Their smiling faces never fail to greet you at the passenger boarding bridge, and they’re more than happy to show you the way to your seat, but the airline hosts that meet you as you board a flight play a critical role that you’ve probably never known about.
When you hand your ticket to an airline host, they’re not just checking for your seat number; they’re also looking you up and down to determine whether you’re an ABP (able body person).
Kat Kamalani, a flight attended shared the secret on TikTok recently to her 594k followers. She explains that hosts are looking out for people who may be able to assist the crew in case of an emergency, say, an unexpected landing or security incident.
For cabin crew, pilots, emergency responders, doctors and nurses are often noted by hosts in case they may need to ask for help.
You would never guess the last part… #secretsrevealed #traveler #momsontiktok #flightcrew #travelhacks♬ SUNNY DAY – Matteo Rossanese
“We’re also looking at one more thing,” Kat continues.
In addition to items that should not be inside the cabin, including large quantities of liquids, Kat also says cabin crew are looking out for signs of human trafficking.
“It happens a lot in the industry,” she said. “Our passenger safety is our number one priority, so we’re just looking for things that look off.”
According to CNN Travel, signs of trafficking include ill-fitting clothing, scripted responses to questions, certain tattoos, unknown details about a passenger’s travel, and one-way tickets.
If an airline hosts has any suspicious, they’ll report this to the plane captain, who will call then call operations employees on the ground to find out more about the passenger and flag concerns, according to Insider.
Between 2004 and 2017, 841 possible cases of human trafficking and slavery were reported to the Australian Federal Police. There are estimated to be four undetected victims for every detected victim in Australia.
For more resources relating to human trafficking, or if someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
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