If you think people can be disgusting inside planes, flight attendants can confirm they’ve seen things that could well make you rethink how you fly and if you ever want to hop onto a plane again
Many flight attendants list tray tables as some of the grossest parts of a plane
Flight attendants are no strangers to weird experiences – especially seeing as they spend hours with hundreds of people every day. But in between nice interactions and friendly exchanges are moments that are memorable for all the most disgusting reasons.
Travel + Leisure has featured a video that asked cabin crew about their best behind-the-scenes insight into plane life, and some interviewees reminisced on shocking incidents – including some that show just how unhygienic planes can be.
Joy, a flight attendant of six years, told the story of the worst thing she’s witnessed mid-flight: “The grossest thing I’ve seen is someone putting their feet up on a tray table.”
But it gets worse: “I’ve actually had someone stand up, their pants fall down, and they have sat back down in the seat without pulling their pants back up – on the seat. It gets cleaned in between the flights. Fine. But bare naked bum…”
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She also commented on one common habit she sees: “Please don’t let your toddler go to the lavatory barefoot. There’s pee everywhere in there. It’s not your living room. It’s not – this is a plane. It’s not your house. It’s not your couch.”
Another air steward, Luke, detailed his process of getting his plane seat ready to use. He approaches his seat with Clorox wipes and gives it a good going over, from top to bottom, making sure to thoroughly clean the tray table as well.
Besides these reports of unsavory incidents, the aviation workers mentioned certain moments that they hoped would prompt passengers to reflect on their behavior on flights, since small mistakes can impact both staff and passengers’ experiences.
Amara, who has been working in the industry for three years, said passengers are often keen to tell her that they know how things should be done on a plane, because they regularly fly.
However, often these passengers are the most troublesome and end up doing annoying things like taking phone calls in mid-air.
After four years of experience, Jorge highlighted the biggest mistake he sees passengers regularly making. For him, it’s assuming that flight attendants will help passengers lift a bag into the bins above the seats. On most airlines, they are forbidden from doing so due to the physical risk it would pose to them.
If you realise too late that you went slightly overboard with packing, the crew can arrange for them to be checked in instead, Jorge added.
Recently a flight attendant told eShores about the little lies that they tell passengers, for their own good.
“When a business class passenger asks for a coffee on a night flight, I’ll make a decaf coffee just so that they can fall asleep,” they said.
But that’s not the sole untruth passengers might encounter. Aircraft cabins are notoriously frigid, yet should you request the attendants warm things up slightly, you might well be misled.
They admitted: “When passengers ask to have the temperature of the cabin turned up, we lie and say yes, we will turn it up, but really we don’t because we get warm walking around.”