Flight attendants have been revealing some of the secrets of their trade. And Britons jetting off on holidays may want to take heed and listen to what they have to say, as one revealed the “grossest” part of the plane.
A flight attendant with the username Haus of Darling told people on Reddit: “If you’re flying short haul, definitely bring wipes or sanitiser.
“A lot of airlines will have the crew ‘turnaround’ the plane meaning they pick up your rubbish, fold your seatbelt over, file your magazines in the seat pocket and then welcome new passengers on board.
“I have lost count of the amount of times I have had to tell people how disgusting it is to change their baby on the tray table or in a seat.”
And user huse said: “Wife is cabin crew. Do not eat food dropped on a tray table – they are never cleaned and the number of people who change nappies on them is crazy!”
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Planes may not be cleaned between flights, and some areas are “never cleaned”.
Apart from tray tables, another feature of a passenger’s seat should be stayed cleared of.
Haus of Darling continued: “I ALWAYS recommend you never, ever, ever, EVER use or put anything in the seat pocket.
“They are cleared of rubbish but are never ‘cleaned’.
“I have pulled out and seen all sorts been pulled out from there.”
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She then listed some of the items she’d found in seat pockets, and travellers will most definitely want to steer clear.
She said: “Dirty tissues, sick bags, knickers, socks, people’s feet, gum, half sucked sweets, apple cores… and then next flight you go and put your phone/laptop/iPad in there.”
Most people commenting were, rightfully, a bit worried about the “people’s feet”, so the flight attendant had to explain.
She went on: “People are curious about the feet thing… thank baby Jesus, I’ve never found a severed foot but people seem to curl up into a foetal position by putting their feet in the seat pocket.
“Once I was working the third flight of the day and kept noticing a barf smell mid-cabin.
“Everyone seemed fine so I chalked it up to a gross passenger or something.
“Midway through the flight the call button went off in the vicinity of the stink- a passenger had put her book in the seat pocket and pulled it out an hour or so later to discover it was covered in puke.
“Someone had yakked directly in the pocket on an earlier flight that day and just left it to be found by a future passenger.
“I had to put on rubber gloves and scoop the barf out by hand. It was awful.”