How To Join The Mile High Club
Mile High Club: The biggest misstep you can make is to think you can outsmart the flight attendants. Most of the time they will know full well what’s going on, but will only get suggested if they have to, for example if you’re way too obvious about it, or if you bother other passengers.
Sure, marrying the club sounds fun, but do you want it suitable to risk being caught in an utterly embarrassing situation? If you’re not the kind of person who’s savored getting frisky in everyone before now, chances are you’re not going to be the kind of person who enjoys making caught with their pants around their ankles on row 12.

What Is The Mile High Club
For most dudes, even a unremarkable flight offers the commitment of joining the Mile High Club — that’s why we’ve told you about airlines, apps, and even secrets to help you get away with it. But what about appealing facts you can use to (maybe) woo beautiful women sitting next to you on the airplane? To help with that, we’ve put together 11 things about the MHC that you should absolutely know.
1. Autopilot is the whole reason the Mile High Club exists
When early aviator Lawrence Burst Sperry invented the autopilot in 1914, it allowed pilots to… uh, do things other than steer the plane.
2. Not surprisingly, Sperry was also the Mile High Club’s very first member
According to aeronautics folklore (and the New York newsies), Sperry reportedly crashed his plane off Long Island after unwittingly disengaging his newly invented autopilot while “developing a local debutante how to fly” (or rather, exhibiting her his newly invented autopilot wink wink).
3. Everyone’s doing it
A 2010 survey conducted by Sensis Condoms says that three percent of flyers claim to have engaged in some sort of funny business during a flight. A 2011 Skyscanner survey found a whopping 20 percent making the same claim, although 17 percent of them said it was with a girl they met at camp. And you, like, totally wouldn’t know her.
4. Flying high makes for better orgasms
The dip in atmospheric pressure is said to increase orgasmic intensity. The higher you fly, the less oxygen is in the air (you get mild hypoxia), which many believe leads to a better orgasm. Another, very simple explanation, is that the plane’s vibrations heighten arousal.
Mile High Run Club
An early reference to the concept is found in the betting book for Brooks’s, a London gentlemen’s club. The 1785 entry (only two years after the first successful balloon ascent by Étienne Montgolfier) reads: “Ld. Cholmondeley has given two guineas to Ld. Derby, to receive 500 Gs whenever his lordship has sex with a woman in a balloon one thousand yards from the Earth.” (However, there is no further indication that the bet was paid, or even how they would check it if it was claimed.)[citation needed]
During the First World War, German Ace Oswald Boelcke was disciplined by superiors for taking a nurse up in the cockpit of his fighter, allegedly becoming the first person to qualify as a member of the club (although the logistics of how that would actually work are unclear, with the cockpit being very small and cramped and the pilot having to constantly keep hands and feet on the control stick and rudder pedals; others maintain it was a simple joyride).
Pilot/engineer Lawrence Sperry and socialite Dorothy Rice Sims have been described as the first persons to engage in sex while flying in an airplane; the two flew in an autopilot-equipped Curtiss Flying Boat near New York in November 1916. The American transportation authority NTSB reports one case in which sexual activity is at least partly responsible for an aviation accident.
In November 2007, the BBC reported a story headlined “Airline Bans A380 Mile-High Club”. The Airbus A380 allows double beds to be installed in the first-class cabin, but Singapore Airlines’ cabins are not soundproof; shortly after installing the new seats/beds, the airline requested that first-class travelers respect other passengers.
Mile High Club Meaning

The humorous Mile High Club website claims Lawrence Sperry, inventor of autopilot in 1914, was the first member of the mile high club, but the slang term isn’t used until 1966, according to Green’s Dictionary of Slang. The term mile high club spread in the 1980s–90s, perhaps due to the great affordability and accessibility of air travel. Urban Dictionary first enters the term in 2003.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang also notes that the expression has been shorted to a mile high, or “an instance of intercourse on an airplane.” The dictionary adds that the term is joined by “mile-deep club, [or] those who have had sex while travelling through the Channel Tunnel between UK and France.”
An actual organization called the Mile High Club existed in Denver, Colorado in the early 20th century. It was a social club for men for University of Illinois alumni. This alludes to the fact that Denver is, due to its geography, nicknamed the Mile-High City. And, punning on the slang term, a men’s night club called The Mile High Club now stands in Denver as well.
The Mile High Club
Sometimes abbreviated as m.h.c., people informally use mile-high club to admit that they’ve had sex on an airplane or to speculate whether or not someone else has. The act of joining the mile high club is perceived among some adults as a status symbol. Many articles exist online that either detail people’s stories or tips on how to join, since it’s a risky, difficult, and, for some, a transgressive yet alluring endeavor.
The mile high club is sometimes a topic, reference, or plot point in popular media and has served as the title for several films and songs.
If having cramped airplane sex is high up on your bucket list, we have some good and bad news for you: It’s easier than you think to pull off, according to a long-time flight attendant.
The bad news? You’re essentially having sex in an airborne porta-potty; that plane lavatory may seem clean, but beneath the surface, it’s pretty damn filthy.
Jenna Leigh is the author of the new book Faking the O, a memoir about her unique dating struggles as a flight attendant and single mom. After 22 years working for a major international carrier, Leigh has seen plenty of passengers struggle to join the so-called mile high club ― but a good number of them have been successful, too.
How did they pull it off? Leigh shares how couples have successfully done the dirty 30,000 feet in the air and the mistakes that led other randy passengers to get caught in the act.
Many celebrities have admitted to joining the mile high club. For example, while on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow have both notably admitted to (independently) being members.
Mile High Club Porn
Most of the time, if we see something going on and it’s not affecting anyone, we let it be ― and then high-five the couple afterwards. Just kidding. Honestly, I don’t think we have anything that specifically addresses it in our manuals. Fornication is frowned upon in the air if the seat belt sign is on, but ultimately it’s up to the discretion of the crew on board on how to deal with it.
I’ve seen a whole lot of sexual encounters go wrong and for a variety of reasons. That said, the No. 1 reason they fail or get caught in the act is because they’re too obvious about it. Couples try to be discreet, but it always backfires because they act so guilty and end up drawing more attention to themselves.
The second biggest mistake couples make is timing. If you want to give yourself the best chance at joining the mile high club, take a red-eye flight where most passengers are likely to be asleep! You’d be surprised how many people attempt (unsuccessfully, of course) to engage in sexual acts on full flights in the middle of the day.
One time, I had a couple who began making out in their seats and thought it would somehow draw less attention to what they were doing if they covered themselves up with a blanket. Wrong! Well, that and the giggling certainly didn’t help, either. They drew so much attention to themselves ― it was like they wanted to get caught.
What does it mean to join the Mile High Club?
The mile–high club is slang for the people who have had sexual intercourse on board an aircraft in flight. … For others, the appeal of joining the mile–high club is the thrill of doing something taboo and the thrill of the risk of being discovered.
How high is the Mile High Club?
How do you get on the Mile High Club?
- Don’t underestimate the flight attendants. …
- Show respect for your fellow travellers, too. …
- In the darkness of night… …
- … or consider an upgrade. …
- Wait for the drinks trolley to go by.