Flight attendant reveals how often passengers actually have sex on flights and what happens when they’re caught

Joining the mile high club might be something of a trope, but just how often do passengers actually try to do it on a flight?

It's one of those fantasies that might seem glamorous, until you think about it for more than a few seconds.

After all, it's hard to argue there's anything particularly sexy about a plane toilet that smells of bleach and stale urine that's so small there's no room to really do anything beyond some awkward shuffling.

And that's before we get to the inevitable walk of shame back to your seat as everyone in the plane watches you and your partner exit the toilet at the same time, rendering any pretence at secrecy a moot point.

Then, of course, there's the cabin crew - the ones who've had to deal with it before too many times to see the sexy or the funny side anymore.

Now, a flight attendant has revealed just how often people try to join the mile high club, and what happens when they are inevitably caught.

It's anyone's guess what's so alluring about the interior of a plane (Alexander Spatari/Getty)

Mandy Smith is a flight attendant who has published Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of a Virgin Air Hostess, where she goes into detail about many aspects of working on planes, including how often people try to get jiggy on a plane.

Despite it being quite a big trope, she revealed that it happens less than you might think.

"I would say one in twenty or thirty flights," she said. "Not really that often."

As for how the staff deal with it, she said it's usually just a case of knocking on the bathroom door and asking people to stop.

"It's worse when you've got children on board and it's in the daytime," she said.

However, on night flights she revealed she was sometimes more forgiving, saying: "If it's on a night flight and they're being discreet, I probably wouldn't even interrupt them if I'm honest."

Nonetheless, she revealed that a friend had an uncomfortable experience with a passenger who was determined to join the mile high club.

"One of my friends had a situation where there was a young lady of 18 who was quite determined to join the mile high club, and she just grabbed anyone," she said.

Despite the cabin crew intervening and sending her back to her seat, the passenger wasn't done yet.

"She sat back down in her seat, and then about half an hour later she was back up with another chap trying to join the mile high club again," said Mandy.

"My friend said she went to speak to her parents, because she was actually travelling with her mom and dad.

"She was only 18 bless her, she didn't do it again."

Talk about an awkward drive home from the airport...