01. Why Flight Attendants talk like Robots?

 

Myth: they are bossy robots

Fact: they need you to pay attention and cooperate

 

Flight attendants “will go ahead and set your seat in its upright position” and they are going to “need you to take your seat”.

A study by Jeff Bercovici, examined the confident vocabulary used by flight attendants. Words such as “will go ahead” are linguistic techniques to catch the passenger’s attention, in order for them not to repeat themselves. This is very useful in an emergency.

 

02. Why do we upright our Seats and open our Window Blinds?

 

Myth: to reset the plane for the next round of passengers

Fact: it’s a safety feature; pulling up the blinds alerts us to any hazards

 

Corporate Communications Manager for Cathay Pacific, Elin Wong explained, “We ask passengers to pull up window blinds before landing so that any unusual activities outside the aircraft can be observed and reported to the cockpit crew if needed.”

 

The 90-degree seat inclination is all about reducing the impact. Shifting the seat a few centimeters forward, reduces the distance from your head to the seat in front. Further makes it easier for passengers behind to evacuate.

 

03. Why we get sick in planes?

 

Myth: re-circulated air in the planes makes you sick

Fact: re-circulated air is actually very hygienic; we get sick from what we touch

 

Boeing stated that cabin air is continuously being substituted by pressurized fresh air from outside. This passes through filters removing 99.97% of any airborne bacteria and viruses. But frequently used surfaces like toilets, sinks, tray tables, seats and pillows are less sanitary, as it is in contact with hundreds of passengers in a day. Always use disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer. 

 

 

04. Why Airline food tastes horrible?

 

Myth: it is disgusting because it’s cheap and pre-processed

Fact: it actually tastes OK; it’s the noise from the engine that’s distracting

It might be hard to understand, but according to a research by University of Manchester, if the background noise is too loud, your attention is drawn away from the taste of food and towards the noise. During the research, food was fed to people while listening to nothing and noise through headphones. The noisy conditions caused the sensitivity of saltiness and sweetness to lower and crunchiness to increase.

 

05. Why Brace during an Emergency?

 

Myth: to make us feel like we have a chance to survive; ensure we are still and calm during an emergency

Fact: sustain less serious injuries when bracing

 

The Federal Aviation Administration stated that bracing is meant to reduce secondary impact due to the positioning of the body, especially the head against the surface on impact. Bracing also reduces being thrown around.

 

06. Why turn off Cell Phones?

 

Myth: cell phone signals interfere with aircraft electronics

Fact: airlines adhere to aviation guidelines that restrict using personal electronic devices (PED).

 

Airlines are not 100% certain that phones will interfere with the aircraft systems. During the last 12 months, nearly 6.5 million people claimed to have left their phones on while flying in and out of the UK without problems. But most aviation authorities forbid the use of PEDs unless they can be 100% proven they don’t interfere.

To use a cell phone in air, the airlines would have to test each and every model of a phone to be exactly certain it doesn’t interfere with both plane and ground networks. This is too time consuming and expensive. It’s just easier to ask people to switch off their phones.

 

So the next time you are boarding a flight, the above mentioned is something to ponder about. Happy flying!

 

(Written by Shirantha WG)