to bring disinfectant wipes for the next plane journey I go on?

[clicknclack]

Apparently a guy swabbed 6 tray tables and on 4 of them found MRSA and Norovirus. Travellers report seeing people pick their noses and wipe snot on seats/tray tables. People vomit on their seat and surroundings and parents change nappies on tray tables.

Feeling kind of grossed out now.

Note to self, do not read about such things before traveling.

"It's the toilets on aircraft that get me, not emptied between flights because of turn round times, BA admitted this to me when I asked." Really, GingerMerkin? I work for an airline (one you might be familiar with ,) on the planes and certainly on long haul flights the cost of carrying around all that sewage outweighs the cost of just 'dropping' the loos considerably. Our waste tanks are always empty when we set off, and our water tanks almost always full - the exceptions being when we turnaround in places where the water is not considered safe to drink. On short haul flights it may well be that a loo is not dropped on a short turnaround at an outstation, but will always be dropped on arrival back at Heathrow or Gatwick. Our short haul flights are no longer than 4hrs at the very longest and carry a maximum of 250 passengers - so even without dropping the loo at an outstation that is still a lot less shit swilling round than on, say, an A380 flying to Singapore!

Wrt aircraft cabins - the public are their own worst enemies sometimes. Yes, a lot of people behave in fairly gross ways in the cabin (leaving things like used hankies and dirty nappies stuffed in seatback pockets,) and no, there is not enough time to give an aircraft a deep clean in a normal turnaround time. The cleaners do an excellent job though. If you see some of the aeroplanes I get off at the end of a flight you could be forgiven for thinking a week-long party had taken place - crisps and other food ground into the carpets, empty sweet wrappers everywhere (on the floor, wedged down the side of seats, in the seat pockets,) blankets and pillows thrown around, drinks spilt (both from turbulent flying conditions and by drunken passengers.) They have half an hour max to not only make the plane look like the kind of place people have just paid thousands of pounds to spend the next few hours, but they are also responsible for some of the security checks too. It's a crap job and I take my hat off to them.

What cleaners cannot do though is have an impact on the fact that an aircraft in cruise basically recycles much of it's air - it is far too complicated to explain why here, but basically the air is a completely different temperature and pressure outside of the aircraft to that which is compatible with being able to breathe it inside!

FWIW in the cockpit we are supplied with sanitary wipes to clean our headsets with (we have to share headsets - they cost a fortune!) and most of my colleagues and I give the parts of the plane we touch regularly a bit of a wipe too.

At the end of the day, good hand washing and not being gross are your best friends!

Yeah those germs are everywhere that other people are touching - escalator hand rails, door handles, money etc

I have always taken wipes and i dont touch things in public places like banisters and door handles.

Wash you hands, use wipes and dont put bags down and if you have to then wipe them.

I agree with supermum, i wash all clothes that have been on a plane and i would do the same around a newborn, people should freshen up and change first.

Some people are gross, just sit and people watch and be surprised at the amount of people who pick their noses or put there fingers in their ears or hands in their mouth in public. Adults not kids.

Let alone those who dont wash their hands after using the toilet, everytime i go i see someone come straight out without washing them. All this plus small cabin plus recycled air is a breeding ground.

I have just put myself off my next holiday

YANBU

My toddler nephew ended up in hospital with a bug presumably caught when my brother took him to a disgusting plane toilet towards the end of a long haul flight.

After seeing the Instagram account Passenger Shaming I decided long ago to always clean my tray table before I use it. The amount of people resting their bare feet on the tray table is shocking.

I've also seen a shitty nappy changed on a tray table. The person then bagged up the nappy and kicked it under their seat. They were shocked when a fellow passenger told them to get off their arse and throw the fucking thing away. Even when they'd binned it, we could smell baby poo for another 3 hours.

Antibacterial wipes will do nothing to protect you from norovirus or other viruses sadly, you'd be better to just ensure you have good hand hygiene, regular thorough washing with soap and water.

I heard this about hand gel - it won't protect you from tummy bugs. My anaesthetist friend told me. I think you can find spray stuff which kills viruses though. Maybe there are wipes too.

I just looked at the passenger shaming website - why are so many people putting their hair over the seat?! That must feel weird. :s

DH flies at least once a week. He washes his hands very regularly and thoroughly when traveling but doesn't do antibacterial wipes or the like. He's pretty much never ill.

Lady Yes, hand gel is the same- it needs to make actual contact with the bacteria to kill them sp if tour hands aren't already clean, the gel can't do anything. Apply after washing for extra killage but on its own it's piontless.

