Why do most people get up from their seats as soon as the plane lands and the fasten-your-seat-belt sign is off? Most passengers seem to prefer to stand in queue until the doors of the plane open. I have observed this behavior in all flights I make. Even passengers in economy who sit at the back of the plane prefer to wait standing. This is true both in long and short flights. I call these passengers imps, which means i-m-patiently-standing! What type of passenger are you?

When we serve you the drink in a flight it's always in an open plastic cup that is never filled all the way to the top. The reason is to avoid spilling in case of turbulence. In case of severe turbulence, however, your drink will spill or splash around if the cup is open. I've seen it happening, worst being when your drink lands on your clothes. I think that all airline companies should use lids and avoid any chance of spilling your drink in the case of severe turbulence. Do you agree?

Before the plane is ready for take-off, flight attendants have to manually check and close all overhead luggage compartments. The process could be improved if the compartments could close and lock automatically. There should also be a button in the remote control by the passenger seat that opens and closes the compartment. This will make it easier for passengers of old-age or with back-problems to open and close them, especially if they are filled with heavy luggage.

As employees of airline companies we get special discounts, but If the airline we work for has limited number of routes, then we don't fully benefit from the discounts. There can be a lot of destinations I am interested in that my company doesn't fly to. I think we should be allowed to trade our benefits with employees from other companies. For example, If I want to fly on an employee-discount ticket to Iceland but my company doesn't offer flights there, I should be allowed to exchange the benefit with the employee of another airline company who wants to fly to Tokyo. This will make working for an airline company more popular. It's good for recruitment and employee retention!

I would like your thoughts on how you would have handled a situation in the plane where a passenger traveling on economy in a long flight reclines his chair to sit more comfortably, as he has every right to do, but the passenger behind him requests that he doesn't do so because it makes him uncomfortable, nervous and very agitated. How would you manage the situation if you were asked to intervene as the flight attendant on duty and how would you manage it if you were the passenger in the front seat who doesn't want to cede his right and there are no other empty seats in the plane?

This thought is from a passenger discussion I overheard in a flight a few days ago. The concept has merits and is possible to implement although I am not sure if it will ever happen. Hand over your carry-on-board luggage at the check-in counter. The luggage is scanned and checked and transported to the plane. There it is placed on a numbered-by-the-seat conveyor belt that moves each carry-on item to the appropriate compartment. When the plane lands the conveyor belt moves the luggage to the exit. No time wasted before or after the flight placing luggage in and out of the compartment. There is also less weight for the passengers to carry.

Some flight attendants count passengers manually or using a hand counter, every time you click on it it adds a number, then they write down in a piece of paper the total number of passengers, vips or extra crews. This is a process that can be automated with an electronic passenger recognition system above seats.

If you bought an economy ticket that is not flexible and requires a penalty fee for changing the date of your flight there is no way around it. You must pay the fee and change your flight. What if all airline companies built up a new section in their websites that would allow people who bought tickets already and thinking of changing their flights find other customers who want to fly on their flight and exchange? There will be no fees paid and more flexibility will be given to all economy ticket customers.

I was asked the other day by a passenger who forgot to bring his book with him if there were any magazines or newspapers I could bring him to read. I was able to give him a few spare newspapers but I was thinking that in long flights airlines can come up with a way for passengers to swap with other passengers reading material (books, magazines, newspapers) that they brought with them and finished reading. (read more)

Just after take-off and a few minutes before landing. That's a crazy idea of a musician friend of mine. It's not allowed of course but he asked me to ask people how they would feel if an airline offered a few minutes of in-flight live music. I think it's too difficult if not impossible to do on commercial flights but perhaps on a private flight it's possible. hmmm, I must admit that it's fun to imagine it. Flight attendants playing Mozart on the violin and other musical instruments before landing in Austria. That sounds so... Hollywood! Movies are definitely the place this idea can work well :)