“Airplanes are just giant tubes full of farts, you know.”
I was sitting at dinner with my friend. In about 12 hours, I would be getting on a 27-hour plane ride to the UK. And in the meantime, my friend was telling me about everything that was wrong with planes.
“The aircon means that you’re just sitting in a whole lot of recycled farts, and you’re surrounded by germs,” she told me. “You’re guaranteed to be sick after hanging out on three different planes for so long.”
At the time, I thought she was surely exaggerating. And then I read a new study that’s been released by Auburn University in the US. The study aimed to find how long germs can survive in an airplane environment, and they found some horrifying things.
Essentially, researchers disinfected the entire plane, and then contaminated a bunch of the surfaces with bacteria such as MRSA and e-coli. They let the bacteria chill out for awhile, and recorded just how long they survived. The general conclusion? The more “porous” the surface, the better for absorbing and keeping bacteria.
Here’s the full breakdown:
- Seat pocket – 8 days
- Rubber arm rest – 7 days
- Leather seat – 7 days
- Plastic window shade – 3 days
- Plastic tray table – 3 days
- Steel toilet handle – 2 days
Scary stuff, right? Especially when you consider how many people are getting on planes EVERY SINGLE DAY (particularly during school holidays), carrying all sorts of nasty things that you wouldn’t want to be privy to.
Exhibit A: The norovirus I picked up off a Virgin Australia plane a few weeks ago. I also got a white chocolate and raspberry muffin on the flight, which was admittedly nice, but the norovirus was a souvenir I could have done without.