Secret meaning behind why flight attendant might say ‘cheerio’ to you as you the exit plane

Flight attendants always greet passengers as they board the plane and you’ll usually get a friendly goodbye as well. 

But the exact wording the cabin crew use can indicate how they really feel, according to an aviation expert. 

If a flight attendant waves you off with a ‘cheerio’, you might have caught their attention more than the average traveller. 

According to an expert who spoke to Huffpost, a flight attendant’s friendly ‘cheerio’ means a lot more than just goodbye. 

The expert says: ‘When you are disembarking from the aircraft, if the flight attendant says “cheerio” to you, this could also be code they have a secret crush.’ 

Apparently many flight attendants struggle to keep a straight face when they do so, as they know their fellow cabin crew understand exactly what that innocuous ‘cheerio’ really means. 

But that’s not the only secret code flight attendants use for passengers they fancy. 

The expert explains that many cabin crew use a secret acronym to let their colleagues know there is an attractive passenger on the plane. 

The expert says: ‘When you are disembarking from the aircraft, if the flight attendant says “cheerio” to you, this could also be code they have a secret crush’

And that magic acronym?  

Bob, which translates as ‘Babe on board’. And ‘Bobs’ might even be able to score some extra perks. 

The expert says that flight attendants generally ‘run back to the galley’ to ‘let the rest of the crew know where the sexy passenger is sat’. 

Flight attendants will then make sure that passenger gets ‘extra nice’ treatment and maybe even some ‘freebies’. 

Another flight attendant recently revealed why cabin crew actually greet passengers with a ‘hello’ when they board. 

In a TikTok video @itsmekikooooo, explains that flight attendants don’t say ‘hello’ out of politeness. 

She explained it’s really a way of checking whether passengers are ‘too drunk or too sick’ to fly.

And Jay Robert, a former flight attendant, previously told MailOnline Travel there’s also a code for a fake vegetarian passenger. 

Flight attendants will then make sure that a BOB passenger gets ‘extra nice’ treatment and maybe even some ‘freebies’

The cabin crew expert said: ‘SVML stands for Suddenly Vegetarian Meal, a passenger who didn’t order a special meal and probably isn’t vegetarian and doesn’t like the meal choice offered, so they suddenly became a vegetarian to get something else to eat.’ 

And while it might sound appealing, VIP doesn’t mean important if you hear it on a plane. 

Jay explained that VIP actually stands for Very Irritating Person among flight attendants. 

But SFU? That stands for ‘Suitable for an Upgrade’, according to Jay.