Flight etiquette is one of those things that can really trip you up.

What’s the best way to stow your luggage? Is it ok to go shoe-less? Can you recline your seat on short-haul flights? For some of these questions, we’ll never know the true answer. 

But thankfully, one flight attendant has come to the rescue, spilling the beans on a classic debate: when to press the call button.

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Apparently, the answer is: pretty much never.

Alessandra Dubin, a writer for Yahoo!, chatted with a flight attendant at a family gathering and asked her to dish some behind-the-scenes info.

The veteran airline staffer joked that you should only press your call button if you’re dying.

“They’re truly there for emergencies,” she explained. “We will answer it even if we’re strapped into our jump seat during turbulence or landing. So yes, it could be a big deal.”

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Some passengers tend to use the button like they’re summoning a private butler – asking for another lemonade, a pillow, or more snacks.

But the anonymous flight attendant revealed that this irritates cabin crew to no end. They’re juggling dozens of passengers and don’t really have the time to see to these small requests.

“It will piss off probably 70 per cent of flight attendants,” she said.

So if you really need something and you can’t safely get up, it’s ok to hit the call button.

But if you’re in an aisle seat, you’re better off standing up and walking to the back of the plane to find an available cabin crew member to help you.

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Recently, an Emirates flight attendant said the most “inconvenient request” is when a passenger asks for a meal after the service has ended.

“Once the meal service concludes, the galley transitions from full operation to rest mode,” cabin crew member Sophie Dunne wrote for Islands.

“The ovens are turned off, and the carts are stowed. Any spare passenger meals in the oven eventually cool down and can’t be reheated.”

Plus, “once the service is over, flight attendants finally get their own break,” Sophie wrote.

“At that point, the crew have gotten ready for work, commuted to the airport, sat for a briefing, carried out a security search of the cabin, boarded passengers, and completed a two-hour service.”

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