Everything On Airplanes Is Disgusting Including Where You Sit

As it turns out, planes are really dirty. Every single day, millions of people are ferried around the world on what are pretty much flying buses, and in order to keep up with ever-tightening schedules, turnaround times to clean planes between flights are shrinking. Because of that, cleaning crews, who are doing their best, may not get every single nook and cranny on an airliner.

Driving Rolls-Royce’s First Electric Vehicle: The Spectre | First Drive

Anyway, Travel + Leisure decided to speak to a handful of fight attendants to find out exactly what parts of the planes we fly on are the grossest. It’s a horrifying thought, but toilet seats are not included on this list. That means everything here is nastier than a public toilet.

Instruction Cards

Anyway, the first thing flight attendants told T+L that are absolutely grody are the seatback instruction cards. They’re usually hidden away from cleaning, and most people will flip through them when they get on the plane (I do it to see exactly what I’m flying on because I’m a nerd).

“The dirtiest spot on a plane is the safety instruction card in the seat pocket,” Josephine Remo, a flight attendant and travel blogger, shared with Travel + Leisure. And while Remo notes the tray tables do usually get wiped down (more on that later), the instruction cards do not. So, once you’re done reading the safety instructions, make sure to put on a little hand sanitizer — or better yet, wipe down the instruction card with a wet wipe to save you and future passengers from any germs.

Overhead Bins

Next up is – oddly – overhead bins. I never really thought about those since they’re most for – you know – luggage, but as one flight attendant told Travel + Leisure everyone is touching ‘em.

Additionally, Remo said, it’s key to either wipe down or use a cloth to open the overhead compartments, as they are “touched by a lot of people,” and “rarely cleaned.” While it’s tough to avoid them, once you’re done loading your carry-on, simple use some hand sanitizer once again.

Tray Tables

This one, though, will not come as a surprise to literally anyone. It’s tray tables. They’re stowed away when cleaning crews are doing their thing, and if you think they’re going to unlatch every single one and wipe them down, honey you’ve got another thing coming.

“Passengers generally know airplanes are riddled with [grime], but the [tray tables] go beyond general germs,” said Sue Fogwell, a flight attendant with more than two decades of experience. Suffice to say, it’s a good idea to give your tray table a good wipe once you get on board, especially before eating. Fogwell isn’t the only one sharing this information. A 2015 study by Travelmath showed that tray tables had nearly eight times more bacteria per square inch than the second-dirtiest place: the overhead air vent button.

Seat Covers

Seat covers are also apparently a no-no zone for grossness. You’d think they are cleared or replaced regularly, but that’s just not the case. There’s only so much cleaning crews can really do.

“The seat covers aren’t always replaced or cleaned,” Fogwell added, explaining that they will only get replaced or cleaned if they have been reported. But even then, it could be a toss-up. “Not every gross event is reported [as] it could create a flight delay,” she said. For those who can’t bear the thought of an icky seat, there are plenty of disposable and reusable seat covers on the market.

Just a side note, if I see you get on a plane with your own reusable seat cover, I will call the FBI on you. That is serial killer behavior.

Bathroom Door Handles

If you’re going to use the bathroom at 38,000 feet, make sure you use plenty of sanitizer, because as it turns out, the bathroom handles are infested with gross-ass germs. People just don’t wash their hands like they used to.

“The toilets are regularly cleaned, but the locks and door handles are not,” Remo explained. For this reason, Remo noted, “It’s a good idea for passengers to use hand sanitizer after stowing away their luggage, touching anything in the seat pocket in front of them, and going to the bathroom.”

And Remo is not the only one to make this claim: In October 2023, reporter Andrea Sachs collected samples from across an aircraft and found the lavatory sink handle to be the grimiest, followed by — you guessed it — the tray table.

The Goddamn Drinks

Travel + Leisure decided to save the most disappointing nasty thing on an airplane for last: the goddamn ice and water. Jesus Chris, there is no hope.

As T+L previously reported, a 2019 peer-reviewed study by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center at the City University of New York showed the drinking water on planes as potentially unsafe for humans. The study scored 10 major airlines from 0 to 5 and found that seven out of 10 scored a three or below.

“My takeaway from doing the research was to not drink the coffee and tea at all,” Charles Platkin, Ph.D., JD, MPH, and the executive director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, told T+L. He had one more piece of advice for those airplane bathrooms: “I don’t wash my hands either. I have wipes that I use.”

So, as it turns out, we live in hell – and the epicenter of that hell is airplanes. Thanks so much to Travel + Leisure for opening my third eye to how nasty planes are. I’ll be sure to bring sanitizer on my next flight, as long as the TSA doesn’t confiscate it.