Air travel can indeed be a frightening experience, particularly for first-time flyers. However, you’re not alone in feeling this way. Even seasoned travelers sometimes feel anxious. In fact, the more frequently you fly, the anxiety may even increase. This patterns into a baffling cycle, which is one of many untold aspects of air travel. Ready for some encouraging news? The fear is entirely psychological. There’s absolutely no logical reason to feel scared or nervous when on a flight. Remarkably, it ranks among the safest activities one can partake in. This is no fabrication.
However, this list isn’t going to be about calming your flying fears. We’ve already done a list like that. This list is going to be about making you a more informed flyer. We’re going to go over some behind-the-scenes tips and tricks concerning flying. These are tips coming straight from people that work on the front lines. They’re coming from flight attendants, pilots, luggage handlers, and others. These are the things they would tell you if they could. So get ready. It would be good idea for you to take out a notepad and put your listening cap on because these tips just might save you a lot of time and trouble in the future. These are 25 things nobody ever told you about flying on an airplane.
When you are out over the ocean, there is no radar tracking your plane. Once an aircraft is more than 240km (150 miles) out to sea, radar coverage fades and air crew keep in touch with air traffic control via high-frequency radio.
People often fake needing a wheelchair to get boarding priority. Sometimes you'll have 10 people getting on the plane with wheelchairs but only 1 of them actually needs the wheelchair to get off. Pilots and flight attendants call these "miracle flights". Federal law requires wheelchairs to be given to those who request them but airlines generally do not ask for proof of a disability before providing one.
Dogs get terrified before they even get on the plane. The handlers can try to calm the dog down but it helps if the dog's name is on the cage. Cats don't care.
There is a long list of things that can be either missing or broken on an aircraft while it is still allowed to fly. It's called the Minimum Equipment List.
Locks on bags are useless. You can pop the zipper with a pen.
The aisle armrests can actually be raised. Usually there is a small divot underneath it that you need to push. The flight attendant may ask you to put it back though.
Both pilots are served different meals and they cannot share. This is done to prevent food poisoning.
It's not uncommon for airplanes to get struck by lightning. In fact, sometimes the plane itself triggers the lightning by flying through charged clouds which results in static discharge off the aircraft. The average commercial airliner gets hit by lightning a little more than once a year. Fortunately, they are built to withstand it.
There is a small latch inside the lavatory sign that will open the door when it is pulled, even if the door is locked.
If you don't remove old tags from your bag, there is a good chance it might get rerouted or not make it to your final destination
Even though those ear buds are wrapped up, they aren't new. They were cleaned and repackaged.
Flying is one of the safest modes of travel. Not convinced? Check out this our least entitled “25 reasons why fear of flying is plane silly” for proof.