Flight attendant reveals why pilots can’t eat the same meal on a plane

Plane food is a staple of long-haul air travel, bringing excitement to many of us and waves of nausea to others.

But while flight passengers are used to deliberating over the age-old question: “Chicken or fish?”, not many give a second thought to how the staff on board dine.

However, that’s now changed thanks to one flight attendant who used TikTok to reveal a lesser-known aviation rule.

The cabin crew member, who uses the name Daniboy on the platform, explained that certain airlines prohibit pilots from eating the same meal as one another while on a flight.

Every crew is made up of two pilots, a captain and first officer, meaning every precaution must be taken to ensure that if one is incapacitated the other can take the reins.

Describing the dining rule, Daniboy said: "This is to ensure that if the meal is contaminated, and the captain or first officer gets sick after eating it, then the flight deck who had a different meal should still be OK and able to operate the aircraft."

In other words, a dodgy dinner should never get in the way of a safe trip.

The TikToker explained that the aviation rule existed to keep all on board safe@danidboyy1/TikTok

Her educational clip was viewed almost half a million times in two days and racked up thousands of comments from fellow TikTokers, with a number imagining potential arguments in the cockpit.

“‘I want the chicken.’ ‘No I want the chicken,’” wrote one.

“If they want the same thing they’ll have beef,” joked another.

However, other users corrected Daniboy, explaining that the rule had changed over the years or only applied to certain airlines.

“This was a rule long ago. It is NOT true now,” commented one user.

In response, Daniboy clarified: “Not all airlines do this. I’m just talking from my own personal experience with the company I work for.”

Meanwhile another said: “No, they’re not supposed to eat at the same time but they can have the meal of their choice. So if they find out one is bad, the other pilot can’t have a meal until they land.”

And when one user mused: “Imagine if it was both contaminated,” Daniboy suggested playfully: “Then I guess I’ll just fly the plane.”