Flight Attendant Reveals Her Best In-Flight Tips to Start a Trip

hey there in today's travel tip video we have a major airline flight attendant this time sharing her travel hacks and some tips and tricks for you inside the airplane as well as some packing hacks that could help you as an airline passenger in 2024 welcome to Janine thanks for doing this there are so many stereotypes for flight attendance does anyone ever call you a stewardess my husband all the time I'm his stewardess yes it doesn't really matter to me honestly um we do the same thing it's just I think more PC instead of saying Steward and stst we've got flight attendant and I think so many of us have college degrees now it's a second career so yeah flight attendant is fine I don't personally mind stewardess but a lot of people do okay Janine and I are friends from our church here in the woodlands and so our husbands do know each other um we we all know each other so one question that a lot of viewers ask me on this channel is why can't flight attendants help passengers even if they're short why can't they help them or a senior citizen put their carry on bags in the overhead bins anymore injury personal injury um so many of us including myself have injured a shoulder or a back or something just by lifting bags that we didn't pack and we're not covered by that so have you had a passenger get angry when you've had to say I'm sorry I can't help they just think we're being lazy or we don't want to do our job but honestly we have been told by our Airline you you know can't lift their bags um because we're not covered sorry and most people follow your rules yes most people do but I just tell them um sometimes if there's nobody around I'll pretend to help I'll kind of put my hand on the side and make it look like I'm helping but I no longer lift um simply because had a shoulder injury um they could stand on the chair that's what I do if I need to get into my bag or remove something I'll just stand on the chair or um just ask somebody find that cute guy and what made you want to become a flight attendant I was a teacher and it was I was looking towards Summer and a friend of mine said hey my sister's a flight attendant you should do it so I just decided I was going to do this for one year I was terrified of flying I went to my interview with White Knuckles and um I just wanted to see the world and travel and a year later I told my principal I wasn't coming back and she cried and here I am 24 years later loving it how many days do you usually pack or have to pack for a trip like my husband's they're like four or five days so it's nice to have four days worth of clothes in there just in case I always have one to two workout clothes a pair of jammies a swimsuit cuz you never know where you going can end up um even if it's just a one day trip I always have at least two going out outfits how many hours on a day can you are you allowed to work um the FAA has definite limits but each Airline is different and contractually um those can range from like 13 to 16 hours a day um they can schedule them up to like 14 but they may push them to 16 or something like that depending on it depends on what what time of day you start depends on if it's International or domestic um and then irregular operations mechanical things weather delays so do you have a travel tip for how to make everything fit in your carry-on suitcase do you just make it you're rolling rolling I'm a roller I roll my clothes okay and why it helps with wrinkles for one really um when I I started out my first few years folding and just stacking them up and pressing them down and they'd always be wrinkled I find when I roll them I have far fewer and I can just fit so much more in there it just works for me okay and see I I think rolling takes forever and that's like the main reason I don't roll the most popular travel hack that I was ever taught was by a flight attendant and that's to use the hotel pant hanger to keep the curtains closed I thought that was just brilliant and because you travel so often you've learned a lot of travel hacks um what is a travel hack that you use when you're flying or packing I like to have a little bag bright colored I have an orange bag I keep all of my Chargers in um that way when I'm packing up my room to leave I see that bright orange bag and I know there's supposed to be three Chargers in there that bag is my constant reminder that it should have all my Chargers everything stays in my bag I have two of everything two of like of everything two sets of running shoes two toothbrushes two chargers for my phone two chargers for my laptop two chargers for my iPad two of everything it's a little expensive at first but it is well worth not leaving anything behind not getting somewhere and not having it uh what was the other travel hack you told me about oh the tennis ball I keep a tennis ball in my bag all the time so at the end of the day after I've been on my feet all day I just put that on the floor and I roll my foot on that tennis ball and it just you hear it go pop pop pop and it just relieves all that tension my mom's foot doctor told her like for a long flight and for her planter fasciitis or something to do in the airplane seat to do the lowercase alphabet with each foot yes does that that it works it keeps moving the blood and it pumps up your leg do you go out and tour the city or go out to eat with the flight attendants on layovers um many years ago the whole crew would go out to dinner together the whole crew but um that doesn't really happen anymore I'm more of an independent Explorer now and I just like to