I’m a flight attendant — here’s why you shouldn’t use the tray table at all

Cabin crew know best (Picture: Getty Images)

If you’re planning on jetting off somewhere sunny this summer, you’ll no doubt want to get your holiday off to a good start with a relaxing, comfortable flight.

While you might well be looking forward to taking advantage of the food, drinks and entertainment on offer, there are also those things that might be best avoided on the plane.

Take your tray table for example. It might look like a perfectly innocent seat-back device on which to balance your inflight meal, your cup of coffee or your laptop, but one former flight attendant has taken to social media to suggest you shouldn’t use it at all.

Cher Killough – a content creator who posts TikTok videos under the name @cherdallas – spent seven years as a flight attendant, and is something of an expert when it comes to the things she’d never do on a plane.

So what are they?

Never use the tray table

The humble tray table might not be so innocent (Picture: Getty Images)

It might sound impossible not to use the tray table on a plane (you don’t want to be eating your food off your lap after all) but as Cher points out, you never know how other people have been using it.

‘Do y’all know how many people rub their toes on there? Do you know how many dirty diapers get changed and they set it on the tray table while they wait to hand it to us?’ she explains.

‘They’re definitely not supposed to do that, but they do it anyway every single day. I’m barely touching it, let alone eating food off of it. Like, please stop doing that.’

However, she doesn’t stop there when it comes to the basic rules of hygiene on board…

Don’t go barefoot

Keep your shoes on, people (Picture: Getty Images)

If you’re on a long flight you might feel tempted to peel off your socks and get your tootsies out, but Cher says don’t even think about it, largely because the carpet on a plane is ‘disgusting’.

‘I have somebody throw up on a flight at least once a week, and sometimes it’s on the carpet, and it doesn’t get cleaned that well,’ she says.

‘If you want a foot fungus, feel free to rub your toes on that, but I’m never doing that myself, let alone going to the bathroom without shoes on. That’s a different discussion. Like, I’m just talking about at your seat.’

Avoid the toilet during service

You might need to hang in there (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Need the toilet? According to Cher you should avoid taking a loo break while the cabin crew are in the middle of service unless you want to end up stuck of course.

‘I am not getting up to go to the bathroom when the flight attendants are out doing service, because you have no idea the order of service that they’re doing,’ she pointed out.

‘If you get trapped between the carts, it sucks. You’re making their job difficult, and you’re making everyone around you feel uncomfortable because you’re standing over them.’

Cher’s advice attracted a string of comments from viewers, with some saying they never use the toilet on planes, and others recommending taking antibacterial wipes onboard.

‘Crazy how people don’t use the bathroom before they board an airplane then trip out because they can’t get up while service is happening,’ one person pointed out.

Water isn’t always just given out on planes (Credits: Getty Images)

Another, however, tapped into a nightmare scenario as they added: ‘I had a dream the other night that I was missing my shoes in the airport and had to get on the plane without them.’

Cher isn’t the only flight attendant offering hints and tips online, mind. Barbara Baccilleri, known online as Barbie Bac, has also let some trade secrets slip — including why water is often served to passengers in secret.

In one recent clip, the 33-year-old revealed that when passengers ask for water, staff try to give it to them ‘discreetly’ and ‘not to let anyone see.’

‘Water is contagious,’ she explains in the video.

‘If someone sees a flight attendant walk by with a cup in their hand, passengers in other seats immediately start asking for the same. That’s why when we carry it we hide it.’

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