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We have been on countless flights where passengers can’t seem to find anything…including the menu in their seatback pocket.
While we love helping out in any way possible, we always advise looking around your seat or checking the signage before asking. In this episode, we’re talking about where the menu is hiding and the “passenger overwhelm” with all the signs, announcements, and in almost everything onboard.
Next time you are on a flight, don’t forget to check your seatback pocket!
Episode Highlights: [0:00] Welcome to Episode #47! [1:17] There’s a menu in the seatback pocket? [2:18] Before we judge… [3:23] Maybe it’s just sensory overload [6:41] Just take a moment to look around [8:04] Rich trusts passengers will figure things out [9:14] Menu overwhelm, so they picked water [11:06] So many things to look at! [12:31] You are allowed to ask (we approve!)
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You get to their row with the beverage cart and they ask, what do you have?
SPEAKER_00
It's my favorite question. I'll just have water.
SPEAKER_01
You made me do all of that for water? We've all been that clueless person who like doesn't read. We have, and you have. When you travel, there is signage literally everywhere. So why? Why, why, why do people always miss it? You're cruising along at altitude, you're on the beverage cart. Passengers have been in their seat at this point for probably 30, 40 minutes, an hour plus. And you get to their row with the beverage cart, and they ask, Well, what do you have? It's my favorite question. Completely missing the fact that there is a menu in their seat pocket. And now I know every airline is different, and not every airline has a physical menu in the seatback pocket, but a lot of them do. And this never fails to amaze me that they miss something that's directly in front of them.
We recently posted on Threads there's a menu in your seatback pocket. Thanks for coming to our TED Talk. Because I really feel like it's just missed for so many people and so many flight attendants engaged with this post because they were like, Thank you. Why is no one listening? Why is no one reading? Why is no one paying attention? So it's like, why, Andrew? Why are there why are people missing the memo? I don't know. Why aren't people paying attention? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00
Now, granted, it's not always just a physical menu that's sitting in your seatback pocket. Sometimes you have to go to a magazine, you have to go to a certain page. But I also feel like we make that in announcements when when we know it's hidden somewhere, we tell you where to go find the information before we get to you. Uh, there's a menu in your seatback pocket. Turn to page 59 of your in-flight magazine so that you can be prepared for us to be there. I even if you missed all the other signs, we made an announcement to tell you where to find the information that you need, and you still didn't get there.
I before I judge people too harshly for this, I wanna say we all have been this person. Like, we've all been that clueless person who like doesn't read. We have, and you have, and I'll pull receipts, my friend. Let my husband judge me. We've all been that person who walks up to a door and pushes it when it's a pull door, yeah. And we've all done that sort of thing occasionally here and there. I'll give you um I think uh often about flight attendants how we complain about passengers, and then we get to hotels and we then turn around and do the same things that passengers did to us all day to the front desk. Oh no, we don't. Some of them do us do, but no, not all of us. I would agree with that. No, we don't, but you know, there's some flight attendants that walk up and it's like they'll be like, Here are the breakfast hours, here's the Wi-Fi code, here's the whatever. And they immediately are like, Well, what's the Wi-Fi? Well, what about a fridge? What about a microwave? What about whatever? And it's like sometimes we're guilty. And I'm saying a collective we, I'm not targeting you. Don't get don't feel personally victimized. But yeah, no, I just
I can't help but think like why people are doing this. Like, is it are are we lazy? Or is it like sensory overload? Like, what is causing people to be this way?
SPEAKER_00
I wish I had an answer. And it's not that it's like it's not that this happens one time on a flight, this happens every third passenger. Um, and so if you're not flight crew, you're a passenger listen listening. This is why we're so exasperated with you when you ask for this information, because at least 52 people in front of you have asked the same information. And honestly, even if you didn't have a menu, we have the basics, right? We have like three sodas and two juices, and you could have figured that out.
