1) Flight Attendants HATE sharing their pen with passengers (And sometimes other FAs)
- It’s because in their minds they never get their pen back. And a lot of the time they are right. In my case I’ll share my pen because I actively horde pens from hotels for the sole purpose of sharing. I’ll also tell the passenger straight up to press their call button as soon as they are done so I can collect my pen back to share with other passengers. 9 times out of 10 I’ll get the pen back.
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However if you ask for one 10 minutes before we land then you are out of luck. In those cases I have never gotten my pen back because the pax gets off the plane before I get a chance to see them again!
2) Bribery goes a long way
- Often when I fly on another airline, especially on long flights, I bring a little bag of chocolate for the crew. As a crew member I can tell you that we all feel well appreciated when a passenger does that and we will do everything we can to make your flight the best it can be.
- Until just the other month I’d never experienced the receiving end of this, but since then I’ve had 3 different flights were a passenger has brought a gift for the crew! I have a feeling some passengers are doing a little research. Although in all three cases the passengers declined the complimentary drinks I offered.
3) Passengers like a little abus
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Well, some anyway. There are many different kinds of passengers. Some like a little friendly chit chat, others like to be left alone. But my favourites are the ones who like a little sass. “You want ICE in your coke? Well aren’t we demanding!” I’ll get a good laugh from them and they’ll get a full can and a heaping glass of ice from me. Naturally you have to have a good gauge on who these passengers are. If you get sassy with the wrong pax you might find yourself in trouble later.
4) Theft is the only way to make me really mad
- A passenger sees a large bottle of water on the galley counter and decides to take it for themselves. It may not seem like much, but this is the only thing that really truly makes me angry onboard. Firstly because chances are that was a crew member’s personal water (I’ve had mine taken many times!), but also because we don’t have enough supplies on board to give everyone their own personal supply. If that water bottle wasn’t a crew members, then it was for everyone. It was stolen from everyone. I’ve seen this happen with pop, alcohol, snacks, MY LUNCH, and so on. Not to mention, the law says whenever a passenger starts rummaging through the galley, I have to tear everything apart to make sure nothing “suspicious” was placed in there. It creates a whole lot of unnecessary work for me!
5) Smiling makes my day
- No matter how bad a day I’m having (even if a passenger steals my water bottle!) as soon as I get into the aisle and start smiling it all turns around. And if I have a particularly difficult passenger, smiling usually seems to defuse them. It seems to be a topic that many flight attendants and passengers seem to have trouble with. But I’ll swear on it, keep smiling and you’ll feel better.
