Filthy Airline Travel
 

It's not our imagination! Planes are yucky!

Here's an interesting article (tiny url link) in today's NYT.

http://tinyurl.com/yfbjf3

The artcile's contents, unfortunately, comes as no surprise to me. I have always thought they were flying germs/grime/yuck containers.

Brings anitbacterial wipes and waterless hand cleaner and hope for the best.

Debi

Filthy in another way too. Recently I reached into the pocket and found two wadded up papers. I opened and read them. Some guy was clearly drafting a letter and threw the drafts into the seat pocket. Apparently he was getting ready to meet some gal again and the letter was filled with "vivid" descriptions of what worked last time and what he wanted to "try" this time. It was a lot more interesting reading than the usual "American Way" magazine.

WOW they never leave ME anything like THAT to read in my seat pocket!

Okay, this is terrible to admit, but once on a long, boring flight the person in front of me was writing a very um, personal, love letter that I could clearly see. It was a lot more interesting than the Sky Whatever magazine.

Are they as "yucky" as some people's cars?

Article was in our Sunday paper. Airlines are cutting way back, no meals so people bring in bags of food themselves and leave it whereever, the airlines make more money in the air, not sitting on the ground waiting for the cleanup crew to clean the plans. They use to have several people cleaning and now have cut back and only have 1 maybe two people, depending on size of plane. If people flying would take care of their garbage instead of putting it wherever, I have flown enough to know that they come around with garbage bags to collect, so no reason to have litter stuck in the pockets where the magazines are etc. JMO

Reading "trash" from the trash. I think I know that author! Tres tres exciting!

You've got a good point there, Dukey.

But I will say that Mr. STW is a clean car freak. You could eat off the seats and feel pretty darn good about doing so, lol.

I think I might pull out a latex glove the next time I place my hand into the airplane pocket, lol. :D

What grosses me out is seeing people walk down to the bathroom barefoot. Not only are the ailes filthy but the bathroom floor? You know what is on that floor. Giant cringe...=P~

TTess, while flying home from our honeymoon I was sick with Giardia and had to use the bathroom every 5 minutes. I literally monopolized the lavatory for the whole 8 hour flight.

Anyway, at some point my flip flops had come off and kicked around and I had to go so bad I went without.

There was a drunk man on the plane across from me and he'd just come out of the restroom. I went in and there was urine ALL OVER the floor, cold, sticky and too late for me to do anything about.

I'll never ever ever use a plane's lavatory barefoot again. <b> Ickk!!!</b>

I don't remember ever feeling airplanes were clean. And airplane bathrooms are so disgusting due to the sloppy habits of passengers I don't even want to think about it.

If airline passengers would help keep airplanes clean especially on long flights how much nicer and healthier it would be for all flyers. But like qas station restrooms, department store restrooms etc., the public doesn't really make an effort to think about the next person that will be using the facility.

I might also add that the one year I got involved in the real estate business..plus many decades in the property management business..the way a lot of people do NOT keep their bathrooms clean goes beyond description.

STW, the joys of flying, NOT.

I saw so many people go to the restroom with no shoes or socks on on our long flight to Hawaii. I was totally grossed out. I try to touch as little as possible with my flesh...Uggh.

This article brings to bear something I have thought about since the airlines quit serving meals. Do they actually save money??? It seems to me that what money they save by not serving a token meal must be eaten up by the amount of trash and garbage generated by take-on.

Plus, it is so disgusting. Last year I was smashed into a window seat (because of a last minute ticket change), and the woman in the middle seat had several huge bags of snack foods jammed into the pocket and between her legs. I was trapped, and if there had been an emergency I would have had to leap over her bags of food.

Then as soon as the plane took off she pulled out a foot and a half-long submarine sandwich that stunk to high heaven. It was disgusting. Wouldn't the airline have been better off serving a small meal, then having the clean-up contained??? I would think so............

chickgeek, flying home to Sacramento from Atlanta a fellow (in a tank top and shorts) ate two sandwiches both obviously filled with onions. He was across the aisle from me. The odor was soooo disgusting. Not a great flight LOL.

Good point,chicgeek, however even when they were still serving food, it had deteriorated so much in quality that many people were already bringing on their own purchases.

I have noticed a marked increase in the downfight filthiness of the lavatories over the last decade or so. It is hard to figure out. Were people neater and tidier 15 or so years ago?? Makes no sense, unless someone used to intermittently clean up in flight??

It's odd, but I was recently remarking how much CLEANER the lavatories have become. I used to cringe if I had to use one at all. Lately on AA, I notice attendants constantly popping in, and whenever I go, everything is neat as a pin and even smells good. Is that something only AA takes notice of?

I would never dream of walking in any public restroom, including on a plane, barefoot - that's just yucky! I spent too long in retail cleaning out dressing rooms to think that a public restroom would be clean.

I also have never utilized the seat pockets because of all the horror stories I hear about them - guess I have chosen wisely.

