A Flight Attendant's Insight into Plane Crashes... and A Few Destination Recommendations

The interview below is part four of a conversation with my friend, who's a flight attendant. This article primarily covers the recent plane crashes as well as a few destination recommendations. (Check out parts one, two, and three if you haven't already!)

Why isn't there any air freshener in the bathrooms?

There is.

There is?

Yeah.

Where?

Well, it's for the flight attendants to use the spray, but sometimes some flight attendants put it out for passengers to spray as they leave the bathroom. However, there's also some passengers that just go ahead and take it.

And then at that point, everyone's out of air freshener. So at that point, we just hide it, and we just have it behind the last row of seats or in a compartment that's not accessible to passengers. And we just go ahead and spray it. Like when I non-rev, and the bathroom smells horrendous. When I non-rev, one, I go to the flight attendants and ask for some wipes. Then I wipe the bathroom myself.

Or sometimes I go to the back, talk with my colleagues and then I wait for a flight attendant to use the restroom because I always know flight attendants are going to clean the bathroom before they use the restroom. And then I'll wait until they're done and then I go in afterwards. And then I just know where everything is because I know. I'm a flight attendant. I know where everything is. So I just go in the compartment, spray or wipe down. Or if something needs a restock, I just go ahead and restock it right then and there and just leave. It's one less thing that my colleagues have to do. It is there, and it smells good.

That's good. So it's not in the bathroom itself, it's like… or sometimes… or usually it is…

It is, but it's in a compartment that you need a key to.

Ah, I see. And you said the expression "non-rev?"

Non-revenue passenger.

Oh, okay. So like they use miles? 

No, it's basically you're using your employee benefits to fly. So we fly for free. So we're non-revenue. So we're not a revenue passenger. So short term is non-rev.

Gotcha. Is there any other lingo amongst flight attendants, like acronyms, abbreviations?