Flight Attendants Hate When Passengers Make A Common Mistake During Food Service

While being a passenger on a commercial flight these days is no picnic, being one of the flight attendants who have to board the aircraft day after day, flight after flight, offers its own set of challenges, to which passengers don't always pay much attention. While you sometimes don't get in-flight food and beverage service on short-haul or turbulent flights, meal service still exists on many international flights. You'll almost always be offered a beverage on short-haul flights, too. The best way to make friends with the flight attendants and have the best in-flight dining experience during meal service is to sit down, wait your turn, and respond to the questions your flight attendants are asking rather than asking what they are not prepared to give at the moment.

Common annoyances for flight attendants include passengers disrupting the flow of in-flight service by getting up during meal service or asking for exactly what's on the cart that just went by. Most flight attendants, who want to keep their reputation and that of their airline intact, will only speak to reporters on a first-name basis. We've collected some of their comments while keeping them on a first-name basis to respect their privacy.

You'll probably notice the food and beverage carts making it down the aisle at their own (often unsynchronized) pace. As they arrive, the flight attendants will ask for a meal preference or offer a beverage from their fully-stocked trays. While they are serving, don't ask to have your garbage taken away, and similarly, don't ask for additional beverages or snacks from the passing garbage cart. Keeping these services separate and sanitary is an important part of a flight attendant's job.

On Reddit, anonymous attendant ODoyles_Banana told this shocking story: "I had someone put a dirty diaper on the service cart. They did it while my back was turned taking someone's order or I would have stopped them. Asked them why they put that there and they said so I could throw it away. So I just canceled service and when I made the announcement, I had zero problem explaining why." But this isn't the only way you can catch the ire of a flight attendant onboard. Luckily, you can also win them over by observing a golden rule.

Like flight attendants, passengers are also moving around in incredibly tight spaces that require choreography, communication, and kindness. Expecting a meal service tray to deal with garbage and diapers or bringing the stinkiest tuna or egg salad sandwich on board for your seatmates to smell is just the beginning. Besides avoiding this kind of rookie mistake as a first-time flier, acting with genuine thoughtfulness and consideration is a much-appreciated skill on and off the airplane. As flight attendant Christa told Islands, "When you walk on, a majority of the time we smile and greet you... it's not hard to smile or nod back as a common courtesy."

When it comes to other passengers, this could mean helping the flight attendant pass along the meal tray or glass of water to the person in the window seat, or simply being aware of where your elbows are. "At the end of the day, it comes down to the golden rule," an anonymous flight attendant called Andy told Travel + Leisure. "If you show me a little respect, I'll be more than happy to go the extra mile for you and make your flight as enjoyable as possible."