There’s more here than “greets” that eye.
Welcoming travelers aboard a plane might seem like a polite courtesy, but there’s another reason flight attendants greet people with a smile: to size them up.
A stewardess recently spilled the beans on this ulterior motive in a video with more than 6.2 million views on TikTok.
“Did you know that your flight attendant greets you not only out of politeness?” Rania, a flight attendant with Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air, wrote in the caption over footage of her making an inflight announcement.
@itsmekikooooo Did you know that?✈️🩷Also to see who could help us in an emergency🥳🤩✈️#fy #fyp #viral #fypageeeee #for #stewardess #cabincrewlife #flightattendant #foryoupage ♬ RUN THIS TOWN X GANGSTAS PARADISE – ALTÉGO
She revealed that their greeting is “to check whether you are too drunk or sick to fly,” adding that it also is helpful “to see who could help us in an emergency.”
In industry terms, crew members are looking for “able-bodied passengers (ABPs)” who could potentially assist in “evacuating an aircraft.”
They want to look for the opposite as well so that they don’t place certain passengers — including children, the elderly and those with physical and mental disabilities — in an exit row, where a lack of mobility could impede an evacuation.
An airline welcoming committee also acts as an unofficial second security checkpoint.
Airplane greeters check for suspicious bags like coolers and, as Rania indicated, also try to determine whether passengers are too drunk to fly by giving everyone a quick “hello.”
Commenters shared mixed feelings about learning the truth behind the hospitable-seeming measure.
Rania explained that flight attendants are checking “to see who could help us in an emergency.” @rania_ibo/Instagram
Another claimed, “Once I had to take a breathalyzer because I said to the really pretty flight attendant ‘good night’ when she said hello. I was sober.”
Nonetheless, testing whether or not passengers are tipsy appears increasingly essential given the spate of booze-fueled shenanigans plaguing the friendly skies of late.