Everybody loves flying on airplanes! And if there’s anything that people love more than being on a metal cylinder 40,000 feet in the air, it’s the companies that operate the airplanes. Yes, I refer to the beloved airlines.
Check out these 17 surprising facts and secrets about the airline industry that you probably didn’t know. From weird occurrences to interesting characteristics of the planes themselves, there’s a lot that isn’t widespread knowledge.
Before you open this list, make sure you’ve updated your ID to be REAL ID compliant. Otherwise you could be subjected to heavy delays or increased security screening.
1
What’s the deal with airline food?
Meals on airplanes notoriously don’t taste very good. But it might not be the fault of the food itself. The dry air and pressurized cabin on board an airplane make your taste buds as much as 30% less effective.
2
Falcons fly free
On Etihad Airways, one of the flag carriers for the United Arab Emirates, bringing a pet on the plane will cost you roughly $1500. There is one particular type of animal that is exempt from this fee: falcons, which are the national bird of the UAE. Travelers on Etihad Airways are entitled to board with one free falcon.
3
Ghost flights
Thousands of flights a year fly with no passengers, or at less than 10% capacity. There’s no official explanation for these ‘ghost flights’, but the prevailing theory is that it’s to keep timetables running smoothly.
4
Chicken guns
Airlines have settled on an unusual invention to simulate a bird colliding with an airplane at high velocity: the chicken gun. This is a compressed-air cannon that launches chicken carcasses into jet engines and windshields to make sure they can withstand the impact. The first known chicken gun was created in 1942 and could launch chickens at a speed of 400 miles per hour.
5
Qantas never crashed
As Dustin Hoffman famously remarked in Rain Man, Qantas Airways has historically been one of the safest airlines. Though they actually have had a plane crash in 1951, they’ve never suffered a single fatality in their century plus of operation.
6
The safest seat
The safest seat on an airplane, in the case of a crash, is typically near the wings. This is because the wings provide more structural support, which can protect you during impact. Don’t worry though, the odds of dying in a plane crash are roughly one in 11 million.
7
A plane lost part of its engine, and it was fine
In September 2022, a Boeing 747 flying over Belgium had part of its engine detach and plummet to the ground below, ruining a family’s garden. Luckily, the garden was the only casualty of this event.
8
Subscription service
Budget carrier Frontier Airlines offers a Netflix-style subscription model where you can buy a “GoWild! Pass” which allows you unlimited access to all flights in North and Central America.
9
2023 was the safest year for flying
In 2023, not a single person died in a passenger jet plane crash, even despite a 17% increase in aircraft movements. There were also no planes in 2023 that were damaged beyond repair.
10
That’s a lot of parts
Boeing 747 planes are made up of six million parts. Imagine the IKEA assembly manual for that. One of those parts, the engine weighs almost 9,500 pounds.
11
Beards are banned
Most airlines have a no-beard policy for pilots. This is because a beard could prevent proper sealing of an oxygen mask during an emergency.
12
Most people have never been on an airplane
Depending on where you live, you probably see airplanes in the sky frequently, and you probably have flown yourself. But only 5% of the world population has ever flown on an airplane. The small minority of people that do fly do so frequently enough to prop up the whole industry.
13
A single olive
In 1987, American Airlines made a single budget cut that saved $40,000 annually. That cut was the removal of a single olive from the salads served in first class.
14
Pilots eat different meals
Pilots and co-pilots usually eat different meals from both the passengers and each other, in order to protect against the possibility of both pilots getting a case of food poisoning.
15
Messy bathrooms
The fuselage underneath and behind the bathrooms on an airplane requires extra inspection and maintenance. This is because of “leakage” or “spray” that may result from the lavatories being used in flight.
16
Aerophobia
It’s probably not very surprising, but most people suffer from aerophobia, the fear of flying. A whopping 80% of the world’s population has this phobia.
17
Emergency exits
You can’t just open a cabin door or emergency exit while in flight. The pressure outside the plane is too great at that altitude, and a human doesn’t have the strength to push the door open. At a low altitude, however…
