And now a flight attendant has revealed there is one thing any unsuspecting passenger could do which would delay the plane.
But it isn’t sinister behaviour, and in fact is something every does without thinking.
Going to the toilet on a plane which is waiting to takeoff will delay the flight.
This is because when a passenger gets up to use the bathroom, flight attendants much alert the flight deck.
Pilots cannot legally takeoff when passengers are in the bathroom.
Explaining why to Business Insider, Robert Bingochea, a flight attendant for United Airlines, said: “Once the aircraft starts moving, there’s always the fear of someone falling down, and we’re in that position of liability if we don’t let the captain know.”
The plane does not have the all clear to move until the passenger leaves the bathroom – meaning if they go before take-off, the plane will be sat waiting until they are done.
Cabin crew have revealed other shocking insights into flying that passengers may not know about.
One of these is how flight attendants judge how drunk travellers are, and when to stop serving them drinks.
Cabin crew are the final line of defence when it comes to drunk passengers. They are responsible for the safety of the rest of the people on the plane, so it’s up to them to use their judgement to decide if someone has had enough to drink.
If they think more alcohol might lead to an escalation of bad behaviour, the person will be cut off.
They are trained to spot intoxicated passengers as they board the plane, or people who try to avoid eye contact at the doors.
This information is then shared between attendants shortly after take-off.
A flight attendant told The Telegraph that cabin crew carefully judge a person’s drunkenness before allowing them alcoholic beverages. As well as looking for slurring or swaying, attendants “watch for passengers who go to the bathroom more often than normal.”
They also know to keep an eye out for passengers who “switch between galleys when they ask for more, assuming the staff at both don’t share notes.”
Many airlines use a ‘traffic-light’ code, it reported. “Mellow and affable behaviour will put you into the green category, getting more loud and animated puts you in yellow – at which point a flight attendant will clock you and possibly offer you some water – and red means it’s cut-off time.”
One flight attendant told CNN Travel that some crew try to judge a person’s intoxication by engaging them in a humorous conversation.
This also serves to keep them on-side and stop them becoming aggressive.
Kim Kaswinkel recalled a fellow attendant’s tactic: “She asked the gentleman who had a lot to drink, ‘Do you think I’m pretty?’ He said, ‘Oh honey, you’re beautiful,’ and she said, ‘You’re drunk, you’re cut off.’”
Another common strategy used to diffuse a potentially angry situation with a drunk passenger is to switch between crew members.
