Flight attendant reveals the onboard items ‘cheeky’ passengers always steal from them
A FLIGHT attendant has revealed the onboard items that passengers love to steal – but it’s not what you may think.
Paula Gahan has been working as cabin crew for years and therefore knows the ins-and-outs of cheeky passenger behaviour.
The London-based Irish crew member works for an international airline and hosts ‘The Bad Air Hostess’ podcast.
Paula revealed one niche thing that angers cabin crew that no one would believe.
Speaking to Irish Times, the air hostess shared how customers – unbelievably – steal cabin crews food.
She said: “It’s a funny old phenomenon on aircraft, any food that’s sitting around, even if it’s in a lunch box, seems to be fair game to passengers.
“They come in and swipe it. Yes, the passengers will steal your food without an ounce of shame.
“It’s like some unwritten rule, if it’s visible in the galley and edible, I can take it.”
Paula even gave a shocking example of this dreadful flight behaviour.
She said: “I was just on a flight back from San Francisco and I bought a bag of Haribo for a sugar hit to get me through the 10-hour flight.
“I leave the bag on the counter and turn around to see some cheeky woman helping herself.
“Look, we do have to eat as well, you know? Cabin crew don’t subsist on aircraft dust and toilet water.”
Poor passenger behaviour seems to be a common occurrence on flights – and Paula has a diagnosis for it.
She said: “There seems to be a terrible condition affecting more and more passengers lately (and people in general).
“It’s called Special-itis.”
Paula joked: “The main symptom of the condition is that the afflicted person feels somewhat more special than all the other passengers, so the rules don’t apply to them.”
It comes as a flight attendant revealed why passengers should always bring their own food on the plane.
The inside information was shared by Sean Price – a part-time flight attendant and academic program manager for the Flight Services program at Seneca Polytechnic.
He explained how passengers may not be able to buy food during the flight.
Sean advised bringing non-liquid snacks and an empty water bottle for if there is turbulence.
Although bottles with liquid in them aren’t allowed most airports have refillable systems.
“So make sure you fill up that water bottle on the plane just in case if turbulence is so severe that we’re not able to come out and give you a beverage,” he told CTVNews.ca.
“If you bring snacks on board, it’s just better preparing you so that if we aren’t able to come around or maybe the airline doesn’t offer the service you were expecting or maybe the flight isn’t long enough to offer you a snack, at least you’ve got some backup in your bag.”
