Flight attendants explain what really annoys them at 30,000 feet. (iStock)
The most annoying passengers on a flight are usually people who talk a lot, fall asleep on you, or have too many bags-- so you need to check yours.
What all of these issues have in common is that they affect you, the passenger. Travelers on a plane rarely think about what crew members have to deal with.
As it turns out, some of the requests are outrageous, shocking or absolutely hilarious.
1. Can I have this dance?
People shopping from the duty free service onboard (iStock)
“An elderly World War II veteran asked me to dance with him in the aisle of first class,” Heather Poole, flight attendant and author of the New York Times bestseller Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama and Crazy Passengers.
She agreed.
“That was nice. But, for the record, I wouldn't dance with anyone else,” she adds.
2. I need help with this girl...
Friendly first class flight attendant serving a passenger in an airplane handling headphones (iStock)
“I once helped a passenger with his love life as he explained to me that ‘there is the most beautiful girl’ sitting in 8C,” Lia Volpe, flight attendant and owner of Flight Attendant Prep Academy, says.
He gave Volpe a napkin with his name and number on it.
“Can you please give it to her? I am too embarrassed to hand it to her,” he said. “So, I walk over to 8C and give her the napkin. She starts giggling and starts to blush, looks back and winks.”
The lady waited for him to get off the airplane and both left together, Volpe says.
3. Baby in the overhead bin
(iStock)
“A passenger tried to stow her baby in an overhead bin,” Poole says.
As you can imagine, the request was not granted. As shocking as this may sound, it’s happened more than once. Volpe says one time the crew was getting the plane ready for takeoff and she started hearing a baby crying in the overhead bin.
“I immediately took the baby down from the overhead bin, where it was stuffed in between two pieces of luggage.[…]The mother claimed that was her new born infant [and] asked if she could keep her baby up in the overhead bin because it looked like a bassinet and thought that's where the baby was supposed to be during the entire flight."
4. Mail me your shoes, please
Stewardess handing champagne to man (iStock)
“I had a passenger offer to fix my shoes,” Poole says.
She had no idea they needed to be repaired but the person was a cobbler, so he may have seen something most people won’t notice.
“He told me to box them up and mail them to the address on his business card."
Apparently, there is market for used flight attendant shoes on eBay.
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5. Can we join the "Mile High Club"?
“There was obviously a honeymoon couple on our flight who couldn't keep their hands off of each other. They were making out and hugging for everyone to see. As I was passing by, they had stopped me and asked if they could join the ‘Mile High Club,’” Volpe says.
She told them that she would be bringing the beverage cart past them, starting service all the way in the front of the airplane, and that after that, the couple would have 15 minutes.
Smiling senior couple on an airplane looking out the window (iStock)
“I gave them advice that they would need to go one by one. They left very happy and thanked me on their way out."
6. Where is the play area located?
"A passenger once asked me where the play area was,” Poole says. “I just looked around and tried not to laugh. Then I reminded her that ‘you're on a plane.’
She said, ‘Well it would be nice if there was a play area for kids. This is a long flight.’”
Air hostess helping a kid to fasten his seatbelt (iStock)
7. Can I use the oxygen mask the entire flight?
Volpe was once asked by an elderly passenger if he could use the oxygen mask the entire flight.
“I told him that he wouldn't need it unless there was an emergency and we needed supplemental oxygen in the air. Little did I know that this was his first time flying and he thought you needed to use the oxygen mask while we flew the entire time,” she adds.
Side view angle of red haired female flight attendant demonstrating the use of an oxygen mask on board a plane with no passengers, only empty seats. Monochrome photograph. (iStock)
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