Patrick, glad your recent AA flts have been clean. We travel almost exclusively on AA, mostly on the Bos-Lax and Lax-Bos flts and I have noticed that the floors are often sprinkled with many drops of what I fear is *not* water and have an aroma to match my assumption of the content of the drops....I also think that they often use a plane that they just turn around, ie it comes in from LA and they turn it around and return it to LA, within an hour or so. Maybe that is why the ones I have gotten are so unappealing. They are rarely on the ground long enough to get the kind of cleaning that should be done.

If you ever want to write a book on the world's filtiest toilets, just fly Air India.

I am going to go throw up now thinking about it. :(

As I was deplaning a Southwest flight last week, I noticed the FA with gloves on, starting to clean the rows of seats. Guess they're saving big bucks having the FA clean the plane instead of a cleaning service? And on the same flight, I heard a man ask if the blankets were clean. The FA said yes, since this is a 7 AM flight, but they will not be cleaned again today, so subsequent passengers will receive the used blankets (I assume the same goes for pillows).

On a related note to the barefoot thing, has anyone else besides me been grossed out by taking off your sandals in Security, and having to walk barefoot a few yards on the grungy carpet before getting your shoes back? I've been waiting for complaints here, but have yet to see any...

Yes, joan, I *hate* taking my shoes off and walking barefoot--during sandal weather--but I am also aware that I could--and don't bother to--bring a pair of tiny socks, or even those ped type things they have in shoe depts...In fact, now that I think of it, I think I will get some of those next time I am shoe shopping, as they take up no more room than a couple of tissues and can slip into an outside zipper of my carry-on, or could even be disposed of, once past security.

Some airports have disposable footies: I traveled for the last time in my comfortable Clarks sandals when I ran into &quot;duh&quot; when I asked (we don't have anything like that!) I swear my feet itched for a week, even after I put medication on them.

An interesting point was raised in this discussion. If you are bringing on your own food, try and make sure that it's not too 'fragrent'. A sub loaded with onions might smell great to the hungary person eating it, but no to the slightly queasy person sitting next to them. I wonder if airline meals are engineered to not be too pungent smelling?
I remember sitting in our local movie theater one night, and the person sitting next to us snuck in a container of some very strong, garlicky smelling soup - ugh!

Joan, I always wear socks and solid style slip on shoes when flying. It makes it much easier at security, keeps my bare feet off disgusting floors, and keeps my feet warm - they get cold very easily. I am seriously considering bringing a pair of knit gloves from now on to keep my hands warm too.

I also never use the airline's pillows and blankets. I bring my own mini pillow and dress in layers.

I bought some paper slippers on Magellan that I carry in my purse and put one when going through security. The guards laughed at me but I wasn't putting my freshly pedicured feet on that floor.

Let them laugh.

t seems airplanes are the second most likely place to become ill--hospitals being the first.

SharonG, I don't know what you paid for your paper slippers but the SF Chronical had an article some weeks ago about the bacteria on the floors of airports. Their medical expert suggested going to a medical supply store and buying the paper type slipons that are used in hospitals. The cost is suppose to be something like $10.00 for 6 pairs. After putting your shoes back on throw the used paper slippers away. Isn't travelling fun??

Sandles for travel really would expose the tootsies to germs. Yours as well. Suggest socks.

I don't care what the security guys laugh at or think anymore. I find that a good many of them are very rude and are on some kind of power trip.

My paper slippers were pretty cheap. About $10 for ten pairs. They come in handy in the summer when you don't always wear socks.

At beauty supply stores you can also get those flat pop up post pedicure flip flops...they are pennies and will only last for a couple of wears anyway...and lay flat.

LoveItaly, SharonG, et al: There was also a bit on a local newscast about the CRUD on airport floors in security and it was serious stuff. Not just yucky but medically dangerous. I used old pairs of knee high nylons on our recent trip and threw them away afterward.

The paper shoe covers used in operating rooms, etc. are great shoe covers for packing too. We have used them for years.

Magellan has paper &quot;socks&quot; in their most recent catalog that were fairly inexpensive.

Isn't it all wonderful? The joy of flying is long since gone!

Hi Giovanna, I think I was a victim of the Atlanta Airport floor. It was hot, I had on Clarkes flipflops. A few days before for the first time in my life I had gotten some blisters on my feet.

After I got home the blisters were infected. I had to take meds for two weeks..I will never again go through that no matter how silly I look going through security. I will check out the paper flipflops. And yes, the joy of flying is certainly no longer true. Take care!!

For the first time I noticed those little paper slippers at an airport like Suze or Faina or someone on here told us about. They were at Reagan in DC, but I haven't noticed them at any other airports. I used a pair and slipped another pair into my carryon for my next trip.

That's terrible LoveItaly! Here you are traveling for pleasure and you end up with infected feet and have to pay for medicine. Glad you're okay and it was no worse than it was.

I hadn't read the whole thread before I last posted and now notice SharonG got her paper slip-ons from Magellan.

We're off again in two weeks and I plan to somehow cover my feet again when walking through the metal detector, and hope I don't pick up a bug from the bad air on the planes! I sound like a hypochondriac, but I'm really not. Just facing the realities of flying such as they are.