A flight attendant has revealed secret tips on how passengers can get special treatment when on board.
Flight attendants work long hours and have multiple time zones. And these exhausting long-haul flights can be turned into something good when passengers do simple gestures to make the air travel comfortable for everyone.
There are two things you need to remember about flight attendants. The first one is that they are human beings who have feelings, and the second is that they’re watching you on how you are treating other passengers, other flight attendants, and how you’re treating them. Those things will affect how flight attendants treat you.
Kat Kamalani is an air hostess who shares videos about her life and her work on TikTok with the username @katkamalani. She also reveals the do’s and don’ts while traveling.
In a recent video, which has since been viewed more than three million times, Kat revealed the one thing you should do to be treated well by the cabin crew. The caption says: “Your flight will change DRAMATICALLY.”
“If you do this one simple thing on an aircraft, I promise you, you will get the royal treatment from the flight attendants,” she told her 720,000 followers on TikTok.
“Being a flight attendant is an exhausting job,” she continued. “We do different time zones, waking up at different hours, and deal with angry customers. So I promise you, the next time you fly if you want special treatment from the flight attendants this is all you have to do.”
She went on and explained that a little token of appreciation goes a long way and if we buy a $5 Starbucks gift card or a sweet treat then it really is appreciated by the flight attendants.
“$5 Starbucks gift cards, it means the world to us when a customer gives us this,” she added. “And if you don’t have gift cards, you can just pick up some candy bars, lip balm, anything and give them to your flight attendants.”
“We will know where you’re sitting, and we will know what you look like and the whole crew will make sure you are taken care of,” she added.
These small gifts can show a token of appreciation to the hard-working crew, particularly as many airlines do not permit onboard staff to take monetary tips.
The flight attendant’s viral video has racked up three million views and more than 676,000 likes, along with thousands of comments from users.
“I never thought about giving little gifts,” one user said. “But it makes sense! Thanks for this!!”
“I’ve gotten free drinks just for being polite,” a second user said. “It’s so rare these days that they appreciate it.”
“I always give them donuts!!!!!” another one commented. “They treat me so nice lol.”
“Wait, people give gifts to flight attendants? I’ve never heard of that,” someone commented.
However, some of the viewers were not impressed by the tips saying that it’s part of the job to grin and bear difficult customers. A few agreed that bribing one’s way to get better treatment isn’t the way and that it is a flight attendant’s job to treat everyone politely.
“But they’re supposed to take care of EVERYONE equally,” one wrote. “That’s their job.”
“Just do your job!” another one agreed. “And be polite to passengers. It’s literally your job. You don’t need to be bribed to do the job ur paid to do. So America!”
“So… we have to bribe flight attendants to just do their job?” another has said.
“Bribe the attendants if you want to be treated like a human,” another commenter added. “Just do your job seriously.”
“I already paid for the super expensive ticket to get good service, and then you want me to bring gifts?” asked another viewer.
Despite the negative comments, someone simply went unbiased and said that ‘flight attendants should be courteous as part of their job, but there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of extra appreciation.’
According to Budget Traveler, flagging a particular crew member’s effort with senior management is also a great way to give them a pat on the back.
These small gestures may boost the mood of the crew, though they don’t always result in free upgrades. But it’s nice to be a little bit kind sometimes.