Every time you fly, the flight attendants onboard give you a safety rundown on everything you need to know, but are you really paying attention? And just how important is it to follow all of those rules? Turns out, pretty darn!
1. “You should have all the clothing and footwear you need to survive outside at your departure airport for 30 mins or so. Do not wear sandals and shorts for your February flight from Chicago to Cancun. Why? Because the most likely time for an emergency evacuation is during take-off due to engine failure. You will be rushed down a slide, into a two-foot snowbank, where you will run upwind out of the smoke and fire. No one will come to get you for 30 minutes while first responders put the fire out and evacuate the stragglers. You won’t have any carry-on items (or at least you shouldn’t). It will be cold and windy. Wear a hoodie and closed-toed shoes at least. On many fleets, you will slide off the back of the wing, which is covered in an extremely slick glycol mixture for anti-icing. This will get all over your clothing. Source: I am a pilot.”
—u/BitterMojo
2. “We once timed out because a passenger was in the lavatory and took too long prior to takeoff. We were literally 5 feet from the runway. We made multiple announcements to remain seated. We were cleared for takeoff, but we can’t take off with someone in the lavatory. I could hear people shouting in the back, telling the person to get out. But they didn’t leave until we were 30 seconds past our wheels-up time. At that point, it is illegal for us to depart, so we had to go back to the gate. Stay in your seat and hold it if the crew tells you, it absolutely can be the difference between getting to your destination or not.”
—u/FriskyFritos
3. “In case of a water landing, never inflate your life jacket inside the plane. If water fills the plane, you will float to the top inside the plane and won’t be able to get out the door. So please, listen to the flight attendants on when to inflate them.”
4. “Don’t put that duty-free 1-liter glass bottle of Grey Goose in the overhead locker; put it under your feet. It becomes a sledgehammer when you open the locker to look for something. At best, it’s a glass clean-up operation with everyone in their socks. At worst, it’s an emergency landing with blankets covering the victim.”
—u/Engineboom
5. “It’s dangerous to fly too soon after an operation or illness (even a blocked ear). I’ve known flight attendants who have gone deaf after their eardrums burst from constant pressure. The risk of it is not talked about enough.”
6. “People do not take sitting in the exit row seriously at all. Opening the exit row window is not easy. I love how flight attendants have to practice opening it during their annual training, but exit row passengers aren’t even required to read through the booklet.”
—u/yugohotty
7. “During one of my shifts, a guy vaped in the bathroom, and it forced us to make an emergency landing. They had to bring the maintenance crew on to replace the detector after deplaning everyone, and the idiot was arrested.”
8. “You would not believe the number of parents with very young children who let them get up while the plane is taxiing. That child basically becomes a projectile.”
—u/Tatertottie2
9. “When the flight attendants are in the aisle with the cart serving beverages, and you’re seated right by them, please stop opening the overhead bin that’s directly next to where they’re standing. You can wait for the few minutes it takes for them to get out of your area. I had someone do this while I was pouring coffee. They dropped their backpack on me and I spilled hot coffee all over a passenger. I felt so damn awful for the scalded passenger and it took everything in me not to go off on the other one. We’re crouching, shifting, taking a step back/forward while holding multiple drinks, etc., while working the cart. That is not the time to open an overhead bin directly next to us. We’ll be out of your area in just a few minutes, it isn’t worth the risk.”
—u/PARTINlCO
10. Don’t use (or even take) a Temu/Shein/other cheap website’s powerbank; nothing is as scary as a lithium fire in an aluminum tube. Also, when your phone disappears into the seat, immediately alert a crewmember and do not move your seat, again, because of fire.”
—u/fly-guy
“I have a degree in aerospace engineering, which includes a lot of aviation courses. The reason they tell you to ask the cabin crew for help if you lose your phone is not to be friendly or show how helpful they are. It’s because if your phone is in a seat mechanism and that seat gets moved, the phone will be shredded, the battery may explode, and if it does, it will likely kill everyone onboard.”
11. “We mean it when we tell you to wear your seatbelts when seated, and tell you not to stay out of your seat for too long. Turbulence isn’t always visible, and it is common. Also, stay seated on the ground until the seatbelt sign is off. Airplanes can brake quite abruptly.”
—u/fly-guy
12. “If you’re a nervous flyer, sucking down martinis before departure is not a good option, nor is taking your preferred sleeping pill. Nine times out of 10, when we have an issue in-flight, it’s because someone decided they needed to soothe their nerves or get their money’s worth in the lounge. Ultimately, this ends up (best case) with some additional time for them in their originating city or having an entourage meet us when we land. The fact of the matter is, when you need your wits about you to GTFO, you are stumbling around and blocking other people around you, which leads to a very dangerous situation.”
—u/mooseup
13. “If you have to evacuate, please, PLEASE, leave your stuff behind. I know it sucks to potentially lose your things, but your carry-on might be the difference between a successful evacuation and a burning wreck with 100-plus bodies.”
—u/fly-guy
14. “Count the rows to the exits. It’s a little thing, but it can help if there is an incident and your brain wants to panic. Lots of people freeze in an emergency when they should get up and get out of the plane. Also, if you have small children, make sure you/they know which parent will grab them and help get them out.”
—u/Boozilu
15. “People unfastening their seatbelts as soon as the aircraft lands and only just turns off the runway. Just look at the recent Air Canada CRJ crash in NY, and that’s a clear reason why we tell everyone every day to keep seatbelts fastened until the aircraft is parked at the gate and the seatbelt sign is turned off. Just because the aircraft has touched down doesn’t mean danger is no longer possible.”
16. “Even though you’re allowed to keep an infant in your lap, do so at your own risk. They aren’t allowed to share your seat belt, and in the event of severe turbulence or a crash, they’ll be the first thing to go flying out of your arms.”
17. “Ignoring the brace position. When we say ‘heads down, stay down,’ your floppy neck is the number one killer in survivable crashes. Tensing up saves lives. Looking around gets you dead.”
18. “People purchase all kinds of gadgets for comfy travel and attach them to their seat/seatback, not thinking that in case of an emergency, they might get stuck (especially in smoke or darkness).”
19. “Wear natural fibers like cotton and wool since they are naturally more flame resistant than synthetics, and they burn off instead of melt.”
20. “As a former flight attendant, my biggest pet peeve is flight attendants who allow those sitting in the exit row to have bulky items under the seat in front of them that block half the aisle. I always select the exit row to sit in, but when seeing my fellow passengers with mini suitcases half shoved under a seat, it terrifies me.”
—u/yugohotty
21. “Put your tray table up and seat upright during takeoff and landing. It genuinely matters in an emergency, and most people treat it like a pointless rule. It could block your and others’ paths or cause injury.”
23. “Don’t go to the toilet with no shoes on — that liquid on the floor is not water from the taps. I’ve seen some apocalyptic scenes that the crew has had to deal with as best they can mid-flight. Trust me, WEAR SHOES IN THE LOOS.”
—u/Moxbus
24. And finally, “Don’t drink coffee on an airplane unless you love drinking mold.”
Do you work in the airline industry? What insights do you have from your career that you think people should know? Tell me in the comments, or use the anonymous form below. Your response may end up featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed article!
Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.