Flight Attendant Names Grossest Places on Commercial Planes

Wim De Gent
By Wim De Gent
October 28, 2024Travel
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Flight Attendant Names Grossest Places on Commercial Planes
A flight attendant walks through an airplane before the plane's descent into the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 24, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A flight attendant has grossed travelers out by revealing the unsanitary conditions onboard commercial flights.

In a TikTok clip titled “The Filthiest Parts of the Plane in a Flight Attendant’s Opinion,” Cher, a Dallas-based cabin crew expert of five years experience, certainly got her online audience’s attention when she listed the most germ-ridden areas on passenger airplanes.

“Some of these may be expected, and then some of them may be a surprise,” she said, as she apologized in the clip description. “Sorry in advance if this grosses you out the next time you fly but everyone should have the facts.”

“I’ve never seen the window shades get wiped off ever in my career” was the first item on her list.

“You think about how many people are touching those and that they never get wiped off,” she said. “They’re filthy.”

Public restrooms never score high on anyone’s hygiene list, in any location, but the issue extends beyond the seat, Cher instructed us.

“I’ve seen people vomit inside of those bathroom sinks numerous times,” Cher continued. “So, if you drop something in there, I would consider it a loss.”

“Never, ever have I seen the sinks get cleaned out,” she said, adding that she’s only seen the toilet seats get cleaned off once in her career. “Only once.”

Southwest-Airlines-Mask
A flight attendant wears a protective face mask aboard a Delta flight to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Ga., on May 19, 2020. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Her horror story continued: “I think we’ve all seen the video of the sewage leaking all over the carpet,” she said. “I’ve seen people vomit on the carpet, rub their bare toes on the carpet. “It is filthy.”

“Why are the toilets and sinks not getting cleaned?” a bewildered person asked in the comments.

“They do,” a kind soul comforted, reasoning that the flight attendants don’t stick around until the cleaning crews come. Another person chimed in: “As another flight attendant, I’ll tell you I’ve seen most of these areas get cleaned, guess it’s different from company to company.”

“It differs from station to station too,” Cher added. “There are some that have fuller staff so obviously they can do a better job.”

Water on Tap

Next, Cher made another shocking point, one few have probably thought about.

“The sink water that you wash your hands with is also filthy,” she said. “You’re not allowed to drink it because it has too much bacteria in it—so washing your hands with it is probably not great.”

She went on to mention the next items on her list.

“The actual belt of the seat belt, not just the buckle part, is filthy,” she revealed, sharing she’s seen belts with blowout diapers and vomit on them.

“The insides of the overhead bins are also filthy,” she said. “Think about people dragging their bags through airport bathrooms, and then throwing it up there. Also, I don’t trust how clean everyone’s houses are.”

And then there are reaches onboard commercial flights that Cher may have forgotten to mention but have been identified by other flight attendants as germ-hotpots.

A group of flight attendants previously shared their concerns with Travel & Leisure in December about unsanitary places onboard commercial flights, with one claiming the instruction cards must be the dirtiest as they never get wiped down, contrary to tray tables, for instance.

A 2015 study by Travelmath listed the following “dirtiest places on airplanes”: tray tables, lavatory flush buttons, seat belt buckles, and overhead air vent exhausts and knobs.

“Airline staff are under more pressure in recent years to quickly deboard arriving flights and board departing flights to maximize profit for their carriers,” the report stated, advising that the crew be given more time to do a thorough cleaning between flights.

To the question “What exactly do the cleaners clean on the planes?” Cher replied: “Vacuum and get the trash and wipe the mirrors in the bathroom, pretty much surface level which is all they have time for [because] that’s how the industry is set up.”

“And people look at me crazy when I wipe everything down with a sanitizer wipe,” a person replied.

According to numbers from the Federal Aviation Administration, each day, 2.9 million people hop on a plane in the United States’ airspace. That represents 45,000 flights per day.