Airlines do a quick clean between flights, but that doesn’t usually involve even ensuring that seat back pockets are emptied except for the most obvious trash. First flight of the day is going to be the cleanest, but that’s not because there’s a deep clean just more than trash pickup usually (and because there’s time onboard without passengers where many germs have time to die).
They’re all promoting enhanced cleaning standards but the truth is often that may just mean a weekly spray of the cabin. Airline ‘deep cleans’ used to happen just every year or year and a half which is just gross.
But what about those airline blankets? A blanket in sealed plastic should be clean. However dog poo on a Delta blanket made it onto the Conan show a few years back. And this American Airlines blanket doesn’t look great, either:
@AmericanAir what’s goin on? This fresh out the pack. I hope this ain’t what I think it could be. pic.twitter.com/dMQftFl2uZ
— Jamari Traylor (@MagnaMari_) January 31, 2022
Before the pandemic, United was telling flight attendants to be on the lookout for passengers who steal business class bedding. And a few years ago American Airlines kicked off passengers, accusing them of stealing blankets. Maybe you don’t want the blankets after all?
You can bring your own blanket on board with you, if you can fit it in your carry on bag. You can even bring an electric blanket as long as you don’t plug it in, which is expressly against American Airlines rules. Yes, there’s a rule about that.
It has been my experience that short haul short turn round narrow body flights are the worst. 90% of my AA flights are long haul widebodies and everything is spotless, bedding, pajamas, blankets etc. Had a stained blanket on United flight way back, which was one of the reasons I moved to AA.
Blankets are back?
NY-ATL last July on Delta, cabin was freezing cold, but they “couldnt” hand out blankets, “due to covid”. And wouldn’t change temperature.
Now I carry my own.
The blankets available on some Delta Airlines and American Airlines flights are perfect for helping clean up passenger vomit and urine-soaked seats from dog or human pee anywhere on the aircraft. Fun fact: flight attendants frequently use caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee grounds to help reduce the aroma of onboard vomitus and absorb the smell.
Yes a coffee bag in the bathroom was an old favorite.
Good to remember about the coffee. Sounds like someone underpaid is slacking off in the blanket department or repackaging unwashed? But it to me, as a dogmom, in no way resembles poo….looks more like dried drool. Hardly the end of the world, but so not what you want to see/use.
Guess there were no tissues available.
On a LAX-HNL flight on Saturday, we had the worst turbulence I have ever experienced on any of my previous flights. Both the linens, blanket and napkin took the brunt of my drink that decided to go airborne. The blanket was spotless before the mishap.
@Robin, the dog poo is a different story, the blanket depicted above was referring to a different substance. Ironically your note that “sounds like someone underpaid is slacking off in the blanket department” comes very close to describing what might have happened here.
What’s a few bed bugs between friends ?
Figures…..
Hotels have been known to rent out rooms with wet semen on bed sheets. Just search Tripadvisor for “wet semen.”
@Big Booty: Like hotels renting out rooms with wet semen on bed sheets, the Phoenix News Times in an article written by James King titled, “Semen Stained United Airlines Plane Criss-Crossing Country; Just Left Phoenix This Afternoon” reports the following:
If you flew on a United Airlines flight out of Phoenix this afternoon, you may want to wash your hands — or your everything.
A United plane, in which a guy masturbated and ejaculated on his seat on May 19, has been criss-crossing the country since. According to a website that tracks flights of particular airplanes, the tainted aircraft took off from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport just after noon today.”
The Smoking Gun picks up the story and writes, “-In another repulsive in-flight episode, a Florida man was arrested last Thursday by the FBI after he allegedly “masturbated to the point of ejaculation” while traveling on a United Airlines flight en route to Colorado, The Smoking Gun has learned.”
I find it disturbing that, while posters rightly call out insufficient hygiene on behalf of hotels and airlines in these cases, there is no condemnation of the behavior of travelers. Leaving biological material on seats, using blankets to absorb vomit and other such behaviors are not what a civilized person does.
Honestly, you can order blankets that clip to your underseat roller that are in zip arounds. Same with pillows. I totally prefer my own supplies that smell like my own detergent. Onward, I have an extra pillow and blanket. I carry a few wash cloths (many hotels don’t provide in certain areas) and a Turkish towel… they barely take up any room. I prepare for the worst. People are gross.
@Rich: Many airlines advise passengers to use blankets to soak up seats previously drenched in urine instead of moving them to a different seat. Usually, one blanket is insufficient to soak up previous passenger pee. To help keep your butt dry, this passenger should have used two or three blankets to help prevent his pants from being soaked and smelling like urine. When your seat is soaked with urine, your wet seat becomes your problem. Due to union collective bargaining, flight attendants know cleaning up passenger pee or poop is not in their job description.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/nation-now/2017/08/22/airline-passenger-british-airways-had-me-sit-urine-soaked-seat-11-hour-flight/589977001/