Passenger Habits Flight Attendants Secretly Judge

Passengers have tons of weird habits, and yes, your flight attendants are secretly judging you for them. Well, maybe now the judging won’t be quite so secret because I’m about to share ten passenger habits that flight attendants judge the most.

Are you guilty of any of these?

#1: Not Wearing Shoes in the Lavatory

This is probably one of the most disgusting passenger habits that flight attendants notice.

Guys, that is not water on the floor! And now it’s all over your bare feet or soaking through your socks. And you’re tracking it through the rest of the airplane. Oh and heaven forbid, you then go and stick your feet between the seats right near the face of the poor soul stuck in the seat in front of you. 🤢

We can understand wanting to take your shoes off and relax, especially on longer flights. But please put your shoes back on before you go into the lav. We’re begging you. It’s for your own good and our sanity.

#2: Making a Mess

Not all passengers are natural neat freaks, and you know what, that is OK. What is not ok, is leaving a huge mess for someone else to deal with after your flight.

Even people in first class do this sometimes! Like this jerk who left an apple core on the floor.

Though I must admit the most judgey-judgement in this category is reserved for parents who let their kiddos absolutely trash their row and do nothing about it.

#3: Taking a Vacation from Parenting

Speaking of parents letting kids trash the plane, we definitely notice a general lack of parenting on flights. It seems to be a habit among vacationing parents to just stop caring about what their kids are doing.

Climbing over the seat and into the lap of the person behind them? No worries. Kicking the back of the seat in front of them? Not a problem. Screaming and running up and down the aisles while flight attendants are trying to do the meal service? Couldn’t care less.

For the love of all that is holey, please parent your crotch goblins during your flights or leave them at home!

#4: Clapping When a Delayed Crew Arrives

I always found this habit super bizarre, but it happened on several occasions when an entire group of passengers would start to clap as my crew walked up to the gate of a delayed flight.

It’s just super condescending, as if we chose to be tardy and that’s why the flight is delayed.

If your crew is “late” arriving to the gate, they are probably rushing from a previous (also delayed) flight. Or they were just assigned the flight from standby, so the flight won’t be further delayed waiting for the original crew to arrive.

#5: Clapping When The Plane Lands

Continuing with the clapping habits…

I understand this habit is more common in other countries and cultures but in the US if you clap when the plane lands the flight crew is totally judging you, and probably giggling a little.

Because why clap? You’re glad we landed? That’s like the bare minimum expectation of a flight.

Maybe we’re just guilty because we know the applause isn’t for us. See also #8.

#6: Standing Up As Soon as We Arrive at the Gate

Are you one of those passengers who stands up immediately after the seatbelt sign turns off at the gate? Then, I hate to break it to you, but you are also being judged by your flight attendants. Especially if you are at the back of the plane.

The door isn’t even open yet and you are crowding into the aisles. I promise it won’t get you off the airplane any faster.

There are also legitimate reasons flight attendants judge this habit.

For example, if, for some reason, we can’t open the door right away, there is still the possibility a fire could break out in the cabin. If everyone is crowded into the aisle it is next to impossible for us to make our way down the aisle to retrieve the fire extinguishers or open the emergency exits.

#7: Wearing Rompers or Overalls

If you are wearing a one-piece outfit on a plane, we are (secretly) judging you.

I don’t care how cute you look; you will have to get fully naked if you need to use the lavatory. And referring back to habit #1, we have good reason to think that is a questionable decision to make.

There’s turbulence to factor in too, and we’re just standing there watching you board all confidently, wondering if you will survive taking that romper off if unexpected turbulence strikes at the right wrong moment.

#8: Not Acknowledging Your Flight Attendants

Have you ever gotten off a plane and said, “thanks for the great flight, Captain!” without so much as a second glance at the flight attendants who took care of you the entire flight? If so, yeah, we are absolutely judging you.

We worked our butts off making sure everyone was enjoying a comfortable and safe flight, and y’all always thank the pilots but not us. It’s seriously rude!

Bonus judgement points are awarded to the passengers who ignore us on their way onto the aircraft too.

#9: Choosing to Drink Tomato Juice

I recently read somewhere that altitude changes the way your tastebuds work.

(Scientists, feel free to call BS on this one). But the article claimed that tomato juice tastes more refreshing in airplanes because the altitude changes the way you perceive salt.

Either way, your flight crew will be judging you for drinking tomato juice for two main reasons.

It stains. And turbulence is 100% a vengeful spirit that will sense the fact that you are drinking tomato juice and will set out to ruin your clean, white shirt.
It is salty, AF, and will cause you to get dehydrated even faster, when the cabin environment is already dehydrating enough on its own.

Plus, I just will personally never understand the appeal. If I want tomato soup, I’d like it hot and served with a grilled cheese sandwich.

#10: Getting Drunk On a Plane

There’s a country song about this, so you know it happens all the time.

Flight attendants are so judgey of people who make it a habit to get drunk on planes and only partially because it’s in our job descriptions to judge a person’s drunkenness and make the decision to cut them off accordingly.

We’re also judging you because we know post flight hangovers are the actual worst and because drunk passengers often do other foolish, judgement-worthy things.