see the new places anything I can do to be outside not stuck in my hotel room all right A lot of my viewers use CPAP machines do you have any tips for those I had a CPAP for quite a while um and I would just slide it over the handle okay um the other thing is there's much smaller versions now that you can get there's even travel versions and they're great they're so expensive when you're going through security with a cpat machine talk to the Cs the TSA agent that's right there um because they think they're very consistent but they're not and it also depends on which x-ray machine they have um some of them you can put it through some of them you have to take it out um my other tip buy a bottle of water once through security or at the hotel if you can't carry distilled water with you okay do you use a J hook because that's one tip that I thought if they do not have the little travel trolley strap for the CPAP machine they can attach it to the J hook true um I have a J hook but I don't love them I find my luggage falls off a lot especially going down an escalator or if I'm just standing and my luggage leans over and then I walk away the j- hook just isn't as reliable all right in the news lately we have had arguments with airline passengers about closing the window keeping the window shade up um what about reclining seats have you ever had to squelch an argument between passengers about that um they complain a lot about the reclining seats but there's really they're reclining into my space so because airlines are saving money they're putting them closer and closer together in fact I've even taken pictures and sent them in car seats reverse facing car seats won't even fit in the seats anymore it's yes that's not good yeah but yeah there's not a whole lot a flight attendant can do about that honestly have you ever been in an airplane working um that they've had to divert for an unruly or ugly passenger I personally have not okay fortunately but I know others who have I have had to separate people I have had to handcuff people what oh yeah it's ridiculous we had a knockdown drag out blood was flying and what was it about I don't even know it was a a couple a a couple a couple like married couple mad at each other fists flying teeth flying it was ridiculous oh my word we didn't divert we handled it but when passengers walk onto the airplanes sometimes flight attendants are in the back of the airplane and I know they must be thinking why did she do that oh they are taking way too long or that's a rude customer right there we're going to have problems with her what annoys you as people are boarding and then what annoys you as they're getting seated okay as they're boarding I love saying hello to everybody hello welcome have a good day how are you welcome it's like I'm not even there oh really yes they don't say hi no oh I can say hi to 250 people a day and I probably get 25 highs back oh I know so what about thank you uh very few of those too but they're better on the thank you but or on the goodbye other thing that bothers me when they get on when they're boarding is can we use this restroom there are 500 restrooms out there I don't want to take it with us okay why why you can leave it here don't bring it with us and then I'm going to tell you that there's one in the back because this one we're trying to keep it flowing and the pilots need to go before we take off and just things like that so and do you ever tell the pilots we have bathrooms outside in the boarding area did you not go no cuz they go right before we take off okay okay yeah all right and then what annoys you when they're seating when they're getting seated I don't understand why people won't just talk to other people if they think they get to their seat and oh there's somebody in their seat they will come all the way back up the aisle oh against traffic to say there's somebody in my seat and then I have to go all the way back there and say excuse me may I look at your boarding pass and just it's an easy thing excuse me you might be in my seat let's learn to talk to people got let's not be afraid the other thing is if there is somebody in their seat they might just take another empty seat and then the next person will come and they'll take take an empty seat and then it's just a ripple effect anything else when they're getting seated there's nobody in the exit row can I sit there oh what annoys you during the drink and the snack portion I'm assuming that really annoys like the people really for what what what can we do or what do we do that is bad because some of us have never flown before right some of us are so used to it we're like right talking too fast can't hear me take out the earbuds so that you can hear me or push pause I would love you for that really truly love you if you would take them out yeah so you can hear what I'm asking um know what you want um you see us coming you have time to think about it if you don't know what we have pull out the little magazine and just look at that um it's in the back of the magazine it is I don't know if it's in the back it's somewhere in the middle where you can't really find it but it's there we like manners and please don't yell at your children and try to force them to say thank you oh okay please if pretty much if if your kids aren't saying it to you at home they're not going to say it to me so don't yell at your children when you're giving the safety demo before the flight takes off most everybody now has their airpods they're watching they've flown lots of times what do you think on that um most of them aren't watching and it's to be expected um