Flight attendant shares tips and tricks on how YOU can get a FREE first-class upgrade and save money

One flight attendant shared some key tips and tricks on how to save money when booking your travel — and she even revealed one way you can get a free first-class upgrade.

Cierra Mistt, an American Airlines employee from Salt Lake City, Utah, has gone viral TikTok for sharing secrets she learned working as a flight attendant — including several hacks passengers can use to score cheap tickets.

According to the TikToker, airlines release deals on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — and she even suggested using an app to change the location of your IP address to lower prices.

“If you want a cheap flight, look for flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,” she suggested in a viral video that has now been viewed more than a million times. ‘Then flights are the cheapest.

“I highly recommend using a VPN so they don’t know what country you’re looking from because normally, if you’re looking in the United States, they’re going to jack up those prices.”

When it comes to free upgrades, she recommended choosing a seat at the back of the plane for a chance to be moved to first class for free.

“Another thing airlines don’t want you to know is that on most flights we have to move people because of weight and balance issues,” she said.

That said, if you want to fly first class and don’t have to pay for it, I highly recommend sitting in the last row because if we need to move people for weight and balance purposes, there goes the flight attendant to. .’

In addition to her money-saving advice, Cierra often answers her followers’ burning questions about the ins and outs of flying an airplane.

When someone asked her why flight attendants always turn off the cabin lights during take-off and landing, she explained, “It’s most likely if we have an emergency accident.

‘[When we turn off the lights]our eyes are already being adapted to the outside environment.’

As for why it’s important to stow your tray tables and keep your seats upright when you leave and arrive, she said it’s to protect your fellow passengers – since the person sitting next to you may not get out as quickly. can if there is an emergency.

Wondering why airline employees stand at the front of the plane as you board? Well, Cierra explained that there’s actually a serious reason for this that a lot of people don’t know about.

“While you may think we’re just saying hello or being friendly, we actually rate you as hardcore, but not in the way you’d think,” she shared.

“While greeting you is one way of providing customer service, we look even more closely at you to determine if you would make a good ‘disabled body passenger’.

“A few good examples of ABPs are nurses, military personnel, police, basically passengers who can assist us flight attendants in case of an emergency during the flight.”

In another video, the American Airlines employee explained why it’s important to always put your phone in airplane mode while flying.

“The reason might even shock you and make you think twice about trying to sneak in and keep your phone in normal mode,” she said.

Believe it or not, pilots are not responsible for flying. They are the ones who fly the plane, but from the moment the boarding door closes until the moment we land, the pilots follow specific instructions given to them by a group of people on the ground, air traffic control.

Their job is to make sure planes take off and land safely without bumping into each other.

“To allow the pilot to communicate with ATC, they use frequencies – we use those on our phones.

‘But sometimes frequencies can collide and completely take the signal away. Imagine how bad it would be for a pilot who picks up directions from an ATC on the ground and suddenly loses signal and starts flying blind, all because of the frequency of a passenger phone intercepting it.”

In other TikToks, Cierra shared even more surprising things about the job that many people may not know about — including flight attendants who always wore sunscreen and never drank the onboard refreshments.

‘We always wear sunscreen when we work. We’re doing this because every day we’re flying around 35,000 feet in a metal tube and that’s very close to the O-zone layer,” she told her followers.

“In fact, we are so exposed to radiation that health insurance labels us the same as an astronaut or radiologist.

“Unless we’re super desperate, we’ll never drink the tea or coffee offered on the plane.

“The water we use in the coffee and tea comes from the same place and guess what, it’s never cleaned.”

Finally, Cierra explained that they hate when people ask for help lifting their bags into the carry-on bins.

“None of the crew are paid while you board,” she revealed. ‘Actually, we don’t get paid until the door of the plane closes. If you have trouble lifting it, you can have it checked at the gate for free.’