What airlines don't want you to know

What airlines don't want you to know | The Daily Telegraph

FROM dirty drinking water and food that's been on the floor to bomb threats and creaky old planes, we dish up the dirt the airlines don't want you to know.

FROM dirty drinking water and food that's been on the floor to bomb threats and creaky old planes, we dish up the dirt the airlines don't want you to know.

Sally, a flight attendant with a major US airline, and Brian (not their real names), a Sydney-based flight attendant tell us the industry’s best kept-secrets - in their own words.

Food that has fallen on the floor may end up on your plate

Sally: “Once a whole food carrier crashed on the galley floor during takeoff because the flight attendant had not checked the latches. We had to scramble to salvage what meals we could that had fallen on the galley floor.”

Our tap water may make you sick

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Brian: “The tap water onboard isn't recommended for drinking. The water tanks onboard planes are hardly ever changed or serviced and I can guarantee you the water isn't triple-layer-filtered or processed in any fancy way like that.

“Here in Australia it’s not the law to provide drinking water onboard aircraft, so if you're flying low-cost, be prepared to buy water onboard or bring your own. I for one have been flying for a while now and I don't even brush my teeth with the tap water.”

Our toilets are only cleaned properly once a day

Brian: “If you're flying domestically within Australia, most of the time the toilets are only superficially cleaned throughout the day with only one deep clean at night once the aircraft terminates. So please wear some form of footwear when you visit the loo on your flight.”

Our luggage scales often lie

“Airport luggage scales are often incorrect. However it is a legal requirement for them to show you the scale so my two cents worth of advice is just to make sure the scale says 0.00kg before you plonk your bags on them,” Brian said.

You may not end up flying with the airline you booked your ticket with

Sally: “What I find is annoying for passengers is they book what they think is a flight with a major airline but they end up on a connection (regional jet) flight, which often have poor on-time rates. It's embarrassing to be associated with them, but the passengers just think it’s the major airline’s fault because that's what their ticket says.”

The seat you booked may not be the one you end up with

Brian: “Seating on an aircraft is all depending on passenger zones for weight and balance issues. Each zone has to have the right number of persons or the aircraft won’t be balanced on take-off, and we all know the consequences of that. This is also why sometimes at the boarding gate, ground agents will assign you a new boarding pass with a different seat number because of the weight imbalance.”

You may not be informed of a problem with our aircraft or an emergency situation

Brian: “There are times where there could be an issue with the aircraft but it is still completely airworthy where passengers are not informed and they would be none the wiser. There was once I was flying on an aircraft with a pressurization issue so we just flew at a lower altitude. Passengers weren't informed and no one asked questions.”

Sally: “One time we had a bomb threat on a domestic flight, late at night. We did not inform the passengers. Apparently they (the authorities) did not think it a very credible threat. We landed away from the terminal and were bussed in. We told them there was a problem with the aircraft and that's why we landed where we did.”

Our planes are not as new as you may think

Brian: “Some planes can indeed be very old and here in Australia one particular airline does operate many old aircraft. Most of them are airworthy but it all depends on the maintenance of the plane.”

Our crew are often exhausted

Brian: “Crew fatigue is a very big issue at the moment, especially in the domestic and regional operations in Australia. We work long hours in a harsh dry environment with some airlines working their cabin crew up to 16 hours a day. Our main reason for being on planes is obviously for safety, however if we're too fatigued then we're not much use if an evacuation becomes necessary.”

Sally: “You reach a point where you are so tired, you are numb. To stay awake, you just drink anything with caffeine and try to keep going.”

We may run out of food

Brian: “Catering does tend to be scarce on a terminating flight especially when it comes to perishables, mainly because stocks are depleted in catering itself and it also avoids wastage as no perishables are stored.”

You may end up freezing if you’re not prepared

Brian: “During late night flights aircraft temperature drops significantly. Most of the time this is done intentionally because if it’s nice, warm and cosy people get too comfortable in their sleep and don't move around as much which would in a worst case scenario cause deep vein thrombosis.

“We tend to get the most medical situations on night flights because of people collapsing as they get up after hours of sitting upright and sleeping. The best way to get around it is to firstly check whether or not the airline you're flying with supplies their passengers with blankets. If not, make sure to pack a light blanket or wear a nice warm jumper.”

Our cabin air may make you sick

Brian: “Cabin air may not be the best but it isn't recycled air as everyone makes it out to be… if you're on a long flight, to avoid looking like a prune at the end of it, be sure to bring moisturizer with you and moisturize every inch of your body.”

Sally: “I do worry about the quality of the cabin air. But it's a hell of a lot better with the smoking ban. I cannot tell you how miserable it was to work the back of coach cabin when we had smoking.”