Skip to main content

Come fly with me! Researchers identify the dirtiest surfaces on airplanes

thanks nasa the space agency just developed an app to shorten your flight time self healing airplane wing
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Dear readers, proceed with caution — what follows may forever change your ability to travel via airplanes. Thanks to a study conducted by Travelmath.com, we now know what the dirtiest things and places are on airplanes, and the answer isn’t pretty.

According to an inquisitive microbiologist who took 26 samples across five different U.S. airports and four flights operated by two major carriers, the very dirtiest surfaces (and boy, are they dirty) are airplane tray tables. That’s right — those foldable devices you use to hold your food are home to some 2,155 colony-forming units (CFUs) per square inch. Yummy.

Recommended Videos

To put this in perspective, a Microban toilet swab study that looked into the average cleanliness of public restrooms (any takers for that job?) found that the average toilet housed just 108 CFU per square inch (including the rim, the inner bowl, the outer bowl, and the base). Your average garbage bin has around 411 bacteria/sq. in., and your kitchen counter probably boasts around 361 CFU/sq. in. All of these surfaces pale in comparison to the tray tables on airplanes (though Travelmath did not reveal which airlines or airports they tested). 

Coming in second were actually the drinking fountain buttons in airports, with 1,240 CFU/sq. in. Rounding out the top six were overhead air vents (285 CFU/sq. in.), toilet flush buttons (265 CFU/sq. in.), seatbelt buckles (230 CFU/sq. in.), and bathroom stall locks (70 CFU/sq. in.). And while it may seem counterintuitive that the bathroom is the cleanest part of the airplane and airport experience, experts say that this is likely because staff and attendants spend much more time cleaning what would otherwise be the dirtiest environment, and consequently neglect the rarely-thought-of tray tables. Given the quick turnaround time for most flights, most cleaning personnel focus their attention first on the regularly scrubbed toilets (of which there are only a few per plane), and ignore the dozens if not hundreds of tray tables that need to be disinfected.

A spokesperson for the research team noted that the results definitely illuminate a key oversight in terms of airline cleanliness. “Since this could provide bacteria direct transmission to your mouth, a clear takeaway from this is to eliminate any direct contact your food has with the tray table,” Travelmath said.

But don’t go boycotting air travel just yet. While the volume of bacteria is certainly alarming, it’s just one part of the equation. The type of bacteria present, its propensity for causing illness, and the length of your exposure to it all factor into how dangerous these scenarios really are. And seeing as the study did not provide any details as to what sort of bacteria they found, it’s difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about its implications.

“There are bacteria everywhere. The question is whether or not any of them are specific kinds of pathogens at levels that can cause an unacceptably high risk of disease,” Dr. Charles Haas of Drexel University College of Engineering told CBS News. “In the end, one of the best things that people can always do is practice good hand washing, use of clean utensils and so forth,” Haas continued. “Soap and water does as well as anything, and if soap and water is not available, then the hand-washing products could be as good, typically the alcohol-based ones.”

So just be proactive about cleanliness. After all, there’s really not much else you can do.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Range Rover’s first electric SUV has 48,000 pre-orders
Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition

Range Rover, the brand made famous for its British-styled, luxury, all-terrain SUVs, is keen to show it means business about going electric.

And, according to the most recent investor presentation by parent company JLR, that’s all because Range Rover fans are showing the way. Not only was demand for Range Rover’s hybrid vehicles up 29% in the last six months, but customers are buying hybrids “as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles,” the company says.

Read more
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more
Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say
Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Read more