7 Flight Habits That Drive Attendants Crazy

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Flight attendants aren’t just employees in snappy uniforms rolling drink carts down the aisle, they’re real people with real feelings who sometimes get just as frazzled as the travelers they’re helping. Between cranky passengers, tight schedules, and the tiny challenge of keeping a metal tube full of humans safe at 35,000 feet, they have a lot on their plates. In other words: the just ain’t easy.

While most passengers mean well, there are a few habits that can make a flight attendant’s job a lot harder than it needs to be. The good news? A little awareness (and maybe a tiny bit of patience) goes a long way.

Here are seven of the biggest flight attendant pet peeves, and what we can all do to make the skies a friendlier place for everyone.

Just as you wouldn’t tap, poke, or grab a stranger on the street, the same rule applies in the air. Flight attendants are there to help, but they’re not push buttons.

“Do not touch us. Stop touching us. Don’t poke me or tap me or wiggle your fingers on my arm. I have a name tag,” shared one anonymous flight attendant during a 2025 interview with Travel + Leisure.

If you need their attention, your voice works perfectly well.

“Ma’am” or “excuse me” will usually do the trick.

“We appreciate it when people use their words, and poking and shaking items like trash in our faces is beyond annoying and rude,” another attendant added.

And perhaps the most direct request of all, “Poking me or touching me on any part of my body in an attempt to get my attention — don’t. Just please don’t.”

2. Asking For Water The Second You Board

Boarding is already a bit like organized chaos. Passengers are juggling bags, trying to find their seats, and quietly hoping no one took their overhead bin space. Meanwhile, flight attendants are busy completing important safety checks to make sure the flight can leave on time.

So when someone immediately asks for a glass of water to take medication, it can throw a wrench in the process.

“Why didn’t you take the pill while waiting in the gate area?” one crew member told Travel + Leisure, of their biggest travel pet peeve. “There are ample water fountains and bottled water for sale in the airport.”

Another added, “If you need to take medication, prepare yourself and get a bottle or drink water before walking on board. Folks don’t realize we only have a few minutes to get everyone seated and buckled up so that we can close the boarding door.”

Translation: hydrate before you fly.

3. Heading Straight To The Bathroom During Boarding

Once you step onto the plane, it might seem like the perfect time for a quick restroom stop. But for flight attendants trying to get everyone seated and ready for takeoff, it can slow things down considerably.

One flight crew member explained in the popular “Flight Attendant” Reddit thread,“People don’t realize we HAVE TO WAIT for everyone to be seated before we can taxi. So, once everyone is boarded and seated is NOT a good time to pee. Pee before you get on the plane.”

If you can wait until after takeoff, even better. As previously reported, according to Sarah B., a flight attendant for a major international airline who asked to keep her last name private, timing your bathroom trip wisely makes things easier for everyone.

“The best time to use the lavatory is right after we’ve cleared the first meal service or just before the landing announcement,” Sarah added.

Why? Because as she explains, once the landing announcement is made, it becomes a bathroom stampede.

“The moment they announce that you’re going to land soon, everyone runs to the toilets.”

In other words, beat the rush and go after meal time. The jobs of your flight crew will be much easier because of it.

4. Expecting Flight Attendants To Manage Your Connections

Catching a connecting flight is stressful, no one wants to sprint across an airport with their carry-on bouncing behind them. But flight attendants usually don’t have detailed information about every connecting flight at your destination.

They often learn about delays and changes at the same time passengers do. One flight crew member offered this advice in the Flight Attendants Reddit thread:

“Giving yourself 30 to 40 minutes between connections. It can take 20 minutes to deplane then you have to run from G terminal to A. Give at least 2 hours or more anything can happen….maintainanance, weather, long distance between terminals, etc…..”

In short: plan ahead and maybe bring comfortable shoes just in case you do have to make that sprint to your next flight.

5. Jumping Up When The Seatbelt Sign Is On

It happens on nearly every flight. The plane lands, the wheels touch the ground, and suddenly half the cabin pops up like toast.

But flight attendants would really prefer passengers stay seated until it’s safe.

“Of course the big obvious annoyance: getting up when the seatbelt sign is on, especially right after landing,” another Reddit user and travel expert shared. “I promise you will have enough time to get your carry on from the overhead after we park and we are preparing the doors. You don’t need to jump up the minute we reach the airport to grab anything.”

Your bag will still be there. Promise.

6. Standing In The Aisle

Stretching your legs during a flight makes sense. Standing directly in the aisle while the crew is trying to do their job? Well, not so much.

One flight attendant explained it this way:

“When I am moving through the aisles doing my work and a passenger is standing there either to use the facilities or to stretch their legs, don’t act like I’m inconveniencing you when I ask to get past. I’m doing my job in my workspace. How would you like it if you were at your office and I were sitting on a stack of your papers on your desk then I rolled my eyes at you when you ask me to stand up for a second while you got your papers?”

Fair point.

7. Forgetting To Say Thank You

At the end of a flight, passengers often thank the pilot while exiting, which is nice. But some flight attendants say they’re frequently overlooked, even though they spent the whole flight taking care of the cabin.

“Thanking the pilot while deplaning and ignoring me or not even looking at me, how insulting,” one flight attendant shared with Travel + Leisure.

Another added, “Not acknowledging us or looking us in the eye, not saying please and thank you. We are people, too. Please treat us with respect.”

A quick “thank you” takes about two seconds, and can make someone’s long day a little brighter. Flying doesn’t have to feel like survival of the fittest. With a little patience, courtesy, and maybe one less aisle sprint, passengers and crew can share the skies in peace.

7 Flight Habits That Drive Attendants Crazy