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Unless you haven’t flown in decades, you know that way too many people completely forget how to be normal the moment they walk onto a plane. In fact, according to a flight attendant, Amanda Delarosa, there are five specific behaviors passengers should avoid.

Sure, sure, you know about the stuff that might agitate the people around you, but your behavior inflight could irritate the crew, as well. For some reason, that seems infinitely worse because they have the ability to make your flight better or worse with ease. 

Airplane etiquette has been a problem for basically ever. But like so much else, it seems like it’s gotten downright unhinged in recent years. Airline crews are subjected to brawls, unreasonable demands, gross passenger habits, and whatever the heck that whole Tiffany Gomas thing was about. 

Delarosa is a veteran crew member who’s been flying for eight years, so you can imagine that she’s seen some stuff in her day. She took to TikTok to offer five pieces of advice to flyers to be less gross, less unsafe, or, at the very least, less annoying to the crew members charged with keeping them alive on board. (That is their primary job, after all — not serving you drinks!)  

A flight attendant shared five things plane passengers should never do:

1. Go to the bathroom shoeless

The fact that this even needs to be said is egregious. The stench of an airplane bathroom alone should tell you that this is a place where you want as little skin contact as possible. What is wrong with all of you?! 

Nevertheless, Delarosa has seen it so often that it made her list. Why? “Turbulence happens on those dang planes, and it happens when people are peeing,” she said. “So where do you think that pee goes? On the floor and absorbed into your socks.”

For the love of God, stop doing this, you absolute animals.

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2. Go to the bathroom while the seatbelt sign is on

Kostiantyn Voitenko | Shutterstock

This should also go without saying since you’re not supposed to do anything at all except sit down when the seatbelt sign is on. It’s there to keep you from banging your noggin on the luggage bins or whatever, but sometimes, when you gotta go, you gotta go, right? 

But Delarosa explained there’s a reason why you catch guff from flight crews when you do this. “Legally, we have to let you know that the seatbelt sign’s on,” she said, “because if you get in there and we hit a bump and you bust your [backside] because of turbulence, we told you so, you can’t sue us.”    

She added that if it’s an emergency and you’re gonna have an accident, go ahead and go. But you’re gonna get your rights read to you if you do it! See you in court, peepee pants! 

3. Hit the call button to give a flight attendant garbage

This drives flight attendants batty. “If you’re paying attention,” Delarosa said, “the flight attendants are usually walking the aisles pretty frequently with garbage bags.” 

This is because the flight crews have “scheduled times” to go through the cabin and pick up people’s refuse, and they might have something else to do while you’re acting out your main character syndrome and demanding they come get your napkin right this instant. 

“So just wait,” Delarosa said. “We’ll be back to get your garbage.” And you’ll be fine holding onto it for a few minutes! 

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4. Get drunk on the plane

Akarawut | Shutterstock

Or before boarding, for that matter. “A lot of people don’t know we are not supposed to allow you on the plane if you appear intoxicated,” Delarosa said of the situation that has inspired seemingly millions of viral videos.    

“We’ve all had those delays where you go to the bar, and you have a couple of drinks, which is fine,” she went on to say. “Just don’t overdo it because we might be putting you on the next flight instead.”

5. Pick a fight, especially with the cabin crew

Here’s another one that really shouldn’t need to be said, but sadly very much does, as we’ve seen in yet more viral videos. But there’s more to onboard brawling than bad manners. It might land you in legal trouble. Delarosa explained that you can be “kicked off that plane or met with the police if it’s mid-flight,” or worse still, “blacklisted and not allowed to fly anymore.”

Sure, flying is stressful, and a lot of people on your average flight frankly deserve a punch in the nose. But is it really worth never again being allowed the pleasure of cramming yourself into an economy seat for hours on end while your veins fill with blood clots and the strange person in the middle seat breathes weirdly into the side of your neck?

Okay, never mind, maybe brawling at 30,000 feet is worth the trouble.

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John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.