Flight Attendants Reveal What the Crew Does on an Empty Flight

Two flight attendants stood in the galley, smiling at each other as the plane prepared for take-off. Usually, it would be a hectic time, ushering passengers in and settling them. Yet, this is a time for fun. Their flight is a ghost flight. Devoid of passengers.

If you’ve ever wondered what the crew gets up to on empty flights, you’re about to find out. They took a serving tray each but had no intention of preparing food and headed into two separate aisles. It’s aisle surfing time!

The engines fire up as the plane rolls from the terminal to the beginning of its designated runway. The attendants place the trays on the floor and stand on them. They held onto the seats and awaited take-off. They’re laughing as the plane quickly accelerates. In no time, it’s hurtling down the runway.

As it rises into the air, the interior tilts. They let go of the seats, and as the acceleration continued, so did they! Straight down the aisle! The first person crashes out on Row 8, while the second continues until the end. A new personal best! Victory is sweet!

While it does sound over the top, according to a safety trainer on the travel forum Quora, ’aisle surfing’ is a real thing. The faint of heart could take the softer option to sit on the tray as it slides downwards. The imagination fires as to what else they may get up to. Laps around the interior. Cartwheels down the aisles. Skipping.

They can have a closed Air cinema with their colleagues. Air Discos or karaoke on the board of the plane. If you are a flight attendant and your crew wants to party, choose a song on the seat screen and take the announcement mic. Your colleagues are waiting. There are no passengers around to watch your dancing! You can do anything! The sky is the limit!

A crew member made a viral video while singing in the aisle of an empty plane. Millions have watched the quirky video. It’s a shame there were no passengers. It would have been excellent entertainment! Some have even said they ate food designated for passengers. However, anyone admitting to such conduct or being caught would see them face immediate dismissal, even with a new Surfing record.

You may be wondering why there would be a ghost flight in the first place. There are many reasons. In Europe, airlines must fulfill their obligations and continue the flight, even if no passengers are on board. Similar legislation exists in America. There are time slots that allow for take-off and landing. The European Commission has a ’use it or lose it’ rule. If airlines don’t comply at least 80% of the time, they risk losing their slots to the competition.

Aircraft also can’t be left at the airport overnight, as you might with a car. Sometimes they need to be prepared for storage and return to a particular location. In some situations, airlines continued flights and used passenger jets to transport freight instead. This type of proactive thinking has saved the financial lives of some companies. When you hear the term Ghost Flights, you may be thinking something a little spookier, like in a horror movie. And you’d be right. There have been actual, documented ghost flights.

In 1943, a flight on a combat mission disappeared following a raid on Naples. In Libya, the wreck was discovered, but not until fifteen years later. None of the crew was found. The following year, a second expedition to the site found water fresh enough to drink, coffee that still had flavor, and radios and machine guns in working order. The public became fascinated. It was a ghost-flight mystery.

For most flight attendants, their everyday experiences aboard an empty plane aren’t particularly spooky or as much fun as our aisle surfers. They’re far too busy for all of that. Your typical plane will land, and the passengers depart, leaving behind quite a mess. Not everyone is as tidy as you and I. At this point, the cleaners race onboard, vacuuming floors, picking up rubbish, and wiping down all surfaces so that the new passengers have an excellent clean environment. The cleaners must work fast. They have a deadline.

The plane must be ready to take off again in under eighty minutes, sometimes a lot less, depending on the aircraft. This time is called ‘turn-around.’ The more extended the plane sits on the tarmac, the less money the airline makes. They want the turn-around to be as short as possible. Time is money, after all. While the plane is being cleaned, the ground crew are refueling. Many thousands of gallons are required, depending on the aircraft’s size, weight, and length of the necessary journey.

Without waiting for the cleaning crew to finish, the Catering Crew entered the plane. They often have to step around each other as meals are stored in the galley. The allocated meals must at least match the number of passengers on the imminent flight. Like fixing a torn seat, any minor repairs have to wait until a more extended stopover.

As the organized chaos continues, the baggage holds are emptied by ground staff while the new baggage arrives. Some of the more complex handlings can be moving the luggage to the carousels. There isn’t much room, and sometimes the handler will have to crouch down low to get the job done. A lot of strength and skill is required, and the clock is ticking.

The attendants are busy too. They must ensure that the Catering Crew has filed the upcoming meals and drinks in their proper places. They check off their inventory and prepare for the incoming passengers. They exercise their face muscles. Soon they’ll be wearing that smile non-stop and saying, Good Day, two hundred times in a row. While they are always friendly, they have to deal with all sorts of behaviors, which can test the patience of even the sturdiest of attendants.

Based on a list of seventeen behaviors observed through the years, a flight attendant would give the following recommendations to the passengers. The flight attendants at the boarding door say hello to every passenger. Sometimes, over two hundred times in a row! Would you please say hello back?

They’re happy to help and recommend passengers push the buzzer only when necessary. The attendants collect trash during specific times, wear gloves, and prefer not to race back and forth. There’s something that bothers most people when passengers take off their shoes. Please make sure to have a fresh pair of socks.

If you sit in the exit row, please don’t put any luggage under the seat in front of you because it can block the way if the flight attendants, for example, need to use rubber slides urgently. Everybody knows about the rule to turn off the mobile phone, but not everybody knows why it’s so important. Let’s suppose all the passengers turn on their phones. In that case, the high-frequency electromagnetic fields of mobile phones can disturb the plane’s navigation system and cause false indications. There is a risk the pilot can make a wrong decision about the landing, especially if it’s terrible weather.

The crew recommends keeping the seat belt fastened during the whole flight even if the sign is turned off because heavy turbulence can occur unexpectedly, and the plane can be put 900 feet lower. You can loosen up your belt to feel comfortable, so the flight attendants will be happy you are safe.

Passengers get into a confined space on board an airplane and may unconsciously begin an instinctive struggle for a place under the Sun. Please keep in mind that this is a temporary condition, treat each other with respect, and keep your seatback straight while food is served or when your neighbor gets to the seat. Passengers sometimes leave their headphones on while conversing with a flight attendant.

The attendants may ask the passenger if they want refreshment, and they might get a blank stare in return. Would you mind taking off your headphones? Something that happens on every flight is when the plane is about to take off, and someone decides that they want to go to the bathroom. It’s all about good timing.

Preferably not when the plane is hurtling down the runway at full speed! Please wait till the take-off is over because it may be dangerous! While their job can be tiring, fortunately for us, flight attendants are patient, kind, and friendly people. They push on regardless of how tired they may be. International flights, in particular, can be long, taxing affairs.

So who could blame them if they find themselves on a ghost flight and decide to let their hair down, aisle surfing with a bit of pleasurable distraction? And what would you get up to if you happened to find yourself on an empty flight?