You could be an experienced flyer, or you could just be a newbie making his/her maiden flight. Often times we think we know it all about travel and flying and most of the times we’re right! Wait a minute-hold that thought..

Bottomline: There’s more to it than meets the eye and you’d be dumbstruck to know the Ins and Outs of flying, as we explore further.Keep reading!

Turning off cell phones

We’ve often heard the flight attendants asking everyone to switch off their cell phones,or rather keep it in flight mode,haven’t we? So would it be perilious to keep it switched on without anyone knowing? Well, let’s get one thing straight.Your plane won’t go down if you intentionally or otherwise keep your phones on and it may not necessarily hamper with communications.

What it can do though, is it can interfere with the frequencies of air control and that’s exactly why you’re asked to switch it off.

Meet’n greet or more of an assessment?

So you enter the cabin and the flight crew greets you with a welcoming smile and you, in all likelihood, would think it is just a polite formality to get the passengers comfortable. While it is true to an extent,the attendants also use it to assess passengers and to get a better idea of who could be problematic, intoxicated,physically fit or differently-abled.

Ever noticed sometimes while greeting ,the crew members have their hands behind them? While you may think this is a polite gesture of greeting,they are actually getting a head-count of the passengers boarding!

Undercover Air Marshals

Ever flew a sector and found the cabin attendants missing onboard? Well chances are, there are air marshals onboard and often times they fly unnoticed. The presence of air marshals have increased significantly post 9/11.

Crew Hook-ups

The simple answer here is, “fairly common”. As cliche as it may sound, there are many cases of cabin crew hooking up with cabin crew and pilots. This doesn’t seem unusual as they often spend long hours working together and hence an inappropriate thing might happen. This doesn’t affect their professionalism though as they are required to be highly professional at all times.

NEVER ask for a diet coke

2 simple reasons why the crew hate serving a diet coke :

• Diet coke being a carbonated drink, takes a lot of time to settle down, especially at higher altitudes and it takes the most time to pour considering other beverages
• Attendants have to pay extra attention so that it doesn’t overflow the cup thereby taking thrice as much time to serve

Nevertheless,they will still serve you a diet coke even if they despise it.

All that glitters is not gold

Contrary to the popular belief, flight attendants aren’t paid a fortune and though their job is to travel around the world, they aren’t able to explore places much on their own as most of the times they are busy.

Also, they are only paid for the flying time meaning cancellations and delays annoy them as much as the passengers alike.

How safe are airplanes?

Although the aircraft has to go through stringent checks and constraints before it takes to the air, there are still some minor failures that are left unattended to ensure flights are on time and there’s no delay. This is nothing to worry about as it is made sure these minor failures don’t affect safety provisions.

What do crew members eat onboard?

The pilot and the co-pilot are served different meals for the simple reason being in the unlikely event of a food poisoning,one of the two pilots is stable enough to carry the flight forward.

Want an upgrade? Be polite!

Being polite goes a long way anywhere.More so when you’re 30,000 ft up in the air and can still get an upgrade to first or business class after the doors are closed! This, ofcourse ,doesn’t happen frequently and sometimes if you’re polite enough,the crew just might be generous enough to give you an upgrade! Try your luck next time….

Secret communication code

While secret communication codes are used by the crew to communicate amongst themselves, the ”DINGS” that you hear during landing and take-off are to signal crew that everything is okay as the most dangerous stages of flight are over.

Similarly, there are other bells for severe turbulence,emergency and also for unauthorised entry into the cockpit.

Less than clean water

Many flight attendants recommend sticking to bottled beverages and advise against coffee or tea on the plane as the tanks for the water are clean but the close proximity of the valves for cleaning to the lavatory waste casts a shadow over the purity of the water used.

Why are the cabin lights dimmed during take-off and landing?

Now most might think it is to create a more relaxed and an ambient atmosphere for passengers,well-it goes way beyond that. Theoretically, take-off and landing are the two most dangerous/critical aspects of flight accounting for about a majority of the accidents taking place.Hence in the unlikely event of a disaster, it would be easier for the eyes to follow the lit signs for immediate evacuation in a dimmed atmosphere as opposed to a lit one.

Airplane food-healthy/unhealthy?

Turns out mid-flight meals are quite unhealthy because they have zero nutritional value as it could be processed and lack natural ingredients. Your best bet would be to eat something prior or carry something onboard if you’re a frequent flyer or health conscious.

What about the unused food?

Some airlines simply dump unused food but given that many airlines try to save money as much as they can, it would be no surprise if they serve you some old food!

Them blanket,pillows and tray-tables

According to experts,the dirtiest part of the planes are the tray tables but the blankets and pillows aren’t bad as such. Since airlines don’t spend much on amenities you might as well get your own pillows and blanket onboard.

Breathing in cabin

It is best to ignore the possibility of contracting airborne viruses because we are breathing through the engine’s compressors-known as “bleed” air and with the advent of HEPA filters, the risk is next to Zero.

What if the engine fails in flight?

Thankfully,present day airliners are well equipped to fly safely even if one engine fails. Now in the unlikely event of a dual-engine failure,the plane can glide at approx. 1.5 NM for every 1000 feet of attitude and pilots are perfectly trained for this.

Where to sit on a plane (safety wise)?

Statistical studies of air crashes show that seats in the rear of the plane have the highest rates of survival.And your chances increase if you’re sitting on the aisle or close to an exit.

Either way, your chances of survival drop rapidly if you don’t have your seatbelt fastened!

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REFERENCE:

• en.luxurlist.com

PHOTO(s)

• COVER: bestlifeonline.com

• abcnews.go.com
• somecards.com
• express.co.uk
• dmarge.com
• cntraveler.com
• crewdaily.com

Which one did you find the most amusing? Comment in the section below!