bring out the worst in stressed passengers.
While outrageous behaviour will ultimately get you kicked off the plane and possibly banned from the airline for life – flight attendants have revealed the small annoyances which can have horrible consequences.
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The biggest no-no? Shouting the word ‘bomb’ on a plane or at an airport.
Bonni Noro, a flight attendant from Delta, told the New York Post: “When we had problems with a really bad passenger, we would tell the captain and he could have them arrested upon landing.
“If you say the word ‘bomb’ from a plane, you are pretty much banned from flying.”
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However smaller incidents, such as drinking to the point of becoming aggressive or arguing with a flight attendant, could land you on the airline’s no-fly list.
A Southwest Airlines spokesperson said: “Reasons vary among airlines for no fly lists and not all air carriers have them.
“The carriers that do have them establish their own standards for placing someone on their internal do not board list.
“It can be related to things like previous behaviour, fraud, causing a diversion etc.”
Of course, most passengers don’t behave nearly badly enough to get themselves banned from an airline – so often its the most frequent flyers who get under the skin of in-flight employees.
Elaine Swann, a former Continental flight attendant, revealed: “They act like it’s a private plane and think we’re there to serve them.
“I’ve had people bring in food from the outside and tell me to heat it up.”
Another thing that quickly winds attendants up is passengers who bring too many carry on bags – which means the staff have to faff around trying to find somewhere to put them.
What makes this particularly irritating to staff is that they are only paid for their time in the air.
When they are on the ground, they are working for free – so don’t want to waste time thanks to passengers who don’t want to follow the rules.
While getting banned for most of these incidents is unlikely, there’s a grosser fate if you annoy an flight attendant – known as crop-dusting.
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Bonni said: “That’s what can happen to annoying passengers. I’ve never done it, but I know that others do.
“They walk past annoying passengers, toward the end of the flight and pass gas.”
She added: “Also, if there were b****y passengers in first class, we would throw their fur coats on the bathroom floor. They never knew we did it.”
Be warned, if you’re making the most of the free drinks and getting a bit too tipsy, flight attendants have their tricks to make sure you don’t get too lairy and cause them trouble.
Elaine explained: “We would have their cocktails watered down in first class.
“In coach where you make your own drinks and order alcohol via touch screen, you can be digitally cut off at the flight attendant’s discretion.”
And when typical flight hold-ups happen – keep your cool.
Bonni advised: “Yelling and complaining and acting like a bully does not make the flight leave any earlier.”
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