SPEAKER_01
And you're right, among airlines, even globally, like there's a pretty standard selection of it's like soda, diet soda, and clear soda. Those are really your options. No, that's a good point, though. Like, yeah, I mean, not that everybody should need to drink coke, but like the odds of getting a Coke on a flight are pretty good. The odds of getting water or a coffee or paying for a wine, beer, or liquor option. Like, you know, give me an idea of what you want and we can narrow it down too.
SPEAKER_00
It's not ever what kind of beer do you have, right? I'm feeling a beer and I don't know what kind of beer you have. Like, if that if I approach and I'm like, Can I get you something to snack or drink? And you were like, I'm feeling a beer. What kind do you have on board? That limits it to like two to three things that I have to tell you. But I get up and you're like, Well, what do you have? You you want the whole list like everything?
SPEAKER_01
Like, point me in the right direction. Are we like a coffee tea person? Do you want a juice? Do you want a soda? Do you want liquor? Yeah. Then we can talk. But like, yeah, I'm with you. Like, narrow it, help me narrow it down at least. Because if you say beer, I'll list them out for you.
SPEAKER_00
But that's not what happens. Like, you walk up and you're like snack or drink, and they're like, What do you have? And you're like, A lot. Would you like to pull the menu out? Would you like to turn to this page in the magazine and and help me help you here?
SPEAKER_01
I used to like unintentionally be a total bitch about this, the passengers. And I'm trying really the unintentionally because I wasn't trying to be a condescending asshole. I really wasn't, but I I I found myself it it was coming out that way, and I didn't mean for it to be. And so I'd be like, Well, there's a menu in your pocket. And now I'm like, Well, we have a full selection of beverages. We have soda, tea, coffee, wine, beer, liquor, and there's a menu in your seat pocket if you want to look at the full selection. And it comes out a lot nicer and more accommodating than before, just being like, There's a menu in your seat back pocket. Because like nobody wants that flight attendant experience.
SPEAKER_00
I don't disagree with you. I probably don't do it as professionally as you do these days. So maybe I'll take a but I'm always like, There's a menu in your seatback pocket. You can take a minute to look over. I'm not going anywhere time anytime soon. So when you're ready, just wave at me and I'm happy to come back and grab what you need. Like, I don't want to rush you through this. Like, I'm not trying to be, I'm not trying to be rude. Um, when I'm trying to be rude is when I pull the coffee cup out and I'm like, I'm not going anywhere. I got plenty of time.
SPEAKER_01
Oh, you sassing a passenger? That seems crazy. I can absolutely see you doing that, but
it's not even just like the the menu in the seat back pocket thing. Like it really is everything. Like when it comes to like baggage claim or finding your gate, it's like you just pause for like a moment and look around and like absorb the situation. You know what I mean? Like, people are so quick to be like, Well, where's this? What's this? What's going on? No one's helping me. And it's like, help, let me help you, like, help yourself, you know what I mean? Yeah, like baggage claim. I'll be in an airport that I've never been in before. And people will be like, Where's baggage claim? I have no idea. But all it takes is for me to go, okay, well, there's gotta be signage around here somewhere. You look up, you see signs for things like ground transportation. Baggage claims probably closer to that than it is to more gates this way. You know what I mean? It's like things like that. I'm like, just pause and breathe and look for a minute, it's not that big of a deal.
SPEAKER_00
I sometimes wonder with things like that, because I feel like there is a collective laziness, and I wonder if we've set people up with that whole like the customer is always right mentality to believe that we need to like guide them through the process to the point where they can't figure anything out for themselves anymore.
SPEAKER_01
Right. Like we have to be at their beck and call, and that's what we're there for. So because we're there, they ask. Yeah. And
I kind of take this approach with boarding too, and maybe this makes me a terrible flight attendant. But I like to be in the aisle.
SPEAKER_00
Some of your flights, actually, I met you on one of your flights, and I don't I don't think you're a terrible flight attendant.
