'No one listens to us at all': Another flight attendant is sounding the alarm on bad passenger behavior

Flight attendant Destanie Armstrong talks of how plane passengers argue over the smallest little things."

Jan 24, 2024 - 04:30

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'No one listens to us at all': Another flight attendant is sounding the alarm on bad passenger behavior

With the airline industry dealing with record-high numbers of travelers and struggling to find the staff needed to meet it, many flight attendants are feeling stretched thin — and taking to social media to vent.

At the end of last year, Philadelphia-based flight attendant Destanie Armstrong went viral after describing how some passengers will plead and argue in the hopes of getting her to upgrade them into a better fare class once they see an empty seat. The strategy almost never works since such upgrades are almost always done by the gate agent long before the flight boards.

In a more recent TikTok video, Armstrong expressed some of the other problems that she and fellow flight attendants often deal with on the job — just as takeoff and landing at the most high-stakes moments of the flight for the pilot, flight attendants often struggle most with boarding and deplaning.

@destanieaaa
Here is the tea. #flightattendant #cabincrew ♬ original sound - Destanie | Flight Attendant ✈️

Here is why flight attendants get particularly frustrated with the boarding process

"When people come on the airplane, we set the tone: like 'hey, good morning, welcome onboard,'" Armstrong explains in the video. "[...] But people will argue over the smallest little things. People don't want to sit in the correct seat and they get angry when they have to move to their correct seat. People want to move to an upgraded seat when they can’t move to an upgraded seat."

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Another common problem arises when passengers disregard flight attendant instructions. While actions that endanger the safety of the flight is a fast-track way to get one removed or the flight diverted, flight attendants often find themselves having to argue with passengers who do not want to move from another seat or not put smaller items into the overhead compartment.

Another dark side of the job: 'People fetishize us as flight attendants...'

"People will fill the overhead bins with their jackets and purses and small things that could go into the seat in front of them and no matter how many times we say like 'everyone's cooperation will be very appreciated,' no one listens to us at all," Armstrong said.

On top of classic problems with the job such as jet lag and an irregular schedule particularly for those who are just starting out with the airline, Armstrong touched upon many of the myths that exist around the flight attendant lifestyle. While a small segment of overall travelers, there are always those who ask inappropriate questions or even make advances or sexually harass flight attendants on the job.

Between difficult travelers and the stress of the job during such high numbers of travelers, Armstrong said that "in the aviation industry in the U.S. morale is very low" — many are feeling burnt-out, unappreciated and frustrated with a lack of both passenger understanding and corporate response.

"People really fetishize us as flight attendants and it's really frustrating to feel so judged by people because of my profession," Armstrong said. "[...] I get the 'have you joined the Mile High Club?' question once a week and that's just such a stupid question to me. I would never do that."