When you board an airplane, you probably just go about your routine and you assume that everything is business as usual.
The pilots are getting the plane ready to go, the luggage handlers are getting everything into the cargo holds, and the flight attendants are brewing the coffee and fawning over the people in First Class.
But there’s a lot of things that go on behind the scenes that we don’t know about…and some of them are quite disturbing.
Here’s what AskReddit users who work in the airline industry had to say about this.
1. Gross!
“Please do not ever walk into a toilet with bare feet.
I promise you, 9 times out of 10, that is not water on the floor. Also please don’t try and have s*x in them, you are so obvious and it is filthy. The toilets are often absolutely disgusting and get deep cleaned only at the end of a route.
For us this could be from one side of the world to the other… imagine how lovely they are at the end of a 12 hour flight with 200 people using them.”
2. Don’t do it.
“I ALWAYS recommend you never, ever, ever, EVER use or put anything in the seat pocket.
They are cleared of trash but are never ‘cleaned’. I have pulled out and seen all sorts of thing pulled out from there. Dirty tissues, sick bags, underwear, socks, gum, apple cores… and then next flight you go and put your phone
or laptop in there.”
3. Never thought of that…
“When a plane lands at night, cabin crews will dim the interior lights.
Why?
In the unlikely event that the plane landing goes badly and passengers need to evacuate, their eyes will already be adjusted to the darkness.”
4. Wild kingdom.
“Live animals are common cargo.
I’m not talking people’s cats and dogs, I mean scalies, arachnids, inverts, destined for pet trade – tarantulas, weird beetles, scorpions, cockroaches, all kinds of exotic lizards, snakes, turtles. Lots of snakes though, constrictor and venom.
Their packaging looks inhumane on the ground, but they try to restrict movement as the goal – boa constrictors have escaped.”
5. Scandalous!
“There is a secret crew rest compartment up in back of a 747 and downstairs in the hold of an A340 / A330.
Yes, we sleep there. Yes, we f*ck there – quietly.”
6. Oh, great…
“Air crews drink. They DRINK.
I have seen pilots sink six whiskey sours just a couple of hours before block times. LH is not the most notorious airline for this.
The most notorious airlines for this are KLM, BA and Qantas.”
7. Smuggling.
“There is lots of smuggling of knockoff “designer” stuff from Asia to Europe and North America to be sold as real on ebay.
We go through a separate customs channel, and are rarely checked.”
8. Oh my…
“There is a large list of things that can be broken but the aircraft can still fly.
Often there will be a dead body in the cargo hold.
There is a crash axe just laying around in the cabin. It’ll spilt open your skull but it won’t actually get through the aircraft skin or windows.
Lavatory doors can be opened from the outside by lifting the metal plate saying “lavatory” and pulling the pin under it.
Both pilots may not eat the same meal, but they might be eating at the same time while the plane flies itself.”
9. Yuck!
“Do not eat food dropped on a tray table.
They are never cleaned and the number of people who change nappies on them is crazy!”
10. Put some shoes on.
“Please do not ever walk into a toilet with bare feet.
I promise you, 9 times out of 10, that is not water on the floor. Also please don’t try and have s*x in them, you are so obvious and it is filthy. The toilets are often absolutely disgusting and get deep cleaned only at the end of a route…
For us this could be from one side of the world to the other… imagine how lovely they are at the end of a 12 hour flight with 200 people using them.”
11. Will that work?
“If a bomb is found the plan is to do a controlled explosion – placing the bomb by the door and ripping up seats and using luggage to build a wall around the bomb then blow out the door.
I’m sorry but there is no way in hell that would work.”
12. Don’t mess with them.
“We are trained in self-defense and to defend the flight deck at all costs.
We are extensively trained on how to deal with threats – verbal and physical, bomb threats, suspicious articles, dangerous goods, hijackers and other terroristic acts.
We have handcuffs on board and will use them if you need to be restrained.”
13. Good news!
“It’s not actually illegal to join the mile high club. It’s just super rude.
Don’t try it on a plane with only two lavs on your way to Vegas at 10:00 in the morning.
If you really want to, take an international redeye.
The plane will be bigger, the lights will be off, and there’s curtains around the eight lavs.
Have a party. In that gross, gross, lavatory. They’re grosser than the tray tables.”
How about you?
What are some of the disturbing secrets of your industry?
We’d love to hear from you in the comments! Please and thank you!
