Germaphobes – the next time you’re on a flight, you may want to play MC Hammer’s 1990 hit “U Cant Touch This” in your head; well, that’s if you want to avoid getting your hands dirty.
As much as airlines try to clean and sanitise a plane after each and every flight, in an effort to make them completely germ-free, sometimes germs can be resilient little buggers, and some just, well, have probably clocked up more frequent flyer miles than all of us put together!
Planes, like all forms of public transport, are full of germs. But some places on an aircraft are dirtier than others, and its these place you’ll want to avoid touching.
Here are 6 places on a plane that germs have been known to kick back, congregate, and shoot the $hit.
1. Seat pockets
Studies have shown that seat pockets are a harbour for germs on a plane. In fact, they’re one of the worst offenders.
Why? Because people like to use these pockets as their own little rubbish bins, stuffing their used tissues, food scraps and god-knows-what-else inside.
If you want to stay germ free on your next flight, simply don’t use them, and store anything you may need in your own pockets or in your carry-on bag.
2. Toilets
Hardly a surprise, right? With roughly one toilet per 50 passengers on a flight, airplane loos take the cake as the dirtiest place on a plane, harbouring dangerous germs such as E. coli.
Until self-cleaning airplane toilets become standard across the industry, you’re going to have to arm yourself with hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes and do your own little wipe down before doing your business in the loo.
3. Blankets and pillows
Be careful! You may be inhaling spores of bacteria and other germs when you’re trying to get some sleep on your next flight.
Airplane pillows and blankets are sometimes used again and again, flight after flight, without being cleaned, and so you put yourself at risk by using them.
The solution? Bring your own. Here’s a cool airplane pillow that you may want to purchase for your next flight.
4. Touch screen entertainment systems
Yes, they’re going to save you from pulling your hair out on account of sheer boredom, but these nifty electronic devices are a breeding house for germs.
People from all over the world have most likely touched the screen in front of you before your chance, and who knows where their hands had been…
We’re not saying don’t use them at all, but, if you’re afraid of germs, then you may want to pull out that little bottle of hand sanitiser you no doubt have in your carry-on bag and disinfect your hands after using the entertainment system.
5. Tray tables
Trust us, you don’t even want to know what kind of action the humble tray tables sees on a flight. Let’s just say that sometimes mum and dad don’t get up off their seat to change a dirty nappy…
Got the picture? Great. The next time you’re on a flight, you may want to give your tray table a good old rub down with a disinfectant wipe if you want to stay germ-free.
6. In-flight magazines
Last but not least, the humble in-flight magazine doesn’t just contains inspiring words and images of exotic destinations around the world. They’re also packed with germs.
Most inflight magazines come out once every one to three months, which means that thousands of thumbs will have flicked through the magazine in front of you by the time you hold it in your lap.
So bring your own reading material for the flight, and save yourself having to disinfect your hands once again.
Source: Drexel Medicine