Hey there, JFC-ers!

And suddenly, June was here! It seems the Scottish weather is yet to catch on, but thankfully I have been able to spend much of the week doing the second-best thing (after travelling, obviously). 

After a couple of you eagle-eyed readers quite rightly pointed out that Paris is indeed called "The City of Light" and not "The City of Lights," as I wrote last week, I found myself reading up on how cities around the world got their nicknames. 

In case you were wondering, there are actually a couple of theories about how the French capital gained its nickname.

One goes that it gained the moniker in the 19th century, when it became the first city to use gas street lighting. Another takes it as far back as the 1660s, when Louis XIV had extra lanterns installed around the city in order to reduce crime.

Either way, they've clearly been fans of quality illumination for a long time. But why on Earth is Oslo known as Tiger City?

Happy travels and safe landings,

*Ding-dong* “Ladies and gentlemen, please, if you haven't already done so, we kindly ask that you switch off all mobile devices or place them into aeroplane mode now”.

And so it begins. Trapped in a huge metal cylinder, staring at the back of a chair, sitting next to a complete stranger, wondering how to fill the next few hours.

If only we had internet! … Come to think about it, why don’t we have internet? I mean, some airlines have it, right? And we’re flying high up in the clouds, so we must be closer to all the satellites? Hmm, I wonder how high we actually are? And how fast we’re going… And how long we could fly before we run out of fuel...?

Woah, there’s a lot about flying that the regular passenger doesn’t know. But if you’re reading this, it’s likely you’re at least a little interested in those lingering thoughts that pop into your brain once the fasten seatbelt sign pings off. 

Luuuuckily, we at JFC have unsurprisingly spent many hours stuck on planes, too. So, we’ve put our minds together and collected all those weird, amusing and bizarre questions, and their answers…

FYI, these probably aren’t topics you’ve ever deliberated in day-to-day life, so maybe save this for whenever you’re in need of a bit of fun in-flight reading :-) 

If a window broke mid-flight, would everyone on the plane get sucked out?

So we all know how things turned out for Goldfinger, but surprisingly, Hollywood might've been on to something here. And after that Alaska Airlines incident in January 2024, it’s unsurprising that we're all left with a lot of questions.

The first thing you should know is that the air pressure inside the cabin is a heck of a lot higher than it is outside. This is so passengers can breathe normally when they're up in the air.

In the extreeeeeemly rare circumstance that a window breaks (they’re made up of multiple layers of plexiglass and strong acrylic plastic, after all), anyone sitting close to the window will experience a rush of air escaping the cabin, extremely loud whooshing sounds and freezing-cold air. Everyone’s ears would likely pop again due to the change in pressure.

Yes, this can pull out anything that’s not strapped down, including people. But, it’s not inevitable that everyone will get sucked out. Thankfully, the majority of flights where a window broke have ended in a safe emergency landing, avoiding major injury—ultimately because everyone wore seatbelts.

Air travel is one of the safest modes of transport in the world, but it’s a good reminder to always stay strapped in when sitting down! 

How long does it take to train to become a commercial airline pilot?

With a decent amount of funds, spare time and resources, you can start flying for an airline within around 2 years in the UK/EU and 3 years in the US/Canada. 

On top of passing exams, and going through extensive training, you also need around 1000 hours of flying under your belt before any major airline will consider hiring you. There are heaps of flight schools out there offering a range of prices, but the ones who promise the speediest process usually cost around £80K+/$108K+. On the flip side, the Philippines is known to have some of the cheapest flight schools on the market, costing around half of the above price.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, you can, in fact, qualify as a pilot if you are colour-blind or do not have 20/20 vision! There are still some basic medical requirements you need to meet, which you can read more about here.

If, somehow, you ever inherit a plane and feel like learning to fly for a bit of fun, you can actually earn your private pilot licence in only 2 months, with a minimum of 40 hours of flying experience. The costs for this licence typically range from £15K-£20K/$15K-$20K.

If you can’t smoke on planes, why are there ashtrays in the toilets?

Don’t believe us? Go have a look next time you're in that claustrophobic toilet cubical, and you're guaranteed to see a little square hatch on one of the walls.

To back-track a little, until the early 80s, certain flights still allowed you to fly through the clouds in your own cloud of smoke. By the late 80s-90s, however, airlines began to introduce in-flight smoking bans due to health and safety concerns.

Interestingly, many pilots were initially exempt from the ban and were allowed to continue smoking in the skies, as putting them through withdrawal symptoms was seen to pose a greater risk.

Fast-forward to the present day, when all forms of in-flight smoking are prohibited, but we still see ashtrays, even in newly built planes.

The answer? Simple: we're all a bunch of rule-breakers, and the Civil Aviation Administration knows it.

Under their direction, ashtrays must be fitted on the bathroom doors of all airliners so that there is always a place to dispose of cigarettes—juuust in case the no-smoking policy isn’t adhered to. They believe that if ashtrays were not there, smokers may attempt to dispose of cigarettes in areas such as the paper bin. And since that could result in an on-board fire, it’s better safe than sorry. 

P.S. Don’t take this as your green light to light up. If the cabin crew suspects you of smoking, you’ll still land yourself with a massive fine or even jail time.

If a plane is overbooked, can they force you to get off?

I’m sure you’ve all seen clips online of US cabin crew encouraging passengers to give up their seats for more and more money because the plane has been overbooked (basically, a really un-fun auction). In some extreme cases, passengers have even forcibly been dragged through the aisle and taken off the plane.

Well, despite overbooking being common practice for US airlines, it may come as a shock to Europeans to know that under EU law, it is also legal for European airlines to overbook flights as long as certain conditions are met:

They need to inform you at the time of booking that your seat is subject to being overbooked.

The airlines must display a clear compensation policy explaining how they will deal with overbooking, and how you can claim compensation if your flight is overbooked.

It may sound unfair, but to give some context, airlines do this when they anticipate that some passengers will either cancel or skip their flight altogether.

Now, before any airlines start selecting random passengers, they’ll usually ask for volunteers who are willing to skip the flight in exchange for things like meal vouchers, credit for a future flight, or in the best case, cold hard cash.

If you're flexible, you might be able to take advantage. But just remember that compensation is negotiable, so try to think of any small add-ons like upgrades or lounge passes that you could ask them to throw into the deal. 

If no one volunteers and you're the unfortunate one selected not to fly, this is referred to as ‘denied boarding’. If this happens, you are legally entitled to compensation and a free rebooking onto the next available flight. You can organise this with the airline staff, but try to remember to ask for a ‘denied boarding’ from or certificate from the gate. In the unlikely event that the airline refuses to offer any compensation, the form may provide useful evidence if you need to take legal action. 

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