You’ll never forget to pack your hand sanitiser again after reading these findings on where the most bacteria is found in airports and on board airplanes. And it’s not where you’d expect.
The confronting results were published by TravelMath.com who sent a microbiologist to take 26 samples from five airports and four flights.
The general consensus from the study was that airports and airplanes are dirtier than your home. But you probably predicted that.
Here is something you might not have guessed, the germiest surface of all was NOT the toilet but the very surface our food rests on, the tray table. CRINGE.
Travelmath said this may be because airline staff have little turnaround time between flights to actually give the tray tables a proper scrub down. The toilets, on the other hand, are cleaned frequently.
The researchers suggested eliminating any direct contact your food has with the tray table since this could provide bacteria direct transmission to your mouth.
And as most of you would have guessed, the bowl of the plane’s toilet and its flush button still had a high bacteria count.
Other places on the aircraft crawling with germs included the seatbelt buckles and overhead air vents.
In airports the highest concentrations of bacteria were found on drinking-fountain handles followed by toilet flush buttons and bathroom door locks.
If you’re feeling a uncomfortable about these results, we thought we would balance it out with some good news too: all 26 samples were negative to the presence of fecal coliforms such as E. coli, which can potentially be infectious.
This doesn’t mean the germs can’t make you sick though, so don’t forget the sanitiser!
- READ: Airport security trays carry more cold germs than toilets
- READ: Enduring long-haul flights: 9 tips from frequent flyers