Those tables are grim same with the airline style seat ones on trains. I was on a flight once where this horrible smell hit me and yes someone was changing her baby's nappy on the table. A flight attendant spotted her and politely asked her to use the toilet but this woman, her partner and mother went off at her.

I was a flight attendant and I ALWAYS carry wipes and hand gel. Wear shoes at all times in the aircraft and wipe down the trays, belt buckles, armrests and loo. Planes are not cleaned properly and people change babies on the seats, barf, don't wash their hands, etc.... You're not being unreasonable, you're going to be in a big tin can fill of germs.

I use washable changing mats by Kushi on planes in the bathroom (the tray is nearly always above the toilet). When we get to our destination they go into a hot wash and are tumble dried to make sure they are sterilized. Planes are filthy and are never cleaned properly.

silver Anyone who has a newborn should be made aware of what happens when yor baby gets sick. Spinal tap is nearly always needed and my goodness it's a procedure that is nasty. I've had one child who got sick from using the shared stroller at Copenhagen airport. She was 9 months and got so dehydrated quickly it was scary. She also go sick after a flight back from the UK when she was 12 weeks. We were lucky. There are quite a few kids who die or are permenantly disabled from getting an infection so early.

Haha! I'm cabin crew, I've just come back from a long haul flight and I think one of my business class passengers had been reading this thread, she furiously wiped down everything she and her family would touch, while I stood there like Piffy holding her dinner or drinks etc. I'd never seen anything like it before.

Yes planes can be dirty and carry germs, but no need to panic. I've managed not to die despite flying long haul every week for nearly two decades, and I have to touch people's dirty dinner trays with dirty napkins rolling around on them. And unless something has changed, toilets are emptied just as someone else described before.

of course you should, I carry babywipes everywhere i go wipe down your car and keys as well

the door handles, taps and flush handle in loos are the worst!

Wow, I must have been a terrible parent. My DD's family all live in various places around the world and she's been going on flights several times a year pretty much all her life and it never occurred to me to anti-bac anything. Still works, studies and travels the world frequently now. And yet somehow made it to 21 years old with no more than the occasional cold. (She also used to dig up worms in the garden and was found on more than one occasion eating cat food, rabbit droppings, etc. as a toddler. They didn't do her any harm either). Not saying I'd want to eat my dinner off a tray I'd just seen baby changed on without giving it a wipe down, but there's a lot to be said for getting over it and letting kids build up a good, strong immune system.

All this pearl clutching at a natural fact of life! That's what we have immune systems for guys! Remember those?

YANBU
I used to be cabin crew for BA before I had My son.
Planes are disgusting. The tray tables were not always cleaned on turnaround. I once caught a cleaner using the same cloth to clean the table that had just been used on the toilets (pulled him up on it, of course but made me think how often it happens and no-one noticed).
It makes me shudder to think how dirty they are and I'm by no means a germ freak.

I've looked at dingdong link and I can't say that any of them really made uneasy at all.
Yes people are bare feet in a long flight. Yes you will spread out onto two seats if you can and out your feet on the other seat to be able to sleep. I've also seen plenty of children sleeping on the floor as they were lied down and could sleep.
Yes after 12+hours in a plane, you have crumbs everywhere and some paper and waste at the front of seat.
Nappies are not on, I agree and I hate the sticky feeling of tables that haven't been cleaned.
But then I probably don't expect a hospital cleaniless level on a plane either.

This will cheer you up:
how germs spread

Bad hygiene and terrible airflow can make it nasty in a plane but there's hope...

"i dont touch things in public places like banisters and door handles. "

How do you move between rooms if you won't open door handles?

I've bought tubs of hospital grade wipes that kill loads of germs inc mrsa, ecoli etc.
Looks like I'm not alone at being germ conscious

I used to be crew for Ryanair and Ba
The turnarounds are to quickly remove rubbish from seats and do security checks. tray tables are never cleaned in the day only at night and probably with the same cloth. Ba pay staff to come on and Hoover but that's the only difference in standard. Crew are not given cleaning products. Sorry to break this to you all....

BeALert

My DH is the same - has been flying on average every week for the last 23 years. He's generally a pretty clean person and has never caught a bug from a plane.

A plane is no worse than any other public space. If your hands come into contact with door handles, trays etc then just don't put your hands into your mouth or nose. Or wash them.

I suspect the huge rise in allergies is due to anti-bacterial wipes and neuroses.