Things Airlines Don't Want You To Know - 15 Airline Secrets Revealed

Things Airlines Don’t Want You To Know – 15 Airline Secrets Revealed

Whether you're a frequent flyer or not, there are a number of uncomfortable secrets airlines don't want you to know about flying! Gathered from the experiences of real pilots, flight attendants, airline staff, ground crew, and TSA officials, these are some of the logical reasons why many people are afraid to fly - and even the most seasoned traveler should be at least a bit shocked by this list of things that airlines are trying to hide!

Number 1 - You Might Not Fly On the Plane You Paid For Often, for domestic flights, you’re put on a smaller regional airliner that is owned by a larger airline. These planes usually don’t have the same safety standards as larger airlines and pilots have less training. This doesn’t mean your plane will crash, but it’s something they won’t tell you.

Number 2 - Pilots Fall Asleep During Flights Nap breaks are scheduled for pilots so that one can rest while the other is in command of the plane. But according to surveys, more than 50% of pilots have involuntarily dozed off while in the cockpit. Yes… once the plane is at cruising altitude, autopilot kicks in but I’d still feel safer knowing that a pilot is in command. Wouldn’t you? Ah.. guess we’ll never know.

Number 3 - While They Look New, Planes Are Usually Old Recently, the fuselage of a Boeing 737 blew a hole during flight. The plane landed safely, but an inspection revealed that the plane had taken over 40,000 flights over the course of 15 years. In flight years, that's basically ancient.

Number 4 - You Don’t Have To Be Delayed If for some reason your flight is delayed, you have an option that most people aren’t aware of. The delayed airline will put you on a competitor’s flight if it will arrive sooner than their own plane. The next time you’re delayed, just ask for this option. But note that if the competitor has no available seats, well... You’ll just have to wait then.

Number 5 - Frequent Flier Miles Aren’t Worth Much It takes a whole lot of frequent flier miles to actually be worth anything. And this is because there are so many points programs in the airline industry and they’re losing value. And of course because the airlines want to make more money, so they kind of make it this way.

Number 6 - Pilots Will Never Announce Engine Failure Most people would probably freak out if a pilot announced that there’s been an engine failure. When something like this happens, at most, the pilot will only mention that one of the engines isn’t working properly. But don’t worry, most planes can land just fine, even if one engine is down.

Number 7 - A Pilot Will Never Tell You He’s Gone Completely Blind Of course I don’t mean that he has literally gone blind, but at times there may be clouds, fog, or darkness and pilots can’t see a damn thing during those times. This is when autopilot comes in handy, to guide the way. Let’s just hope those robots don’t fuck up!

Number 8 - Your cellphone doesn't really interfere with air traffic control Mobile electronic devices won't really bring an airplane down but they can be really annoying to pilots. The reason you have to turn it off? Just imagine sitting in the flight deck descending to your destination and hearing the interference of a 100+ cellphones picking up a signal!

Number 9 - When Flight Attendants Are Told To Sit Down It's common for the seatbelt sign to turn on and off during a flight – It’s often caused by routine turbulence. However, if a pilot tells the flight attendants to take a seat, this means they are expecting an updraft. Basically, an updraft is a giant air bump, and it causes the plane to jerk up and down violently. Sometimes, the drink carts can even leave the floor and hit the ceiling. Fortunately, I’ve never seen this happen yet. Have you?

Number 10 - Planes Are Full of Germs Airlines make money by keeping the planes full and flying. If there is ever any cleaning done, it’s usually very quick and between flights. Cold and flu viruses can live for hours on surfaces, such as your seat, counters and faucets in the bathroom. The germiest places on a plane include tray tables and the buttons that are used to push them down, the plastic window shades, blankets and pillows, the rubber arm rests, the seat pockets, the seat belt buckle, the overhead air vent, and the touchscreen entertainment system. So, pretty much everything is quite germy! Airlines stress that the cabin air is continually scrubbed of germs as it circulates through the airplane, and that's true. In fact, there’s a total changeover of air in the cabin every 2-3 minutes. However, the air is also pressurized, which strips it of moisture. This drier-than-desert air dries out your mucous membranes and lowers your resistance to germs around you.

Number 11 - Water Landings When it comes to water landings, the crew make it sound like it’s some kind of routine thing. This is all great but falling or uh crashing from 35,000 feet probably won’t make for a smooth landing. From that height, it won’t make much difference whether it’s land or water.

Number 12 - Things They Give You, Aren’t New Most of the stuff they give you during a flight, such as headphones, are re-used. Blankets and pillows… they just get refolded between flights. Think about this the next time you are flying.

Number 13 - You Might Be Flying With Dead People While you may not know what exactly, all kinds of things get shipped on commercial flights. Things like exotic animals, organs, blood and even dead bodies. The human remains are packed in wooden boxes so you wouldn’t know what’s inside.

Number 14 - The Reason for Dimming Lights Having you ever wondered why they dim the lights on a plane at night? They do this in case you need to evacuate upon an emergency landing. This way your eyes are adjusted to the low light.

Number 15 - Lightning Strikes When you think of lightning striking things, you probably think of damage! But it might surprise you to know that planes get hit by lightning all the time. Just think about that. So there you have it – some of the many things that an airline crew knows, but will not tell you. It might be a good idea to keep these points in mind the next time you fly What do you think? Share your thoughts and comments below!