Flight Attendants Hate This Seemingly Polite Passenger Habit During Boarding And Service

Air travel has its own particular set of behaviors and rules, and airplane etiquette is often unspoken. When you really stop and think about it, cramming hundreds of people into a plane, sitting elbow to elbow, and expecting them to behave normally is a pretty weird idea. While everyone tries to play by the rules, it is perhaps no surprise that we all can be guilty of some odd behavior when flying from time to time. Whether it's a beer before boarding at 9 a.m., a stampede to get to the seat you've already been assigned, or sleeping on the floor in an airport when you've got a long layover, air travel often operates outside ordinary social norms.

This is why flight attendants are such a crucial part of the flying experience. Not only do they take care of every aspect of your journey, from boarding and baggage to in-flight meals and safety in the air, but they also ensure that the unusual experience of spending hours with hundreds of strangers in a flying metal tube runs smoothly. And while many passengers do their best to behave well, it is often the behaviors that are polite in theory that flight attendants hate the most. One of the most annoying things that passengers do when trying to be helpful is to be overly enthusiastic about handing in their trash.

Flight attendants work with a pretty fixed routine. From the security briefing before takeoff to the final check before landing, everything on board is meant to run like clockwork, with a set of processes and procedures that everyone abides by. But when passengers start trying to "help," things can get out of sync, fast.

It isn't always easy to know what to do to avoid breaking the unspoken airplane etiquette rules. But one of the best ways is to trust that the cabin crew knows what they are doing and will take care of things at the appropriate time, and not to second-guess them. This is particularly important when it comes to trash, as trying to give your trash to flight attendants when they've got other things to do can be a pain.

In general, when flight attendants come through the cabin, it is for a specific purpose. It might be to hand out eye masks and headphones, to serve the in-flight meal, or to serve tea and coffee. Trash service usually happens several times throughout a flight, and usually after the meal or snack service. When flight attendants come to collect the garbage, they bring bags and wear plastic gloves to stay on top of hygiene standards.

So when passengers stop a passing flight attendant to ask them to take away their trash, or even try to hand it over during the meal or drinks service, it can create a problem. Flight attendants understandably don't want to handle your trash with their bare hands, and certainly don't want to carry it around while they carry out the rest of their duties if they don't have a garbage bag with them. And flight attendants certainly don't want to be summoned to take away your trash, so don't press the call button and expect a bespoke trash collection service. Caroline Mercedes, a flight attendant for American Airlines, wrote on Business Insider, "It's frustrating when someone rings their call bell so we can pick up trash, because we were probably just there, and we may not have gloves on or a trash bag with us."

The best way to stay on the good side of the flight attendants when it comes to trash is to hold onto your garbage until the cabin crew asks for it. This will usually be after the meal service, and again before landing, but on longer flights they will come around with garbage bags and gloves multiple times.

Passengers tend to scrunch up their trash and put it in empty plastic or paper cups until the trash service comes along. Some will stuff it in the pocket of the seat in front, but this is also a pet peeve for flight attendants, as passengers often forget about it and leave it there when they disembark.

If you really don't want to wait until the flight attendants collect your garbage, there are a few options. You can dispose of it in the trash cans provided in the toilets, or take it up to the galley and ask the crew if you can put it in the garbage disposal there. But it is always important to ask before handing it over — remember, flight attendants are not there to serve, and they should always be treated with respect.