BA flight attendant on why she always hides one shoe in the hotel safe

A British Airways flight attendant has shared a quirky hack that she always follows when checking into hotels. Zoe, who works for British Airways, spoke to Nicky Kelvin, editor at large of The Points Guy, to share her “top travel cabin crew hack”. The unusual tip was actually one that was passed down to the flight attendant member 20 years ago when she first began flying.

She explained that it has helped her avoid leaving any of her important or expensive possessions behind in hotels and has also ensured they stay safe.

However, the reason she happened upon the tip was because she had previously been caught in trouble after leaving some valuables behind locked in the hotel safe.

Speaking to Nicky while onboard a recent British Airways flight, Zoe explained: “So whenever I have my passports or anything valuable when I put them in the safe what I always do is I always put one of my crew shoes in the safe so that I never forget anything from the safe.”

Zoe added: “Someone told me the hack many years ago when I started flying about 20 years ago and said always put just one crew shoe in the safe and you’ll never forget just one shoe.”

Most hotel rooms have a safe, usually located in a cupboard or closet, which can be opened and closed with a unique code.

While it might sound unusual to pop a shoe into the safe, it makes it hard to forget anything if one shoe is in there, as you can’t leave the hotel without the two shoes that you need to be wearing for the flight. This is especially true for cabin crew who have uniform shoes that they must wear.

This isn’t the first time a flight attendant has shared an unusual safety tip for hotel stays, though.

Previously, flight attendant Esther, who works for European airline KLM, explained why she always throws a water bottle underneath her bed.

Having stayed in hundreds of hotel rooms around the world while at work, Esther said that she rolls a water bottle under the bed to check if anyone is hiding underneath.

Though it is extremely rare to walk into a hotel room to find someone already hiding in there, for Esther is provides peace of mind when away from home, and may do the same for other travellers.

If the water bottle rolls out of the other side, it means there is nothing underneath the bed stopping it, and eliminates the need for you to get too close.