Ask The Expert: Can your outfit get you a flight upgrade? Flight attendants reveal airline secrets

Yahoo Canada asked three flight attendants, Chris Foss, Dunia Harati and Patricia Leung, to divulge secrets from the plane cabin and share their tips for the best air travel experience.

Can your outfit get you an upgrade on a flight?

Chris Foss: Normally when you're dressed up. If you're in a suit and tie or dressed up for it, you possibly could get an upgrade.

Dunia Harati: Some people have to be dressed in a certain way professionally. So if you are dressed nicely, there's a good chance that they might upgrade you, just because they want people to look nice in business class, instead of people wearing sweatpants or flip-flops. They might not get an upgrade.

Patricia Leung: Some people want to look good where they land. But sometimes I see girls, they take five, six hour flights, and they'll be in this tight dress and, like, five-inch heels. And I'm just like, how do you do it? Like for me, I'm pretty, like, the lazy, comfy type and it's better that way too, because it creates more circulation and for your legs and your whole body. So I would say, just go comfy. Even if you wanted to look good, maybe go change, like, five minutes before the plane lands.

When is the best time to request a seat change?

Dunia Harati: To actually change your seat, it's preferably to do that after takeoff. Just because of the weight and balance, before takeoff, everybody needs to be sitting in their assigned seat. But after takeoff, if there's a seat available and you want to sit there, then we have no problem with it.

Patricia Leung: I would say after takeoff. A lot of passengers, they don't listen. They always like to get things done, and then they just create a chaos by being in the aisle. So I usually tell them, oh, just be seated and once we're in the air, we'll figure it out.

What annoys you the most about passengers?

Dunia Harati: It's when they don't listen to our safety tips. So when we ask them to put the bag underneath the chair or to fasten their seat belt, and as soon as we walk away, they pull their bag out or they unbuckle their seatbelt.

Patricia Leung: Personally, I feel like when passengers are drunk or if they're tipsy, it gets annoying because it affects not only me, as a flight attendant, but also affects people around me. I always get Vegas flights and then people get really excited. And then they have too many drinks, but they never admit...to the point where they just get themselves kicked off the plane. And they would do, like, all sorts of things. They start to talk loud, speak rudely to others, just create a scene and it's just crazy sometimes.

Chris Foss: In my opinion, it's when passengers take off their shoes, and then also take off their socks, because that's just kind of gross.

Weirdest items that people bring on a flight?

Chris Foss: A lot of time, I get musical instruments that are funky in size. Sometimes I've got, like, big cymbals.

Dunia Harati: Not on my flights,I haven't seen anything weird. But I've heard stories where people brought scorpions on the plane and they'd lost them, and then they thought they were gone. And then on the next flight, you see a [scorpion] walking by, or a snake.

Patricia Leung: Yeah, a miniature pig. So I guess our airline allows that, it's part of our agreement. We allow miniature pigs, horses, like, miniature. So I was caught off guard one time, because I was checking to see if it's a dog or a pig, because it was dark. And then once I see it, I was just-- I was just like, wow, like, I've never seen a pig on a plane.

What food should you avoid?

Dunia Harati: I would say plane food are not the most healthy thing to eat. So if you're a frequent traveler, bring your own food. You know, it's a little bit healthier than constantly eating airplane food with lots of sodium in it.

I would say avoid alcohol on the plane, just because your body loses a lot of moisture and then you're...very dehydrated, So alcohol will only make it worse, so you'll get headaches. You'll feel like you're going to faint, you're tired, so avoid alcohol and drink a lot of water.

Chris Foss: You also have to take into account whatever you're eating, everyone around you is going to smell - like your salad or whatnot. But other than that, you can bring your own snacks. I bring my own snacks half the time anyway.

Patricia Leung: I think it's always good to stay hydrated. That's the best thing. Not in alcohol-- that's...the worst thing. So I dealt with a lot of medical before, when passengers, they're not hydrated or they didn't have a good sleep and then they're flying, it can cause heat stroke...I had to do CPR one time on one passenger.

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