WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW...

The Wall Street Journal has done it to me again...and I haven't even read their editorial page yet.  There, in the Personal Journal section, right-hand side and above the fold, looms the unwelcome headline:  "The Trouble With Keeping Commercial Flights Clean."  I can't deny the veracity of the WSJ although, in this case, I wish I could.  But, honestly speaking, most planes I've flown in the last decade have been filthy...littered with crumbs and used gum; crawling with germs, bacteria and other un-spell-able horrors.

I wouldn't have paid much attention to this article, but BC and I are flying next week.  Twice, if you count both going and coming.  Always a glutton for punishment, I read the entire article and it may be worse than I thought.

One might assume that someone makes the airlines clean their planes and then checks to be sure they actually do it.  We are, after all, a civilized nation...so to speak.  But that assumption would be wrong.  The author of the article checked with the FAA who sent him to OSHA who sent him back to the FAA.  This time, the FAA sent him to the FDA who does indeed inspect food and water "safety" but that's the extent of it.  Outside of the galley, we are on our own.

Whereas, the World Health Organization warns that planes are an ideal means for spreading disease worldwide, they don't get mixed up in it.  We're adults...we've been warned...they've done their job.

As I continued to read, I learned there isn't enough time between domestic flights to do much of anything in the cleanliness arena except pick up the worst of the trash.  It's a bit sketchy, but I think I understood that when the plane sits overnight, its tray tables and seat-back pockets do get cleaned out and wiped down.  Obviously, the lesson here is to be on the first plane in the air on any given day.  We'll be departing at 7:00 a.m.  I hope that's early enough.

So--what's the bottom line?  Never leave home without a goodly supply of anti-bacterial hand wash.  Do not eat the peanuts or crackers until you've used it.  Do NOT, under any circumstances, put your hand into the seat-back pocket.  I'm appalled by what has been found in there.  And, anytime it's available, try booking with Singapore Airlines which notes that it washes its wine-chillers between flights.  I love detail.

Margie

Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2014
Scott McCartney