Pilots Reveal The 8 Things They Never Do As Air Passengers

When airline pilots travel as passengers, they bring a unique perspective from the cockpit to the cabin. And their fellow travelers could learn a thing or two about what not to do.

HuffPost asked pilots what behaviors they always avoid when they fly as passengers.

Don’t leave your shoes off when you go to the bathroom.

“Many passengers understandably take their shoes off when seated for comfort during the flight, but I always make sure to wear shoes when using the bathroom,” Stefán Dór Arnarsson, a pilot at the Icelandic airline PLAY, told HuffPost.

The idea of getting urine or other bodily fluid on your feet is enough to deter most passengers, but clearly, some are still inclined to go to the lavatory shoeless ― and even sockless.

“I’d never go to the bathroom barefoot,” said Michelle Gooris, a charter airline pilot who blogs under the name Dutch Pilot Girl. “How crazy is that?”

Don’t stand up before the plane is at the gate.

“I’d never stand up in the aisle when the plane is not at the gate yet and the fasten seatbelt is still on,” Gooris said. “Even-though this seems common sense, you’d be surprised how many times passengers do stand up before the aircraft arrives at the gate.”

Not only is it illegal to unbuckle while the light is still on, but it can be dangerous, she said.

Pilots sometimes need to hit the brakes suddenly, Gooris said, such as when the plane’s docking system tells the pilot to wait. “You can imagine when people would be standing in the aisle, they’d have a high chance of getting injured.”

She similarly noted that she’d never stand up in the aisle during the deplaning process before it’s her row’s turn.

Don’t board without a beverage.

“I always stop at the market or anywhere that sells bottled