Let’s be honest, we all want to keep the flight attendants on our side when travelling. After all, they’re the people who keep us safe, well-fed and looked after while in the air, so annoying them seems like a pretty bad idea.
Unfortunately, it turns out that there are quite a few things that get on their nerves. These vary from serious rule breaking – like bringing your own booze on board and trying to sneakily drink it instead of buying alcohol from the trolley to disturbing members of the cabin crew during their downtime.
However, there’s one request that flight attendants hate that you might not have realised was causing you to get a black mark.
In a tell-all post on the r/FlightAttendants Reddit forum, an insider revealed that cabin crew are tired of being asked to fill up “your 16oz personal water bottle.”
These giant containers have become increasingly popular in recent years, but although they’re more sustainable there’s an issue with using them on planes that probably hasn’t occurred to the average traveller.
MSN reports that the logistics of keeping people fed and hydrated in mid-air are more complicated than on the ground.
Space on board is limited, meaning that the plane’s galley can only carry a limited amount of water, food, and other drinks – filling massive bottles isn’t in the plan.
“It’s so selfish and cheap! Sometimes we are cutting it close with the water and these people want the entire bottle,” another anonymous flight attendant said on Reddit.
Another added: “My question is always why didn’t they just fill it in the terminal? There are water fountains right near the bathrooms. Lots of places even have water bottle filling stations. They can do one stop and take care of both before boarding!”
As well as the giant water bottle annoyance, cabin crew shared other “pet peeves” in the same thread. One common complaint from flight attendants was being expected to act as a kind of global sat-nav.
“It’s not a bad one, but was still annoying to me,” said one respondent. “‘Hey what’s that river/lake/city/town/thing down there?’ Like dude I’m not a walking GPS.”
Prodding was another no-no, with an annoyed flight attendant writing: “Poking me or touching me on any part of my body in an attempt to get my attention! Don’t just please don’t. You have a call bell use it!”
Another pet peeve that came up more than once was about overhead luggage. “Asking us to put their luggage up for them, and it feels like it’s full of bricks.” Rules state that passengers should be able to lift their bags into the lockers themselves, if not they should check their bags.
At the end of the day, as long as you try your best to be polite, considerate and positive when flying, it goes a long way. Some flight attendants also suggest that they’ll always go the extra mile if you bring them a gift card, so that could be a good way to offset any potential bad feeling.
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