A former flight attendant has revealed the most annoying passenger habits from around the globe, as well as some region-specific pet peeves.
Marcus Daniels, 35, spent more than five years working as a member of cabin crew on domestic and international flights for Virgin and Qatar Airways, and highlighted some region-specific behaviours.
‘In the Middle East, cabin crew were often looked down on as just hospitality staff and would be heckled at,’ he said.
‘On some flights to China, passengers wouldn’t wait for their meal trays to be collected and would go to the galley to dump them.
‘ns are infamous for being the worst complainers. While I think we tend to only complain when we have good reason to, we really go off.
‘Aussie customers won’t complain until something’s gone really wrong, then they’ll pop off. Whereas customers in other parts of the world will complain peacefully about minuscule things, like their blankets not being warm enough.’
Overall, the worst-behaved passengers were those abusing the bar cart.
‘It’s very common to have issues with drunk and disorderly passengers,’ Mr Daniels said.
‘When you’re 39,000 ft in the air, your brain basically turns to mush. That’s why you’ll see stories of customers going crazy during flights even though they acted normal on the ground.
‘If you’re dehydrated, not eating and drinking while your brain’s compressed – people just lose all common sense.’
Mr Daniels explained hypoxia, a condition where the body doesn’t have enough oxygen, is already a risk when flying and can be worsened by alcohol.
‘On a flight to London, I had a passenger who kept going in and out of consciousness,’ he said.
‘He’d only had two glasses of red wine but he hadn’t eaten anything during the flight.
‘His lips began turning blue and we had to hook him up to an oxygen tank and then get him to drink and eat something.
‘A lot of people don’t understand why it’s important to eat and drink on flights. It’s those customers who’ll be off their head drunk and vomiting in the toilet after three drinks.’
Flight attendants also picked up on the favourite drinks of different destinations.
‘ns tend to like beer and wine while flights to and from the UK request a lot of gin and tonic. Obviously, the Russians love their vodka,’ Mr Daniels said.
‘Surprisingly, I found the Scandinavian routes were the biggest drinkers. They loved beer, vodka, whiskey, gin. The bar carts would be completely empty at the end of flights.
‘Then destinations in Asia wouldn’t drink much alcohol. Instead, they’d be asking for hot water to fill their tea flasks.’
One rude habit which might shock some travellers was wearing perfume.
While some flyers might think a strong duty-perfume will help mask any unpleasant odours in the cabin, Mr Daniels explained no scent is the best way to go.
‘As cabin crew, we were constantly told to ensure we wear inoffensive perfume,’ he said.
‘We’re in an enclosed environment so we want to make sure it’s not overpowering anyone, especially those sensitive to smells like pregnant women.
‘It’s good etiquette to make sure you’re not wearing the strong stuff.’
Another no-no was bringing too much luggage onboard or checking items that need to be carried on.
‘It’s rude to be taking up too much cabin space. It’s not fair to the people boarding after you who then have nowhere to put their bags.
‘Another thing passengers will do is leave their batteries and laptops in their checked luggage when those items are carry-on only. Sometimes, it can cause the plane to spend an extra hour on the ground while staff search for the item.
‘I once had a passenger bring a faulty laptop onboard and its lithium battery burst into flames. Because the battery continues to heat after the fire is put out, we had to keep it submerged in a bucket of water until we landed. Imagine if it was in cargo?
‘We’re shown videos of how quickly fires spread through planes. It can be scary when customers do the wrong thing.’
Another habit Mr Daniels struggled to pull passengers into line for was using personal devices without headphones.
‘Some people are just too loud and rowdy. They listen to the portable electronic devices, like phones, and blast the audio without putting in headsets,’ he said.
‘That’s really frustrating for everyone onboard.’
When headed abroad, the ex-flight attendant urged travellers to check their destination’s expectations around clothing.
‘A lot of people don’t realise exposing your feet to some people is quite rude, especially in Arabic culture and Southeast Asian culture,’ Mr Daniels said.
‘Dressing immodestly is also considered rude in a lot of cultures so please don’t board your flight in a singlet and thongs.
‘Personally, I lean on the conservative side when dressing for a flight to be polite whenever I can.’