After a pandemic and the rise of bad passenger behavior that followed, even new flight attendants have often heard and seen it all.
There have been passengers who (reportedly) snuck on and set off a bottle of pepper spray aboard a flight, passengers who caused flights to be diverted over the meal and alcohol options and one passenger who made a fake bomb threat to avoid the drug cartel members he thought were waiting for him at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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But particularly egregious incidents aside, flight attendants also occasionally get tired of hearing the same questions over and over again. In her post for airplane website Simple Flying, longtime industry insider Patricia Green wrote that, "Can I have an upgrade?" is both the most commonly-asked and frustrating question flight attendants get asked on an almost daily basis — frustrating because those working inside the plane have no control over the upgrade process.
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'There might be empty seats but we are not allowed to give them to you'
"We are not allowed to upgrade passengers unless they are paying for an upgrade onboard the aircraft, which actually is pretty pricey!" Green, who worked as a flight attendant for more than 20 years, writes. "Ground staff can upgrade people if they are SFU (suitable for upgrade) and they meet certain requirements.... Yes, there might be empty seats, but we are not allowed to give them to you, free of charge."
Close behind in the "annoying question or comment" list are the frequent flyers who remark how they must fly "as much or more than you." While the 2009 movie "Up In The Air" helped spread certain stereotypes around this type of business traveler, one would need to "fly almost every single day of the year and numerous times a day" to make the claim close to being true — and, in the rare instances where it could be, it does not earn one any "perks" the flight attendant can offer.
Other frustrating behaviors named by Green include fighting back on requests to put down the tray table or turn off a gadget with "just one more minute" and yelling out the outdated term "stewardess!" to ask for something to be brought to the seat.
You can ask (but don't insist) for that extra drink
Some also like to ask aviation-related questions around where flight attendants stay in foreign cities or how flights are scheduled. While some are happy to chat or explain details, it is best to come to the back of the plane during a quiet moment rather than ask when flight attendants are trying to move through the aisles during boarding or meal service.
Needless to say, jokes about bombs or offers to "meet up" after the flight are not appropriate. Green has also observed more than one traveler ask try to get a free drink by saying it's their honeymoon, bachelor party or just by asking persuasively enough — one can try it once but should not insist or cause a scene if the flight attendant cannot do it.
"Being stuck in a metal tube in the sky with a group of drunk people is most flight attendants' nightmare," Green writes. "We may or may not serve you that extra drink. If the passenger is not too drunk we might give one more."
