I have a friend that is a flight attendant for Virgin America. As a result, I get to see in my Facebook feed some of his experiences while working. This afternoon, my friend posted a link to an article with the comment, “Please share this with your friends. It’ll make my life a LOT easier.” The article included 12 things that, contrary to popular belief, a flight attendant can’t do for you (so stop asking). Among my favorites:
Stow your bag for you. I’m going on record here, but it is my absolute pet peeve when someone needs help getting their bag into the overhead bin. I’m all about chivalry and helping others, but listen, if you can’t lift it, you should have checked it. Flight attendants aren’t there to stow your bags. Did you know that if the flight attendant helps you and gets injured, they can’t fly, which means you can’t fly? That’s right, an injured flight attendant means that your flight is not leaving the gate until an able-bodied replacement is
Give you any kind of medication. Think about it. In this day and age of lawsuits, did you really think that a flight attendant can just hand out medicine? Nope! Not even aspirin. So bring your own.
Call ahead to hold a connecting flight. Think about it, the flight attendants have no power with the scheduling of aircraft for an airline. They have no control and neither do the pilots. The airline sold you the ticket and they know where you are, so don’t expect the flight attendant to pull any strings for you.
Pass out pens on an international flight. This one surprised me. I guess it’s not that flight attendants can’t pass out pens, but rather it’s that they don’t have any pens to give you. In the efforts of airlines to cut costs, it is no surprise that one thing to go are simple writing utensils for passengers to fill out customs and immigration forms.
To read the full article, check it out here: 12 Surprising Things a Flight Attendant Can’t Do for You (So Stop Asking).
Did any of these things surprise you? Did something not make the list?
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