Flight rules: A glimpse at why you really can’t do that on the plane

The world beyond airport security can feel clandestine at time, fraught with unwritten rules and seemingly unwarranted scrutiny.

Case in point – recently, a passenger on a United Airlines flight between Chicago and Washington was denied an unopened can of soda by the flight attendant as it could be “used as a weapon.”

The incident gained widespread coverage after the passenger, Tahera Ahmad, a director of interfaith engagement and Muslim chaplain at Northwestern University in Illinois – questioned the policy and the flight attendant’s reasoning. Ultimately, both the airline and the flight attendant apologized saying there was in fact no policy.

The peculiarity of the incident raises a few questions about the ambiguity surrounding airline rules. But Dominic Lavoie, spokesperson for the Air Canada Component of CUPE, which represents the airline’s flight attendants, says there is a clear, defined range of policies including sensitivity training, to ensure all customers are kept safe and treated with respect.

“The typical flight attendant training manual, it’s a phone book – it’s huge,” says Lavoie. “You’re going to find things in there that would surprise even the most experienced flight attendants I would think but everything has to be regulated – even if it happens one in a million – it has to be in the book.”

But what are some of the lesser-known in-flight policies?

Dangerous and non-dangerous goods

“I mean a lot of the stuff that’s in there is rarely used like specific types of dangerous goods or the handling of human organs for medical transport and things like that,” says Lavoie.

That’s not to say passengers still don’t try to bring bizarre things on the plane without first asking the rules.

Cynthia Sullivan, director of the Atlantic Flight Attendant Academy in Halifax, has seen no shortage of weirdness from passengers.

“Passengers do actually try to bring dangerous goods such as gas cylinders or camping stoves onboard,” says Sullivan. “Once I noticed liquid dripping from an overhead bin and it was propane gas from a camping stove.”

Then there are the items that are often confiscated by security or apt to raise a few eyebrows, yet readily available after you pass through the scanners.

“You cannot bring matches, lighters or nail clippers but you usually can buy these items in shops after passing security and prior to boarding the aircraft,” says Sullivan adding that, “Onboard the aircraft are fire extinguishers and liquor bottles which could be potential weapons.”

Intense intention

Lavoie says it has less to do with the specific objects so much as how someone might intend to use them.

“Usually it involves more suspicious behaviours or actions on behalf of the passengers – that’s something fight attendants are very indoctrinated to follow-up on,” says Lavoie. “Whenever something feels wrong or feels a little sketchy, trust your instinct because you know you’ve got more to lose by being wrong than by being right.”

He points to Richard Reid, a British man jailed in 2001 for trying to detonate a bomb in his shoe.

“This is something where someone was sitting in his seat and had some body language and some facial expressions that don’t really correspond with that you usually see from passengers,” says Lavoie. “Flight attendants are very tuned into body language.”

Everything in its right place

One policy passengers often overlook is where to stash specific types of carry-on once they are seated on the plane, says Carrie Broughton, a professor of flight services at Seneca College with 30 years experience in the commercial aviation.

Stashing liquid in the overhead bins, for instance is a major no-no. In fact, only lighter items should be placed in the overhead bins, says Broughton.

“The reason why passengers are asked not to put bottles in the overhead bins is because of their potential to leak,” she adds. “Should that occur the fluid could make its way behind the sidewall panels where the aircraft’s electrical wiring is – it’s far better for a leaking bottle to be on the floor where a damp carpet will draw the passenger’s attention to it (rather than) in a dark bin that is rarely opened in-flight.”

As for using a laptop during takeoff, Lavoie says it has less to do with affecting the aircraft radio signals and sensors then common lore would have you believe.

“If you’re taking off and the captain has to abort because there’s a last minute instruction from air traffic control that there’s something in the way, he’s going to step on the brakes violently and anything passengers are holding can fly and become projectiles flying at 100 km per hour through the cabin,” he says.

Smoking (still) not allowed

Smoking has also proved to be perplexing for passengers, says Lavoie, especially electronic cigarettes.

While policies surrounding e-cigarettes vary, most lean towards not allowing them on flights.

“The main reason for that is another passenger sitting a couple of rows behind could catch this person puffing and see the white vapour and think for whatever reason they’re allowed to smoke on this airline and we aren’t enforcing it and they light up a cigarette,” says Lavoie.

Although smoking on Canadian airlines has been banned since the late 1980s, Lavoie still often gets asked why there is an ashtray on the door of every lavatory.

“If somebody does for whatever reason choose to ignore or break that rule and smoke – the worst thing would be then to put that cigarette in the garbage bin where you have paper and you can start a fire,” he says. “It’s kind of a fail-safe to ensure even if someone is dumb enough to try and smoke on board an airplane let’s hope that at the very least they won’t make that potentially catastrophic mistake of putting the cigarette in the waste basket.”

Rhyme and reason

Broughton points out that despite the fact flight attendants can’t delve into the individual reasons behind all the specific rules and regulations, they are there to protect passengers.

“Transport Canada and the airlines try to ensure the passengers are engaged and understand the role they play in maintaining a safe environment and what to do when the need arises, to save their life,” she says.

There’s no doubt the plane hijackings on September 11 caused airlines to rethink their policies and upgrade their policies but ultimately, says Broughton, it’s for the best.

“Airlines still encourage passengers via an announcement to sit back, relax and enjoy the service (and) passengers, 30 years ago, would have done just that, enjoyed the copious amounts of complimentary liquor given to them, smoked a pack of cigarettes and eaten a three course meal,” says Broughton. “Today’s passenger has come to expect a little less in that regard but a lot more in terms of their personal awareness and safety – it’s a good shift.”