I'm a flight attendant, here are some tips you might not know.

So, I flew for a total of about 15 years, and worked for two major US airlines. I also worked in their training departments as an instructor for a few years. I saw A LOT of things. Here are a few things you might not know.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>1. Your captain is in charge. Like, really in charge. If his goose gets out while a flight attendant is doing a safety demo, and he wants to go outside and pet it, the flight attendant can be written up and fired if she argues. The captain is the final authority in the aircraft. <br><br>2. If you're a dick to the flight crew, they can divert the aircraft, arrest you, and bill you for the fuel. I've seen this happen, and trust me when I tell you it's not worth being an asshole.<br><br>3. SAFETY FIRST! This is the number one rule. In training, they tell us that it's safety, safety, safety, and then customer service. If your seatbelt isn't fastened, your seat isn't in its upright position, your electronic devices aren't in airplane mode, or your lap baby isn't on your lap, and we hit turbulence, we will delay taking out the carts to walk down the isle and check because we don't want you to get hurt. <br><br>4. We will do anything to get our passengers where they need to go. I saw a plane de-ice, taxi to the runway, not be able to get clearance to take off before the de-icing expired, taxi back to the ramp for more de-icing, taxi back to the runway, and finally take off. We got to our destination at 4 a.m. Instead of leaving at 2 a.m. and getting some rest, the pilots hung out in the terminal waiting for a new departure time, the flight crew stayed in the airport, and the ground crew loaded new cargo and cleaned the cabin. We took off again a couple of hours later. We were tired, and we were hungry, but we got our passengers where they were going.<br><br>5. Flight Attendants can arrest you. We take classes to learn how to do this. I never had to personally arrest anyone, but I did watch a pilot do it when some guy got off his seat when we were taxiing. I was kind of surprised at the time- I didn't know pilots could do it too. I think it's because the police hadn't made it on board yet, and he didn't want to wait.<br><br>6. If you're nice to the flight crew, they'll be nice to you. We're not making much money and we're working a job where we have to be awake and standing up most of the time. If you bring us treats or something, we'll share them with you if it's allowed. I once had a passenger give me a three-pack of KIND bars, and I was like, "OMG, these are my favorite!" He said, "Eat them!" And I did, with my other two flight attendants.<br><br>7. Don't ask the pilot or copilot to let your kid sit in their seat. This is really rude, and they don't want to touch your snot-nosed kid. Plus, there's a lot of buttons and levers, and we really don't want your kid screwing with them.<br><br>8. Don't think that if you see a minor thing wrong that you're going to tell the pilots and they're going to say, "Great job! You're now allowed to sit in first class, drink for free, and eat extra snacks!" They might say thank you, they might ignore you, but they're probably going to go back and tell the flight crew, "Some passenger saw __________, can you go check it out?" <br><br>9. Flight Attendants don't get paid until the door closes. We're on the clock once the door closes, and we're off the clock when it opens again. We're not paid to sit at the gate, or taxi, or sit on the ramp because we're waiting for a gate. <br><br>10. If you have a baby, you might want to consider buying them their own ticket. Once, we had a mom and baby (like, maybe three months old?) sitting in the last row, and she was breastfeeding. Turbulence hit, and we were *ordered* to stay in our seats. I had to tell her to buckle her baby up instead of nursing. She was so angry! I was like, "Lady, I really don't want to buckle your baby into its own seat, but I don't want your baby to die either."<br><br>11. Airlines cover the cost of death. If a plane crashes and everyone is dead, the airline pays for the funerals. <br><br>12. If an aircraft is missing or lost, it will be tracked to a specific point, and then recovery boats and equipment will be sent out. I once worked a flight that was lost for a while. We were supposed to arrive at 10 p.m., and we didn't arrive until almost 5 a.m. We took off late because it was stormy, and then we had to fly way faster than normal because we had a heart attack victim on board. (I'll talk about him in another post.) We didn't have enough fuel to circle, and there was no way we could make an emergency landing in the storm. I never found out if the guy survived. It was crazy.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>EDIT: I'm sorry I didn't expect this post to get so much traction. I'll answer questions as best I can, though. <br><br>Oh, and PS: If you ever get mad at a Flight Attendant for doing their job, just remember that we *gave our lives* to save you. Just like the police and fire department. You can Google it if you don't believe me.<br><br>EDIT 2: I should probably mention that I'm a former Flight Attendant. I'm not currently working as one. I'm also based in the US, so I know there are a lot of differences between countries. Some of this stuff might not apply. I'm also not trying to scare anyone or make them angry. It's just what I learned, in my experience as a Flight Attendant.