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There are several services that many passengers are not aware of on-board airplanes simply because they are unadvertised.

For example:

  • Coat compartments. You can hang your suit in the airplanes cupboard! just ask a flight attendant!
  • Birthday / wedding cakes. You can ask the reservation agent for wedding or birthday cake and they will bring it to you on-board!
  • Stain remover. In case something spilled on your shirt, you can ask flight attendants to help and they will bring you the stain remover wet tissue and it really helps!

Are there any other common unadvertised services that exist on airplanes?

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  • Interesting question, but this seems like it would solicit polling rather than a single authoritative answer, no?
    – user82
    Sep 20, 2012 at 3:31
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    @todofixthis. I was thinking about this. By saying common, it's prevented the closing as too broad option, but we do want questions that get single authorative answers. However, one feature we underuse on here is to create wiki questions. This could perhaps be a candidate for that?
    – Mark Mayo
    Sep 20, 2012 at 5:41
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    It's certainly not unprecedented.
    – user82
    Sep 20, 2012 at 7:25
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    I think this is a good question which adds value to the site. Technically it could be a list but I don't think it's open ended and I think it's objectively answerable. I think it much better fits our site than the strange station numbers question that I just voted to close.
    – hippietrail
    Sep 20, 2012 at 7:48
  • I've tried all three of the examples at various times but was out of luck most of the time. Only times I was able to get a suit hung up was when traveling business class.
    – MastaBaba
    Sep 20, 2012 at 16:34

2 Answers 2

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People who wish they could get more liquid may be surprised to find how successful it is to say "A can of Coke please" instead of "Coke please" when they come around with the cart. On every airline that doesn't charge for soft drinks, this has worked for me. It's better than my old strategy of asking for a type of pop I thought would be unpopular like Tonic Water (which I love) and hoping the flight attendant would offer me the whole can.

Also some airplanes have drinking water taps so you can fill your own water bottle, and even if they don't, often you can ask for it to be filled when the cart comes around and they will (with water, anyway.) I have also asked while we were still loading passengers to have my water bottle filled and it has worked. On trips where I didn't bring a bottle but was very thirsty, I have also asked for "two glasses of water please" and again I have never been denied.

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    +1 You also can ask as much coffee or tea as you want. When I was a flight attendant we were asked officially by our management to do so. Most major airlines offer that as well.
    – Nean Der Thal
    Sep 27, 2012 at 20:24
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    It might also be worth pointing out that most airlines will give you more drinks if you walk up to the galley to ask, than if you ask from your seat for them to bring it to you. On long haul flights, the walk will also do you good!
    – Gagravarr
    Sep 28, 2012 at 23:20
  • And if you have your favourite tea, you can ask for got water too. I see Japanese people doing it quite often, they have as well some sort of special bottle with included tea filter.
    – yo'
    Oct 1, 2012 at 12:47
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    I imagine all airlines would be happy to give you as much fluid as you wanted. Dehydration increases the chance of deep vein thromboses and can cause serious problems for passengers with respiratory conditions.
    – Molomby
    Oct 2, 2012 at 3:30
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Singapore Airlines A340-500's have an on-board morgue of sorts; a special compartment for people who die in flight. Apparently, the A340-500's cover the longest commercial air route in the world, "a nonstop 18-hour flight from Newark to Singapore", so they need to deal with things like that semi-regularly.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120104-travelwise-death-on-a-plane

Is that the kind of 'unadvertised service' you were thinking of? :P

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    Semi-regularly... :\
    – Stuart
    Sep 27, 2012 at 15:05
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    This is a good service! if I die on-board I would love to be put in a decent place better than the floor of the galleys or so!
    – Nean Der Thal
    Sep 27, 2012 at 16:06
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    @HaLaBi: Regardless, I'm pretty sure they'd have to keep you in a seat. Putting you on the floor anywhere would be a tripping hazard at best and you really don't want a body flying around the cabin if you hit serious turbulence!
    – Molomby
    Oct 2, 2012 at 2:32

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