Flight attendant reveals how often passengers hook up mid-flight

The idea of joining the “Mile High Club” might seem like a cheeky fantasy, but how often does it actually happen?

A flight attendant spills the details — and explains what happens if you’re caught red-handed.

According to a survey of more than 11,000 dating website users in the U.S. and the U.K., only about 5% of people have ever had sex on a plane, though a surprising 78% said they’d like to try it.

Of course, fantasies aside, the reality is a little less glamorous. Airplane bathrooms are usually cramped, bleach-scented, and anything but romantic.

Add the inevitable walk of shame back to your seat while everyone watches, and it’s easy to see why this “adventure” is not quite what it seems.

How often people try to join the mile high club

Then, of course, there’s the cabin crew, professionals who’ve seen it all and have long since stopped finding it funny or sexy.

Mandy Smith, a flight attendant and author of Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of a Virgin Air Hostess, now reveals how often passengers try their luck based on what she’s seen, and what happens when they’re inevitably caught.

Despite the trope being widespread, Mandy says it happens far less often than you might imagine. A detail that’s consistent with the survey mentioned earlier.

“I would say one in twenty or thirty flights,” she admitted during an interview with Ladbible.

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“Not really that often.”

So how do the staff handle it?

Usually, a simple knock on the bathroom door is enough.

“It’s worse when you’ve got children on board and it’s in the daytime,” she said.

On night flights, however, Mandy confessed she sometimes takes a more lenient approach: “If it’s on a night flight and they’re being discreet, I probably wouldn’t even interrupt them if I’m honest.”

Awkward story

Still, not all passengers are so easily deterred. Mandy shared a particularly awkward story about a determined young traveler:

“One of my friends had a situation where there was a young lady of 18 who was quite determined to join the mile-high club, and she just grabbed anyone,” she said.

Even after the crew intervened and sent her back to her seat, she wasn’t finished.

“She sat back down in her seat, and then about half an hour later she was back up with another chap trying to join the mile-high club again,” Mandy recalled.

“My friend said she went to speak to her parents, because she was actually traveling with her mom and dad. She was only 18 bless her, she didn’t do it again.”

Although not explicitly illegal, engaging in sex on an airplane can put you at risk of public indecency charges. For flights between countries, laws may vary based on where the plane takes off and lands, the airline’s home country, the aircraft’s registration, and even the citizenship of those on board.