Fastidious flyers and general germaphobes, you might want to wash your hands with antibacterial soap before reading this. A recent study by Travelmath set out to show just what parts of a plane are particularly unsanitary. They sent a microbiologist to collect 26 samples from five airports and four airplanes. Believe it or not, the bathroom isn’t the dirtiest spot on board the aircraft. While it’s not possible to avoid contact with all microorganisms while you’re up in the air (or anywhere, for that matter),there are some icky places in an airplane you should be a bit wary of. Here are 8 tested areas on an airplane that yielded dirty results.
1. That Tray Table is Crawling with Critters
Topping the ick list is that handy tray table you no doubt eat off of, work on and perhaps even rest your head on (shudder). The study detected 2,155 CFU (colony forming units) per square inch on the average table top. So if you drop your pretzel directly on the surface, don’t think of innocently putting it in your mouth. The ten second rule doesn’t apply here. You might want to bring some hand sanitizer or antibacterial wipes to sweep over the tray before using it.
