Flight attendants appreciate passengers who are polite and considerate. However, sometimes actions intended to be helpful can actually make a flight attendant’s job harder, crossing the line from politeness into rudeness.
Flight attendants are trained professionals who follow strict routines to ensure safety and comfort, and even small interruptions can throw things off.
If you truly want to be a courteous flyer, it’s important to understand the difference between helpful and harmful.
Here are 15 “polite” passenger behaviors flight attendants secretly wish you’d stop doing:
1. The Dirty Diaper Hand-Off
You might think removing a dirty diaper from the airplane lavatory is polite to other passengers, preventing it from making the facility stink.
Yet, directly handing that dirty diaper to a flight attendant is considered a sure way to make them dislike you.
2. Rule Enforcement
You might believe that flight attendants would welcome your help in ensuring other passengers follow the rules.
However, calling out fellow passengers is not your responsibility. This behavior could potentially lead to conflicts, which only complicates the flight attendant’s work.
3. Overhead Bin Organization
Whether you’re motivated by a desire to help or a dislike for disorganization, attempting to organize the overhead bins isn’t perceived as polite as you might assume.
While flight attendants do move luggage around, it’s considered a different matter entirely when a passenger takes it upon themselves to organize someone else’s belongings in the bins.
4. Flirting
You are free to flirt with other passengers who are receptive to it. However, you should refrain from flirting with the flight attendants.
What you might interpret as special attention from a crew member is likely just their professional demeanor.
5. The Window Shade Conundrum
The position of the window shade can often be a point of contention. If flight attendants instruct passengers to keep the shades drawn for a specific reason, you are legally required to follow those instructions.
However, it is not your place to tell your neighbor what to do with their shade, nor should you flag down a flight attendant to complain about your neighbor’s shade position.
6. Touching or Tugging
To get a flight attendant’s attention, you can easily use the overhead call button or make eye contact as they walk down the aisles.
You should never resort to physically touching them, such as tugging their sleeves or grabbing their arms as they pass. Unwanted physical contact is never considered polite.
7. The Reusable Water Bottle Request
It’s commendable that you use a reusable water bottle to reduce your environmental footprint.
However, asking a flight attendant to fill a large 24-ounce bottle when they typically dispense only a couple of ounces per passenger can come across as entitled. Airport filling stations are usually available for this purpose.
8. Serving Yourself
You might think that grabbing a drink from the cart yourself is helpful and saves the flight attendant work.
In reality, serving yourself from the drink cart is not only rude but potentially unsanitary. Other passengers likely don’t want your hands touching their drinks.
9. Careful Storage
You might be careful when stowing your carry-on, perhaps believing finding the “perfect spot” for your valuable or fragile items is helpful.
However, taking too much time to do this holds up the boarding line. This delay can slow down boarding and potentially cause the entire flight to be delayed.
10. Chatty Customers
While it’s generally polite to make conversation when you meet someone, stopping flight attendants for unnecessary chats during busy service periods is not considerate.
Although they might genuinely enjoy hearing about your travel plans, they have specific duties to complete and other passengers who require assistance.
11. Silent Suffering
If you are experiencing issues like flight anxiety or motion sickness, there is no need to suffer in silence.
Flight attendants have experience dealing with such problems and know how to handle them. They would much prefer you communicate with them early on rather than having to manage a mess later.
12. Trash Collection
Gathering trash from fellow passengers in your row might seem like a helpful gesture. However, this can lead to complications.
What you perceive as ready for disposal might still be in use by your neighbor, and this unauthorized trash collection can potentially cause conflicts.
13. Terms of Endearment
When addressing a flight attendant, professional terms like “sir” or “ma’am” are expected. While you might intend to be friendly by using more familiar terms such as “dear” or “sweetie,” these often come across as condescending or demeaning.
14. Thanking the Pilot
It is perfectly fine to thank the pilot after a flight. However, you should not limit your thanks only to the pilot.
Flight attendants also work diligently to ensure the flight is smooth and that passengers remain safe, and it is considered rude not to acknowledge their efforts as well.
15. Folding the Motion Sickness Bags
Some people might fold the tops of motion sickness bags thinking it makes them appear neater. While this might be true aesthetically, it also makes the bags less effective.
The primary purpose of a motion sickness bag is to be immediately ready for use in a moment of urgent need, and no one wants to have to unfold a closed one when they are feeling ill.
Alicia Richards