There are many rules of airline travel. Some are unspoken rules of etiquette, others are for safety, but generally speaking, each was created to provide passengers with the safest and most comfortable flight possible. But, as one flight attendant recently shared, some unspoken rules are meant to keep passengers healthy.
A flight attendant recently went viral on TikTok for sharing the five things he believes passengers should never do on an airplane, and viewers were stunned. Of the five tips laid out in the video, three were related to the overall cleanliness of the aircraft, which, as many pointed out, doesn't seem to be very clean at all.
Flight attendant and TikToker Tommy Cimato's first rule for passengers is to avoid touching the lavatory flush button with bare hands.
"It's honestly just super unsanitary and it's pretty gross," he said, "So, use a napkin or tissue that's in the lavatory."
In his second tip he said, "don't forget to drink water."
"You want to have about 16 ounces for every flight that you go on," he continues.
Of course, piggy-backing off his first rule, one commenter said that she doesn't drink water on flights with the sole intention of avoiding the bathroom.
"I don't drink water before flights to avoid using the [lavatory] on the plane," she said.
"Correct," said another commenter in response.
Things begin to fall apart for commenters around Cimato's third tip, in which he recommends people don't fall asleep or rest their heads on the windows.
"You're not the only one who has done that and you don't know how many people or children have wiped their hands, or other things, all over the window," he said.
In tip four, he recommended passengers not wear shorts for the same reasons he recommended against falling asleep on the window.
"It's the same thing as the window," he said. "You never know how clean [the seat] is going to be. So, if you have pants, you're going to have less germs."
In his fifth and final tip, he reminded passengers to ask flight attendants for help with anything, specifically to report feeling ill.
Considering the world is still grappling with the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic, people were pretty appalled to find out that planes are so dirty.
"Aren't you supposed to clean EVERYTHING between flights?" asked one commenter.
"So, you guys don't clean [the plane] after each flight?" asked another.
One commenter reminded everyone to "take your Clorox wipes with you," to sanitize the seats.
But this isn't the first time TikTokers have been shocked by a flight attendant's insider secrets.
Last year, another flight attendant named Kat Kamalani went viral on TikTok for exposing the "dirtiest" parts of an airplane. In her video, she told passengers to avoid touching the backseat pocket and the safety guide and recommended that all passengers disinfect the tray table, air vent and any hard, non-porous surface in their row.
"[I] realized as a passenger you would have no clue what does get sterilized or cleaned and what doesn't," she said. "So that inspired me to make a video to showcase what passengers should be wiping down before touching."
Both videos worried commenters; however, last year, the International Air Transport Association (ATA) said that there is a lower chance of a person catching an infection on an airplane than in a shopping center or office environment.
"Compared with those locations, a modern aircraft has its cabin air changed many times more frequently than offices or shops. For most modern aircraft types, the air supplied to the passenger cabin is either 100 percent fresh or is a mixture of fresh and re-circulated air that is filtered through HEPA [high-efficiency particulate air] filters of the same efficacy (99.97 percent or better) in removing viruses as those used in surgical operating rooms," the organization said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) echoed the same sentiments, saying: "Research has shown that there is little risk of any communicable disease being transmitted onboard an aircraft.
"The recirculated air is usually passed through high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters of the type used in hospital operating theatres and intensive care units, which trap dust particles, bacteria, fungi and viruses," the WHO said.
