Your Hygiene and Health While Flying

You’ve made all the necessary preparations for your trip. You are so looking forward to it.

However, as you prepare to board your plane, you are entering a potentially disgusting danger zone. We do not want to gross you out. We want to forewarn you.

Dangers You Can See

🩴 Footwear

• While flip-flops or open-toe shoes may be comfortable, they are the worst shoes to wear on a plane.1
• In the rare case of an emergency evacuation, they can slow you down or leave you unprotected from debris.1
• Airplane cabins can get chilly and having your toes exposed will make you colder.
• People moving on a plane are often careless and may either step on or roll a carryon luggage over your exposed toes.
• Walking barefoot or almost barefoot in an airplane lavatory is very unsanitary. Those bathrooms are rarely clean and often have water and urine on the floor.
• Wear a closed-toe shoe that slips off easily at security screening. Tennis shoes, trainers, loafers or supportive flats are the best for safety and comfort.1

👖Tight Pants

• Wearing tight pants, including skinny jeans, can lead to more serious problems than discomfort in your seat.3
• The Center for Vein Restoration notes that wearing tight clothes for an extended period can restrict circulation in your legs and worsen varicose veins.3
• The Center for Disease Control noted long hours of sitting can cause blood clots to form in the deep veins of your legs. The longer the flight, the greater your risk.3
• Not only do tight jeans pose a health risk, they can also delay you at airport security screening due to their buttons.3
• Wear something a little looser that provides for more movement and comfort.
• Breezy and flowly clothing is an option, as are joggers or jeans with elastic stretch for comfort.3

☀️ The Sun

• You may never have considered it, but you can get sunburned on a plane if you are sitting in a window seat.
• Two types of the sun’s ultraviolet rays can damage your skin. Longer UVA rays lead to tanning, skin aging, wrinkles and sunburn. The shorter UVB rays mainly cause sunburn.4
• While airplane windows block UVB rays, they do not block UVA rays.4
• If you ever felt you were “burning up” when sitting in a window seat, you actually were.4
• Bring a small amount (under 3.4oz for TSA) of a broad spectrum sun screen that protects against UVA and UVB rays in your carry-on.4
• You don’t want to arrive at your tropical destination already sunburned.

Dangers You Cannot See

✈️ Onboard (Dirtiest Areas on a Plane)

• Although planes are normally cleaned between flights, it is not a thorough cleaning due to time constraints.1
• The dirtiest parts of a plane are the high-touch areas that are rarely, or never, cleaned.1
• Seat covers are not always cleaned or replaced. Spills and other icky substances are not always reported. Use a disinfecting wet wipe to wipe down your seat. You can also use a disposable or reusable seat cover.1
• Head rests come in contact with regular, oily, and/or greasy hair, and perhaps even dandruff. Pay particular attention to cleaning your headrest.
• Seat belts and buckles are always touched and not just by clean hands.1 We carry a lot of germs on our hands. Wiping them off with a wet wipe is also essential for hygiene.
• Tray tables and safety instructions cards are among the dirtiest places on a plane. Tray tables are sometimes cleaned but the safety instruction card is not. This is the second place to give special emphasis to when cleaning with a wet wipe.2
• Overhead air vents and seat back screens are also high touch, and extremely dirty areas.1 Wipe these areas down as well. Yes, a wet wipe can affect the image quality of your seat back screen, so focus on the areas touched.
• Bathroom handles and locks are not cleaned and are very high touch areas. You can image all the germs being transferred to the handles and locks from the bathroom. Bring a wet wipe with you for peace of mind.1
• You should sense a theme here – high touch areas are very dirty and bacteria magnets.
• Bringing a pack of wet wipes and small bottle of hand sanitizer on every flight is a small cost for peace of mind.

💧☕️ Water, Coffee, Tea and Ice

• In short, avoid drinking any water on board that is not in a sealed bottle, including coffee and tea.
• Avoid washing your hands in the bathroom.
• Airplane drinking water is stored in onboard tanks and distributed through plumbing to galleys and lavatories. These systems can face stagnation, temperature fluctuations, and maintenance complexity, all of which can contribute to microbial contamination risk or persistent hygiene challenges.5
• Airplanes fly to numerous destinations and may pump drinking water into its tanks from various sources at domestic and international locations. Onboard water quality also depends on the safety of the equipment used to transfer the water, such as water cabinets, trucks, carts and hoses.5
• A 2026 Airline Water Study revealed that drinking water quality varies significantly by airline. Many airlines continue to provide passengers with unhealthy water.5
• Note: this study was only done with United States airlines (10 major, 11 regional), not international.5
• The Federal 2011 Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR) requires airlines to take samples from their water tanks and test for coliform bacteria and possible E. coli.
• The ADWR also requires airlines to disinfect and flush each aircraft’s water tank, four times per year. As an alternative, an airline can disinfect and flush their water tank once a year but must test monthly.5
• In this study, 2.6% of the 35,000+ samples tested positive for coliform bacteria. 32 samples exceeded the maximum E. coli limit.5
• The two major airlines with the highest Water Safety scores (from 5.0 to 0.0) were Delta Air Lines (5.0) and Frontier Airlines (4.8).5
• The two major airlines with the worst scores were American Airlines (1.75) and JetBlue (1.8).5
• Nearly all regional airlines had poor scores with GoJet Airlines the best at 3.85 and Mesa Airlines the worst at 1.35.5
• For a link to this study to see the results, click here: Water Study.
• Since ice cubes are made by freezing the same aircraft water supply, avoid adding ice cubes to your drink.🧊

