Humans are strange creatures. We create elaborate rituals out of the most mundane actions, and impart those rituals with great significance. One I’m trying to make sense of is seasoned travelers and first-timers alike tapping planes as they board. Why do people do this?
A quick pat on the fuselage serves to calm the nerves I guess. You don’t have control over much when you board the plane – you’re in the hands of the aircraft’s mechanical condition, the actions of the pilot, and fate. But this is one thing you can control, so if you do this to tell yourself it’s going to be alright. The flipside is, somehow, that if you don’t do it then you won’t be? It’s magical thinking, with obviously no science attached.
I guess for some it’s a ritual that anthropomorphizes the aircraft. You’re greeting the plane. Or you’re treating it as a pet, “stroking a horse before riding.” You’re also personalizing the journey, mixing yourself with the aircraft and thinking of yourself as one. Or you’re just connecting to the wonder – you’re about to sit in a chair in the sky and move at 500 miles per hour, how can you not want to touch such an amazing machine?
I see people do this occasionally, but online people seem obsessed with the ritual so I’m trying to make sense of it. Is this something you do?
@irishdaily I start first!!! I always have to touch the plane ✈️ before I board #plane . @yogameetstravel ✈️ #irishdaily #tiktokoftheday #flight #fyp #airport ♬ original sound – Irish Daily
@jplech #airplane #plane #savinglives #superstitions ♬ Funny – Gold-Tiger
I guess it’s better than throwing coins in the engine for good luck.
(Un)Lucky Air flight 8L9960 cancelled as passenger throws “good fortune” coins into aircraft’s engine https://t.co/JpynmjOX1e pic.twitter.com/W6W7E1toTC
— Aviation24.be (@aviation24_be) February 25, 2019
Still, isn’t tapping the plane kind of gross? Remember when most airlines were handing out sanitizing wipes as you boarded the plane, because they knew you wanted your hands and personal space to be clean? And yet here you are touching the dirty outside of the aircraft! I’ve never seen anyone wash their hands right after tapping. Then they probably eat the Biscoff cookie they’re given in the air, touching the cookie with dirty plane hands. Maybe not such a great idea!
My wife is a Doctor. Twice now after tapping the fuselage, she’s had to perform a surgical procedure mid-flight.
#Gross
O.M.G. I’ve NEVER told anyone I do that!!! I didn’t know it was popular!
Guilty.
That said, I’ve never had a ride go down, so maybe it does work!
Slow news day!
I have started doing this as a ritual.
I don’t believe that it protects me or anything, but it does give me a connection to the bird in some way for that instant.
There’s dirty surfaces everywhere, and I’m not a germaphobe. My immune system has become stronger because I don’t carry copious amounts of sanitizer or wipe my hands down every fifteen seconds.
If the plane needs my good wishes to stay aloft then I have some serious problems. Still, I suppose it’s like the ridiculous thing where people applaud the pilot for not crashing the airplane: unnecessary and weird but we’re only human.
Anxious passengers tapping the plane’s fuselage before entering the aircraft is similar to a worried and nervous pilot kicking the tires before taking off.
I’m gonna guess that the fuselage of a jet aircraft is one of the more sanitary surfaces after spending a couple hours at 500 mph and the intensity of sunlight.
I’m guessing westerners touch the plane just to have some sort of connection to the machine. with most new cars, you generally just touch the handle to unlock and open the door. It’s not exactly like they get to do much else w/ the exterior of the aircraft other than the few inches they can contact it from a jetway.
Not unless you simultaneously crank up the Amii Stewart on your illegal iPhone speakers: https://youtu.be/XKuJUxGntRI?si=_wH_WK77ozY3Hmj5
Slow news day, huh?
Yep, I always knock on the fuselage with a “boom diddy boom boom…boom boom” and then a slap, like a slap on the backside of a horse before you mount it, to show whose is the boss! I’m listening for any strange vibrations or rattles as well!!n Yes it’s a foolish ritual, but as you say, it does give a sense of well-being. Afterwards I use one of the sanitizing wipes to remove any residue from the palm or knuckles of my hand. I often get a special welcome from the boarding crew when I go through my ritual. It is a fun thing for me to do and it doesn’t hold up the boarding process at all.