I'm not going to force them to watch but what irritates me is when they're having conversation and I can't hear the announcement because I have to hear the announcement in order to know what I'm doing if I'm doing exits if I'm doing the mask if I'm doing seat belts ah I thought it was just cuz they were being rude talking while you're there might be somebody in the row behind you who can't hear either and maybe it's their first time and they might be interested in knowing how to save their own life brilliant so yes it I never would have thought about that it's all about perspective it is and if they're talking too loud I will stop them and just ask them to tone it down so I can hear what I'm doing mhm but that teacher voice comes out yes it does in lots of flight attendants and passengers what about Pilots do pilots since I know you're married to a pilot and I know what do they do that annoys you this is a very loaded question for and it works is that a whole other video it is um no I really um most Pilots are just fine you know it really varies with the individual but um I don't like it when they come on and say say um I take my coffee black and are our meals here allow me to say time that hello welcome how are you my name is Janine or was I supposed to say my name just being respectful yes just introduce yourself allow me to offer before you throw it in my face that's good so that's good and that's with anybody that is any work work cooworker my other big thing and this is for most of us um we can't get off the plane between flights because there's a time limit whereas Pilots can so when they get off the plane during flights um between flights they don't get off during flights would be bad when they get off between flights and they come back with coffee or food it's kind of like you could have offered cuz we're stuck on here for like sometimes 13 hours a day and all we have is airplane food and you come back with a nice bag of you know mhm whatever we need more pilots to be good examples to the ones coming up who are not as experienced you know to teach them that that's what you do that's a big one that that reminds me um when we have to go into the flight deck when one of them takes a bathroom break um in the olden days you can always tell the older Pilots they clear off that little extra jump seat so that we have a place to sit oh and the new guys just leave their luggage there and we just have to stand there and it's like literally the five minutes out of my whole day where I can sit down with nobody bugging me so yeah do you have any tips and tricks for passengers who are scared to death of flying any part of it not alcohol oh yes why um it just doesn't really help the situation and it dehydrates them and drinking on a plane is a lot worse than drinking on the ground um talk to your doctor first of all and a lot of times you can take a volume but let the flight crew know that you're going to take something before before you take it so that we can be aware if something happens um and then don't mix the alcohol with the volume yes yeah yeah my my biggest tip if you're afraid to fly is um take a class because I went to my interview with White Knuckles and when I was in class I learned all of the statistics on flying trains planes boats cars flying is the safest um my other recommendation would be to drive do you like it when passengers give you snacks I do I love it now not everybody feels the same way and I don't love all of the sugar um all of the candy and the chocolate but it's just the thought that counts okay should it be like wrapped from a store or do you I mean do you really eat homemade things anymore people still give us homemade things and and it's so sweet but it's just not going to it's going to end up in the trash um but just bringing a bag of like little individually wrapped something um we love those we even love like little munchkins from Dunkin' Donuts or $5 hey do you guys have a van tonight are you going to the hotel tonight here's $5 for your van tip oh my God that's my favorite oh that's a good one here's your crew tip for the van here's $5 or here's a $5 gift card for Starbucks or Pilots only give $1 it's for the whole crew oh okay good gotta no we we only give a dollar as well but here's for your crew here's $5 V tip for if you're giving snacks or gifts um what like what's the bare minimum number of flight attendants that would be like four people a major airline you're going to have a minimum of three flight attendants oh okay up to 14 if you're like International 14 that's crazy so okay now what if this couple has planned this bucket list trip and they now are they get to their flight and their seats are not together there's a Cenex I'm sorry their seats are not flight attendance spill yes we do their seats are not together and now they are fuming mad because the gate agent couldn't switch them and now they come to you we're not seated together first of all they could say hi could you help us please we're not seated together and we bought the tickets together I have different responses um and one how you approach me is part of it yeah um but one it's my personal belief that you're about to spend two weeks together this is your last chance to be on your own enjoy it um that I don't say that out loud though um the other thing is you have to just ask people like just ask somebody next to you would you mind switching so that we could sit together and I'll buy you a drink or I'll buy you a snack or just hand them a pack of gum or you know just just anything to ask cuz we can't honestly just ask people I like they have the right to