Starry starry skies!

Meena Iyer on the flying habits of the beautiful people.

No Bollywood celebrity has quite matched actor Ralph Fiennes' record of making out in an aircraft toilet with the air-hostess. But if reliable airline sources are to be believed, Bollywood's in-flight escapades have more masala in them than Om Shanti Om .

The buzz was that recently a light-eyed married actor and his dusky heroine were wrapped so tight on a flight after an outdoor stint of a hit film that the staff feared that both of them would be asphyxiated. "Their PDA left us blushing," says an air-hostess. "The vibes between them were so hot they could have set off the smoke signals."

It was equally amusing for airline staff to watch the game of musical chairs reportedly played by Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, who took turns to keep Priyanka Chopra company on a flight to an international awards function. PC is a lucky girl. SRK usually prefers his laptop for company or time out in the cockpit with the pilots when he can smoke a cigarette in peace. "Shah Rukh is tech-savvy and loves to know every little thing about the mechanism of the aircraft," says a pilot who flew the superstar recently.

Amitabh Bachchan likes to fly quietly. He prefers the last two seats in the first class section and spends his time reading or working on his Mac. He seems to enjoy his own company but, of course, everyone wants to sit next to him. Scribes flying to the premiere of Agneepath in Kolkata a few years ago almost got into a cat fight in their bid to get to the seat next to him even as his wife looked on, highly amused. Bachchan doesn't throw tantrums. A young Jet Airways stewardess once reportedly pushed open the toilet door and screamed when she saw him standing there. Her flood of apologies finally trickled away when he said with mock sternness, "If you don't tell anyone what you saw, I won't tell either."

Rajesh Khanna wants to sit in the first row. On international flights he has been known to get quite odious after too many rounds of FMFL (Foreign Made Foreign Liquor). Khanna has company. For instance, there is the hysterical 37-year-old starlet who is currently dating a small-town choreographer.

According to an air-hostess, the starlet refused to "upright her seat" even when dinner was being served and the person seated behind her needed to eat. As for the Hon. Lok Sabha MP Govinda, an Indian Airlines official made it clear that they never book him on a morning flight. (Except during the winter when fog delays make up for Govinda Standard Time.)

Karan Johar, Bobby Deol and Tabu have fear of flying. "Tabu wears an amulet, a taveez in a green cloth, before she takes a flight," says a friend. Rishi Kapoor too hates to be air-borne and until a few years ago couldn't fly unless he had had a few whiskies to calm his nerves. "I've come to terms with flying," says the 55-year old actor, "but I still hate long flights. If it's the US I must break journey."

Sunny Deol has done Mumbai-London first class so often that British Airways now wants to issue him a season ticket. Sanjay Dutt never loses an opportunity to hire a private jet. When he and his colleagues missed a flight out of Udaipur after the Dhamaal shoot, Dutt simply ordered a private plane from Mumbai. It cost him Rs 7 lakh but he didn't seem to mind. Manisha Koirala hits the pillow the moment the plane takes off and doesn't open her eyes till the air-hostess wakes her before landing. A senior actor was very upset that Koirala didn't bother to wake up and greet him on a Delhi flight. "Don't these people sleep at night?" he asked waspishly.

Sridevi flies first class with husband Boney Kapoor and daughters Janvi and Khushi. "The maid flies economy," says a friend of the family. "But the girls want the maid around them so there is constant traffic between first and economy and this disturbs the others." Once, on board a Sahara Airlines private charter, Urmila Matondkar grabbed Seat 1A and literally begged a scribe to sit next to her. Reason? There was as influential politician in the row behind and the actress knew that a vacant seat would mean two hours of polite chit chat and a forced exchange of numbers.

But the anecdote that takes the biscuit is the one about a much-married actor who flew from Mauritius to Mumbai after an award night with an inebriated actress swaying on his lap for a bit while his sainted wife studiously counted the clouds outside the window.