A Flight Attendant's Tips for Travelers Reveal a Lot About the Industry Too

Are flight crews sometimes the last to know about cancellations?

Veteran flight attendant Kristie Koerbel's tips for travelers on navigating the current travel chaos and cancellations, as published in The New York Times, also had some interesting tidbits about the airline industry as a business.

Koerbel wrote that it is wise to download the app of the airline you are flying — or trying to fly, that is — because "in some cases you will know a flight is canceled before the flight crew even knows." She also said travelers can use the app to track bags, the whereabouts of the incoming flight, and to rebook.

Another interesting factoid? Here's why you will be chilled flying in short-sleeves.

"Here is a flight attendant secret: We sometimes keep the airplane cold intentionally. For people who struggle with airsickness, heat makes it worse. We don’t want anyone to use those sick sacks," Koerbel wrote.

Koerbel tied some of the spate of flight cancellations to a fact that many people in the travel industry already know — there are time limits to how long flight crews can work.

"Something that is not common knowledge is that flight crews have time limits on how long they can work, generally 12 to 16 hours at a stretch," Koerbel wrote. "Besides being unsafe, it’s illegal for us to fly longer than that. If your flight crew gets delayed and hits that time, it doesn’t matter if you have somewhere to be, we are done when we are done. The way things are right now, there aren’t many back up crews, so your flight may be canceled."

The labor shortage at airlines and airports isn't all about flight attendants and pilots.

"Now we are short-staffed and overworked," she wrote. "Not just pilots and flight attendants, but also ground crews. You may not think about ground crews, but without them there is no one to park the planes, drive the jet bridges so you can board and get off, load your bags and retrieve them, or scan boarding passes."

All of those airline buyouts or staff cuts during the pandemic have come home to roost, so to speak, as workers bolted to leave the airline industry. When Amazon and Uber offer comparable compensation to low-paid ground crews, the airline industry has a problem.