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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Travel
Milo Boyd

Flight attendants reveal the worst parts of the job including unruly passengers

Flight attendants appear to have it all as they get paid to travel the world - but now they've revealed the passenger habits and parts of the job that aren't quite so glamorous.

After all, cabin crew members often find themselves at the mercy of irritable holidaymakers, some who also have some gross habits.

Jay Roberts, who has worked as senior cabin crew, previously took to his Fly Guy's Cabin Crew Lounge network and asked flight attendants to share their top peeves.

There were some common themes, from unruly passengers to effects on cabin crew's health such as fatigue and memory loss.

Check out flight attendants' pet peeves below...

Badly behaved passengers

Jay writes that passengers are one of the main reasons why flight attendants sign up to the job, to meet travellers and to provide excellent customer service.

"However, don’t be fooled by our friendly smiles; that love quickly turns to loathe when passengers take their frustrations and bad manners out on us," he notes.

Working for free

Jay explained that flight attendants are sometimes not paid during boarding times, and are only on the clock from when the doors close.

"Like passengers, crew hate delays, but unlike passengers who are there on their own will, your crew is waiting around at work and not getting paid for it," he said.

Short stopovers, last-minute schedule changes and lengthy commutes to the airport all add to the misery for flight attendants.

Health, sickness and diet

Being onboard a plane exposes you to a lot (Getty Images)

Working as a flight attendant is very demanding on the body and can leave workers suffering from long-term aches and pains.

Data collected from the Occupational Information Network database ranked flight attendant as the eighth unhealthiest job.

Being onboard a plane much of the time means you are exposed to contaminants, disease, infections, minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings.

Meanwhile whether it's due to the long hours, air pressure at 30,000 feet, or jetlag, many of the people polled said working on a plane had a bad impact on their memory.

Loneliness

The role is one that attracts extroverts and those who love meeting new people.

Which means that when flight attendants finish for the day, they can struggle with the sense of isolation that comes from being stuck in a hotel room halfway across the world.

Fatigue and exhaustion

"The more time zones we cross, the more jetlag we amass, and at some point in our careers, we give up and learn to live with an overdrawn account in our sleep bank," Jay writes.

The exhaustion of working in the skies can be so severe that flight attendants often find themselves walking into the walls of their hotel rooms.

Jay recommended buying friendly cabin crew a coffee gift card to help them feed their caffeine addiction.

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