At a backyard family gathering over the weekend, I found myself deep in conversation with my neighbor’s sister who has a job I find endlessly interesting: She’s a veteran flight attendant for a major U.S. airline. As often happens when I meet people who are insiders in the commercial aviation world, the chat quickly drifted toward a juicy topic I wanted to know more about — the unspoken rules of plane behavior, and what they really think when people break them.
I spend a lot of time in the air as a travel writer, but I usually witness in-flight drama strictly from a passenger’s point of view. Hearing what things look like from the jumpseat is delicious gossip to me, and this flight attendant was generous with the details.
We landed on what is apparently a sensitive topic among flight attendants — the call button. We tossed around a hypothetical question: If a passenger sleeps through the meal service, is it acceptable to hit the button later — maybe even hours later — just to request a drink? According to this flight attendant, the answer is a firm no. It’s considered poor etiquette, and crew members generally bristle at it.
Which naturally led me to my next question: So when is it appropriate to use the call button?
“Only if you’re dying,” she joked. “Just kidding… kind of.”
Turns out, there’s a reason to think twice before pressing that button for your next Diet Coke or blanket request. While some passengers think of the call button like room service, many flight attendants don’t see it that way at all.
“They’re truly there for emergencies,” she explained. “We will answer it even if we’re strapped into our jump seat during turbulence or landing. So yes, it could be a big deal.”
Of course, she added that it doesn’t personally bother her if someone uses the button for a drink, but emphasized that’s not a universal opinion among crews.
“It will piss off probably 70 percent of flight attendants,” she said.
So what’s the takeaway? If you really need something and can’t safely get up — go ahead and hit the button. But if you just want to order a ginger ale and the seatbelt sign is off, it’s probably best to wait until the crew comes through the cabin or head to the galley yourself.