Circle, circle. Dot, dot. Do you have your cootie shots?
The make-believe immunization may be worth getting before hitting the friendly skies for the holidays, as a plane pro is revealing the grossest, most germ-ridden areas in almost any aircraft.
“The filthiest parts of an airplane, in my opinion, as a five-year flight attendant,” Cher, a Texas-based cabin crew expert, announced to a TikTok audience of more than 751,000 viewers.
“Some of these may be expected,” said the brunette, who forewarned frequent flyers about the muck-caked carpets, commodes and straps. “And some may be a surprise.”
But it should come as no surprise that planes are just downright dirty.
The public potty, and its many finishes, are toppers on Cher’s most yucky airplane areas roster.
So nasty shade
“I’ve never seen the window shades get wiped off ever in my career,” said the veteran flight attendant in her trending tell-all.
“You think about how many people are touching those and that they never get wiped off,” she added. “They’re filthy.”
Restroom doom
“I’ve seen people vomit inside of those bathroom sinks numerous times,” said Cher. “So, if you drop something in there, I would consider it a loss.”
“Never, ever have I seen the sinks get cleaned out,” she alerted.
But it’s the stuff seeping out of the faucets that could scare any daredevil straight.
“The sink water that you wash your hands with is also filthy,” Cher shockingly advised. “You’re not allowed to drink it because it has too much bacteria in it — so washing your hands with it is probably not great.”
The know-it-all went on to admit that the unhygienic H2O often damages her nails, saying, “It makes them extremely brittle.”
And then, of course, there’s the pot itself.
“Once in my career have I seen the toilet seats get cleaned off,” said Cher. “Only once.”
Funky flooring
“I think we’ve all seen the video of the sewage leaking all over the carpet,” she said. “I’ve seen people vomit on the carpet, rub their bare toes on the carpet.
“It is filthy.”
Soiled safety straps
“The actual belt of the seatbelt, not just the buckle part, is filthy,” Cher revealed.
She shockingly added: “I’ve seen blowout diapers and vomit on it numerous times.”
Scummy storage space
Echoing the cautions of her fellow flight attendants, Cher says the overhead bins on a plane are “also filthy.”
“Think about people dragging their bags through airport bathrooms, and then throwing it up there,” she said. “Also, I don’t trust how clean everyone’s houses are.
“Never in my career have I seen [overhead bins] get cleaned out.”
Others are sounding off, too
As sanitation precautions continue to dwindle in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, folks who cruise high altitudes for a living have become increasingly vocal about the uncleanliness of airbuses.
A gaggle of fight attendants recently sounded the sirens of scum to Travel + Leisure, listing overhead bins, safety instruction pamphlets, tray tables, seat covers and bathroom doors as some of the grimiest surfaces at 30,000 feet.
Rosa Sanchez, an airplane cabin cleaner for Swissport, previously blamed the mile-high nastiness on a lack of provisions.
“Sometimes we don’t have enough supplies to clean, so we just use what we have or just use water,” Sanchez told the Guardian. “Sometimes in the bathroom there will be blood on the floor, toilet, walls, and there is feces and urine on top of the toilet.”