Our Precautions

Clothing

• Buddy has it the easiest. His outfit is always comfortable and there is no risk of vein issues.
• I always travel in a suit and use real suspenders, not a belt. I take my suit jacket off for the flight, of course. My pants allow me plenty of movement and I am quite comfortable.
• For any flight over 2 hours, especially international flights, I wear compression socks. These keep my legs and feet from swelling, especially after 8-10 hours in the air.
• I always wear cowboy boots with my suit so my feet are protected.
• However, for transcontinental and international flights over 4 hours, I will take my boots off at my seat. When I do, I have a pair of footie socks I put on over my compression socks.
• I always wear footwear if I use the lavatory. Either my cowboy boots, or the disposable slippers Delta provides for Delta One.

Drinks

• I only drink bottled water on flights. No ice cubes.
• I do not drink coffee or tea. If I need coffee, I’ll have some in the lounge before I get on board.
• My non-alcoholic beverage of choice is Ginger Ale. Cabin pressure and dry air on planes make most food and drink taste bland, except for ginger ale. It maintains its crisp, refreshing, non-caffeinated taste.
• I also have red or white wine, depending on the meal I am having. If it is a flight without a meal, then a white wine. I discuss drinking alcohol on board in my next post.

Sun Protection

• Whenever we fly domestically or regionally, we always sit in an aisle seat. No window. We prefer easy access to the aisle.
• If we are in a First Class or Delta One cabin, we always sit in the single window seat. We are introverts and like being alone.
• However, I loathe having the sun in my eyes so we avoid the sun as much as possible. Especially in a window seat.
• How do we do that? By understanding flight routing, latitude and time of day.

Flight Routing, Latitude, Time of Day

• • Before I choose my seat, I look at the route the plane is flying from city to city.
  • Lines of latitude are parallel lines running in an east-west direction.6 They measure the distance north or south of the equator.
  • The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
  • If flying from a Western location to an Eastern location in the morning, we are flying into the sun. In the afternoon we are flying away from the sun.
  • If flying from an Eastern location to a Western location in the morning, we are flying away from the sun. In the afternoon we are flying into the sun.
  • Once I know whether my plane tracks into or away from the sun, I look at the latitudinal locations of the departure and arrival cities.
  • If I’m flying from Atlanta at 33.75°N to Orlando at 28.5N°7 in the morning, I am flying into the sun from North to South.
  • Since the plane’s nose points southerly, the sun is on the plane’s left side. Thus I select a window seat on the plane’s right side.
  • See our method? Is the plane flying east or west? Which way is the nose pointing to the destination city? Where is the sun shining that time of day?
  • International flights are trickier since the plane will likely fly into the sun during part of your flight.
  • I look at the latitude of the departure and arrival cities to determine which side of the plane gets the least amount of sun.
  • If we depart Atlanta at 3:00pm (33.75°N)7 and arrive London at 7:30am (51.5°N)7 we are initially flying away from the sun from the south and arriving into the sun farther north.
  • The sun will be on the plane’s left side for about 3 hours after departure and on the right side for about 2 hours before arrival. The plane’s right side gets the least sunlight.

Hygiene

• I always bring a small pack of wet wipes and a small bottle of hand sanitizer on board.
• Before I sit down I use a wet wipe on my seat bottom, back and head cushion.
• After sitting down I wipe the arm rests, seat buckle and back seat pockets thoroughly.
• I finish by wiping the air vent and touch portions of the video screen.
• Then I use hand sanitizer after discarding the wet wipe(s).
• For a First Class or Delta One seat, there are more touch areas. I use several wipes for that.
• After using the lavatory, I use hand sanitizer again.
• I’m not a germaphobe, but I know people can be disgusting. I want to stay healthy so I take precautions.
• I don’t bring sun screen. If I have a window seat, I normally keep the shade down to see the movies better.

      

An Ounce of Prevention

Our intent with this post was not to scare you away from flying. We want you to be aware of the hygiene and comfort issues you may encounter in a confined space of people at 35,000 feet for several hours. We love flying in planes. It’s one of the safest forms of travel. However, we also believe in an ounce of prevention. With over 1.5 million Delta miles, we’ve not gotten sick or caught any disease on a flight. Flying can be a great experience. Just apply that extra ounce of prevention as you get on board.

Stayed tuned…Our next post talks about being safe with alcohol on a flight.

Buddy and Jordan

References:

1. www.travelandleisure.com
2. www.travel math.com
3. www.the-sun.com/travel
4. www.skincancer.org
5. foodmedcenter.org
6. www.britannica.com
7. www.latlong.net