SPEAKER_01
No, I don't think I'm a terrible flight attendant. Don't continue. But there are some issues that I feel the need to step in with right away, and then there's other issues that happen on the plane where I'm like, you know what? They're gonna figure this out on their own, and it's probably better if I'm hands-off in this situation, because if I am there, they're gonna use me. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00
Like, I'm giggling because we're the same person. Because sometimes I feel like when we help, um, they don't learn anything. But when other passengers shame them for their um lack of intelligence on a certain issue, um, it's so much more degrading for like someone close to them to be like, come on, dummy.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and I I I it really is like a trial. I can just sit back and giggle about whatever was happening. It's a trial and error thing, and they learn themselves, then they like won't do it again.
SPEAKER_00
Right.
SPEAKER_01
Whereas if you go and like baby them through the situation, they're gonna expect the next flight attendant to do that. And then it's like we're perpetuating this same idea.
I mean, that's why I won't list the drinks that we have, right? Like, if you give me a category, I'll tell you what we have in that category, but I'm not just gonna tell you everything we have on the cart, I'm gonna point you to the thing that you need to answer this question for you the next time so that you can be prepared for me to be there, which is the menu or the magazine, or any of those sort of things.
SPEAKER_01
Right. And I I think you hit the nail on the head with like, you know, they're gonna figure it out for themselves. Like it's a learned helplessness thing where it's like, okay, if someone is making me do all this, I'm just gonna keep letting them tell me what to do and do whatever and keep shuffling along rather than okay, let me prepare for the next time this happens and I'll be ready. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00
Um, because it's inevitable when you when you walk up to and you know this because it happens every flight. Somebody's like, What do you have? And you're like, you know what? I'm not gonna point you to the menu. I'll be super stew today. Coke, Sprite, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, uh, orange juice, apple juice, cranberry juice. Uh, and then you list like the beers and the general liquors that you have, and the person just stares at you and they're so overwhelmed, and they're like, I'll just have water.
SPEAKER_01
You made me do all of that for water? I'll just have a water might be the most annoying thing a passenger has ever said. Because it's it's frustrating like water. Did you just want a water to begin with and order a water?
SPEAKER_00
Or did the long list of things overwhelm you? And so maybe next time put your menu so you're prepared for me to be there.
SPEAKER_01
Also, just a water. I still had to pour it like I did any other drink. So there's no just here, like you're having a water, you're having a juice, you're having top order because you say just a water, ice, no ice, right? There's like follow-up questions, there's a process, bottle cup. What do you want exactly? No, I'm in I'm in full agreement.
I really do feel like it's sensory overload, though. Like the amount of signage, the amount of just information that's out there is chaotic, and there is such an overwhelming amount of things to look at to see. And like personally, I get overwhelmed sometimes when there is that much information and that much to look at and process. So, like, I don't fully blame passengers for being this way. I think it's human nature sometimes to be easily overwhelmed in these situations. But I do wish that people would just stop pause in their tracks for a moment, yeah, breathe a little, and look around.
SPEAKER_00
Because the truth is, we're sitting here talking about a menu and how you can be more prepared for a flight attendant with a beverage card. But the truth is that this is a vein that runs through everything that we do in aviation because people it's it's just I I'm gonna say it's uh either learned laziness or a collective laziness to where you just you can't even figure out signage anymore. You can't even look up and like follow an arrow to baggage claim. You need someone to physically direct you to it. Right. It has to be a learned laziness. Otherwise, it like it doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah. And I just all I want is for people to pause, look up, think twice, breathe, you know, d do all these things and like I promise the information is there for you. Yeah, if you need help,
obviously we're there for it. We're not horrible people, but you know, look around.
SPEAKER_00
Right, because when you see the giant beverage card in the aisle, that means it's time for snacks and drinks. And if you Which is the same on every and maybe, maybe instead of saying what do you have, maybe next time ask where's the menu? Check this in back pocket.
SPEAKER_01
It really is that simple. Really is. And if it's not there, then ask. Yeah. You're allowed. We've given you approval.
SPEAKER_00
We've given you permission. But maybe instead of saying what do you have, maybe say, I looked, I didn't find it. Where's the menu? So next time you're on a flight, look for a menu.
SPEAKER_01
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SPEAKER_00
Join us next time for more humor, heart, and stories from our beverage cart.
