Flight Attendants Reveal Their Wildest In-Flight Experiences & You'll Never Want To Fly Again

If you think about it, airplanes are a very strange concept. Being up in the air, confined in a metal tube hurtling towards a new destination can lead to some bizarre situations. As the people in charge of getting travellers from A to B safely, flight attendants have really seen it all when it comes to airplane mishaps.

From wild weather conditions to passengers making some questionable choices in terms of safety, there's not a lot your average flight attendant hasn't had to deal with in their careers.

We asked a current flight attendant and a former flight attendant about some of the wildest things they've seen on an airplane and some of them were truly mind-blowing.

Some people have been very mistaken when trying to find the washrooms

If you've ever travelled on an airplane, you'll know the set-up is pretty similar every time, with washrooms usually at the front or back of the cabin and sometimes along the middle. You just walk straight down the aisle.

According to the current flight attendant, one of the most bizarre experiences they've encountered is someone trying to open the emergency exit, thinking it was actually the washroom.

"How the tiny window showing the outdoors wasn’t an indicator that it wasn’t the washroom is beyond me," they said.

Luckily the person didn't manage to succeed. But as a reminder, if you're unsure of where the washroom is, you're probably better off asking your flight attendant rather than just attempting to open random doors and hoping for the best.

Truly shocking weather

When you're up in the air, there can be a lot of uncomfortable situations caused by the weather outside. Anyone that's experienced some major turbulence can relate to the stomach-churning feeling.

However, some weather incidents are definitely scarier than others. The current flight attendant said one of the oddest experiences they'd faced was their plane being struck by lightning mid-flight.

"It was loud, bright, and definitely freaky," they said.

However, don't panic if that ever happens while you're on board as airplanes are prone to being struck by lightning and they're actually engineered to limit the impact.

In an interview with Time, Professor John Hansman, professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and director of the International Center for Air Transportation at MIT said standard commercial planes are designed to handle lightning strikes.

If planes are struck, they'll be inspected once they land to make sure they're safe but in most instances, they're unharmed or only have minor damage.

People make some questionable choices

We get that airplanes are pretty confined spaces and doing things as simple as changing clothes can be tricky to navigate as the bathrooms are notoriously cramped.

However, some people go to extreme lengths to change their outfits, even stripping down very publicly on the plane, according to the former flight attendant.

"A man once came back to the galley to change his clothes," they explained. "I was there with another flight attendant and he just casually stripped down to his underwear, put on a different outfit, and then left as if it was nothing," they added.

As the galley is essentially an office for your flight attendants to briefly relax between duties and also prepare meals and drinks for service, using it as a personal changing room is not the move.

If you're going to change, your best bet is to wait until one of the airplane washrooms is free or until you get into the airport.

Kids roaming the cabin is not OK

When the seatbelt signs are on, especially during take-off and landing, being sat down in your seat is not negotiable. However, some people definitely see them as more of a suggestion than a rule.

"I was doing the pre-landing check to make sure everything was secure and I came across this toddler crawling around under the seats," the former flight attendant said.

After speaking to the child's father to explain she needed to be seated for landing, that's when things took a turn for the weird.

"Every time he went to pick her up she started screaming. He said, 'She doesn’t want to, she can just stay there,'" the former flight attendant added.

"As if it was a safe place for a child or anyone to be when a plane is landing."

Regardless of how much your child doesn't want to be seated, it's definitely not safe for them to be hanging out under seats or roaming around the cabin, especially if the seat belt sign is on.

Barefeet is a no-go

There's so much to say about airplane etiquette and what you should and absolutely should not be doing on a plane, but one thing that almost everyone can agree on is that going barefoot on an airplane is not the way to go.

Not only are flight attendants having to serve food and drink on board, air is recirculating so all in all, being barefoot in a confined space should be an automatic no.

According to the current flight attendant, people would go barefoot on the plane and also go to use the washroom barefoot too.

"Spoiler: The liquid on the floor is not water," they said. Gross!

If that isn't enough to make you rethink going barefoot on a plane, the choice can have some pretty stomach-churning results for everyone else on board, according to the former flight attendant.

"I smelled something so bad while working and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. It smelled like really strong chemicals and I was concerned there was a problem with the aircraft so I told the rest of the crew," they said.

After hunting for the source of the smell, the crew made a surprising – and pretty disgusting – discovery.

"We discovered it was a passenger who had taken his shoes off. His feet had such an awful stench, we told him he had to wear his shoes for the rest of the flight."

So next time you're travelling, please wear comfortable shoes and just keep them on for your own benefit as well as others!

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.