I like to touch the Oneworld logo as I board. No superstition, just like to do it.
wow i thought it was just me. no superstition just get to say i touched the plane
I like the feel of the steel shell and feeling connected with the surface that bears the brunt of the cold and wind during flight.
This will totally gross you out, Gary. As a baggage handler, I ate my lunch in-between flights. There’s no place to wash up in a gate kiosk, so I are my sandwich after unloading, and then loading a couple hundred bags. I survived. It would have been nice to have a sink, but if I ran into the terminal, I wasn’t going to get a chance to eat. My shift wasn’t long enough for a meal break, but too long to skip lunch.
This is funny. We fly Southwest a lot, with my wife on the Companion Pass. Before we enter the plane I always remind her to “kiss the heart!” She rolls her eyes as I put my right hand over the [Southwest logo] heart and kiss the back of my hand. It’s not a superstition; I just love the airline. She loves the airline too, but not enough to touch the exterior.
Having never touched a plane like that while boarding, I’ve never heard of such a behavior and didn’t realize it was a “thing.” Wow. There’s no end to people’s quirks.
I do it.
It’s just to have a mere connection to the thing that gives me the joy of travel and the marvel of modern air travel.
I do agree it’s a kin of tapping the horse to have a connection to it.
It’s not gross….only to a germaphobe…..
I have always patted the right side of the entrance to the plane for good luck. After doing so for over 30 years of flying, I must say “it works” – I am still here and all of the aircraft I have flown on have never has a mishap. To all who have flown on the same aircraft as me – you are welcome.
Heck, I used to do it, and I was the Captain!
I hear what you are saying. I always touch the plane when I board. It is my way of saying, “You can do it, girl.” That is also because I am OCD.
I always make the sign of the cross on the plane before I enter! It helps to calm me when I board….I say whatever works for you!
What else do we have to do while waiting at the doorway of the aircraft for some clown to hold up the entire line so they can put their oversized bag into the overhead bin like it’s the first time in their life 🙂
Oh and I do this on cruise ships also, It’s a big deal for those folks as well.
On the other hand, people on TikTok are mostly fake clickbait morons.
The only thing I do when boarding, assuming it’s an afternoon or evening flight is kind of size up the first flight attendant to determine whether he/she is likely to do pre departure beverages in the premium cabin.
Guilty. Total OCD on my part. I also pat my car when getting in. It’s a “let’s go girl” kinda thing.
For the sports fans among us, it’s common to have some simple, physical ritual before entering the playing field– touching a sign, a rock, a blade of grass. I also echo the other commenters who enjoy the physical connection with the sturdy metal that will keeping everyone safe as we hurtle through the stratosphere. It’s a reassuring reminder of the technological marvels that airplanes are.
All the other stuff– superstition, anxiety, germaphobia– never crossed my mind. Projection, maybe?
Too bad AS passenger didn’t pat the emergency exit before sitting next to it. It would have fallen out before takeoff.
There was a bottleneck boarding my flight today that put me in a perfect tapping position. I never tap and didn’t today. But I did think about. Darn it, don’t put things in my (rather small) mind.
It’s a simple human gesture of appreciation – honestly, I wish more people remembered their humanity at an airport.
What a good idea! I will tap on every flight in the future.
Or, you can be like the woman who noticed a crack in the Aloha Airlines plane’s fuselage when she boarded . This Hilo-Honolulu flight landed on Maui even though part of the ceiling tore off in flight. She didn’t mention the crack to any of the crew. A f/a was lost but the plane landed safely. That was a miracle landing!
My dad was a pilot for PanAm, and when we flew on vacations, he always gave our non-rev aircraft a solid touch on the fuselage as we entered. I asked him why, and he said it was his holiday version of a ‘pre-flight’ inspection. So, I keep the tradition in his honor.
They aren’t tapping or patting the plane. They’re just using it as a place to steady themselves to get on without falling through the crack between the plane and the end of the walk.
After 40 years of being a professional pilot, I have another suggestion for those who believe in the custom of “tapping ” the airplane . . . try “TIPPING” the pilots (folding money only please, preferably Ben Franklins.)
I unapologetically and quietly make the sign of a small cross three times on the right side of the fuselage as I board. Faith rather than superstition, but I am not doing this to make a scene or draw attention to myself as I board.
I do if it’s a 747.
Gave the last 747 a kiss. 🙂