Being a flight attendant is no easy gig. Though the job appears to entail little more than pouring drinks and pointing out emergency exits, flight attendants are also the folks in charge of ensuring cabin safety, attending to passengers who need an extra hand, and directing passengers in emergency situations—all while maneuvering about in the small confines of a metal tube in the sky. So you’d be forgiven for thinking that flight attendants are all business, keeping an invisible wall up when it comes to flirting with or crushing on passengers.
But how wrong you’d be.
While your interactions with a flight attendant during the course of your travels may be brief, if you happen to be a particularly easy-on-the-eyes individual, there’s no doubt about it: you will get noticed.
“It definitely happens with attractive passengers,” says flight attendant Heidi Ferguson. “If there are hot passengers on board, it’s talked about amongst the crew.”
And for some passengers, being eye candy to the flight attendants—whose workplace social interactions are generally limited to the same small crew, day in and day out—may get you more than just a smile as they’re pouring your seltzer.
“Let’s say [the attractive passenger] was in coach: we would hook him up with free drinks. And if the passenger was in first class, we’re generally more attentive anyway,” says Ferguson.
In fact, for some flight attendants, the lure of a hot passenger provokes more than just some gossip fodder. One Quora user even asked the question, point-blank: “how often do flight attendants have crushes on their passengers,” and Ryanair flight attendant Dani Sherlock chimed in with an answer.
“At least once a day,” she says, and admits that, upon occasion, flight attendants will be so bold as to act on those feelings. While expressing admiration back “depends on the passenger” Sherlock says that if a passenger is traveling solo, making eye contact, or comes to talk to the flight attendants in the galley, it’s generally an indication to flight attendants things could progress. So, the next time you think you’re clicking with a flight attendant, or if those drinks are being comped, don’t be afraid to slip him or her your digits.
And the next time you want to enjoy a relaxing trip (and potentially catch a flight attendant’s eye), set your sights on these 30 American Cities You Had No Idea Were Amazing Getaways.