say no they do have the right to say no And even if even if you find a flight attendant who can ask and frequently I will um for children I'm not so much for grown-ups because I think that grown-ups can ask themselves offer yeah and they can be aart for 2 hours however you paid for those seats it's like renting a car and getting to the place and they're like we're out of cars and you're like but I Seinfeld I reserve the car so we learned from one of Chris's uh videos you know like they if they have canceled a flight or delayed a flight they're now on a smaller version of that Boeing 737 or airb seats are in a different configuration or exactly so it's not their fault not the gate agent's fault it's the Airlines and sometimes you've just reserved that flight and not necessarily your seats if it's a kid like I need to sit by my 4-year-old they've never flown he's never flown before and that's totally understandable occasionally there's a ticket that you buy that you sign your life away and say I understand I may not sit with my child and like the cheapest seats right um no bag just a backpack or something like that and honestly all you can do is ask somebody and a lot of times I just tell them just ask them if they'd mind one bab sitting your child and say thanks have a great play and they'll switch with you and say he's got a temperature right now but he shouldn't throw up there you go that's what we wanted to do yeah and then our son he was in my L cuz he was under 2 years old the guy wouldn't change and Jake got sick and threw up oh mid-flight and I was like yeah oh stinks to be you but anyway but he paid for that he wanted to sleep he was by the window I don't know why he wouldn't change but oh I understand but we have to keep in mind that we did reserve the flight and maybe not the seat and even as when I'm non- revving with my husband and I'm the employee sometimes he gets a better boarding group than me I don't understand how it works either nowadays is there a size requirement or weight requirement for flight attendants to get a job they can't ask that anymore so and we don't get weighed anything like that but there are things that they won't tell you um the seat Bel on the jump seat has to be able to fasten properly or you won't be hired um and there are h things if somebody's Too Tall or Too Short um it's not a requirement they just won't hire you like you won't know and I don't honestly know what they are but I I have talked to I talked to one of our old CEOs who told me I was too tall he was too tall so yeah know before you go right how often do you have to get trained or go back to get requalified um like Pilots you know and you do the get in the floaty floating the recurrent training yes yes we have to the raft get in the raft and put out the fires and save the lives and yes um it used to be every year now it's every 18 months um we have some computer training and then we go in person and have to do all the things I have a very important question that I always forget to talk about in my travel tip travel tip videos the lithium ion batteries that charge your cell phones if your bag gets checked because there is no more room in the overhead bins they cannot go into the belly of the airplane because they can combust like they can just sit there doing nothing and they can get they can catch on fire yes what do flight attendants have that is the coolest thing but you don't want to ever have to use it we have a thermal insulation bag if I said that correctly and thermal gloves so once we get the fire out we actually put that item in it could be an iPad it could be a laptop it could be be a phone anything with a lithium ion battery okay um it just gets so hot that even once we put out the fire it can re ignite so we put it inside this thermal containment bag and there are no bags like that in the belly of the airplane that's why they can't go in there there are things they can do but you have to be able to keep an eye on it yes okay and that's why flight attendants make the announcement if you're if you lose your phone in the seat that is for a very specific seat um that reclines differently it's the Life Flat seats like first class okay yes on the business traveling International fles those lay flat seats um I always thought it was so odd I'm like if I drop my phone I can get it but it's four most seats you can get it but those particular seats if you yeah if it crushes the phone it can break the battery it can break the phone it catch on fire even faster or more easily maybe I don't really think it has to do with the fire it's just more of those seats will break your phone in half oh it's it's a separate issue Oh Oh I thought it was for fire no see I love it you learned so much all right well that's all we have for Janine thank you so much for your time if you have any if you have any other questions just put them down below in the comments and say hey if we haven't met yet give us her juiciest travel hacks juiciest why did I say juicy juicy juicy hack and oh goodness Ollie leave it leave it okay that'll shut him up he gets so scared my lights okay here's one very important question that I always forget to talk about I can't drink today um

Channel: Travel Tips by Laurie

Views: 41,205

Keywords: travel tips, travel hacks, packing tips, travel tips from a flight attendant, travel hacks from flight attendant, travel tips by laurie, should passengers recline seats in airplane, what if our seats are not together, can flight attendants help lift luggage

Id: Ap7Q1LfOafc

Length: 24min 35sec (1475 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2024