It’s almost the year end and if you’re travelling some time this holiday season, you might want to carry some hand sanitiser with you wherver you go.
Here are 10 of the dirtiest spots in airports and airplanes that you need to take note of.
Ah,touch-screen ticket kiosks are life savers. They help you get your boarding pass quickly and conveniently but have you ever considered the many people that have used it just before you?
Right after using one of these nifty kiosks, be sure to santise your hands and avoid touching your face too.
We know, we know, water fountains at airports are another great convenience that helps you save money on premium bottled water. However, they can also be one of the dirtiest spots in the airport.
According to the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International) in America, the dirtiest spots in public schools are water fountains. The human mouth is notorious for containing plenty of bacteria and often times, water fountains can come into contact with an individual’s mouth when trying to drink from the fountain.
Just think about it: the bathroom lock is the first thing you touch after cleaning yourself and millions of people use airport toilets every day. So, be sure to wash your hands every time you visit the bathroom.
Whether it’s the light switch in your hotel room or the electrical port you use to charge your smartphone in the airport, think about how many people have used it before you.
A study done by the University of Houston found that the main light switch in hotel rooms are the dirtiest surface in the hotel room and often contained plenty of fecal bacteria!
As with airport bathroom locks, the airplane’s lavatory flush button is also a culprit. As most airplane lavatories require you to push a button to flush, it’s the first thing you’re touching right after wiping yourself. Plus, it’s probably not as frequently cleaned as say, the toilet seat itself.
Besides eating, what else do people do on their tray tables in the airplanes?
From changing their child’s diapers to holding barf bags — these are just some of the things passengers have used the tray table for.. So, just before savouring that tray of food on your table, you might want to wipe it down.
While not as dirty as tray tables, the seat belt buckle can also be pretty nasty.
According to Travel Math, an average of 230 colony-forming units of bacteria per square inch could be found on a seat belt buckle.
Travel Math estimates that about 285 colony-forming units of bacteria per square inch are formed in air vents.
After all, how often are these air vents cleaned so thoroughly in between flights?
Don’t believe us? Think about what you stuff into these airplane seat pocket on an average flight.
Dirty tissues, trash and even dirty diapers have all found their way into airplane seat pockets. Plus, we reckon that these seat pockets aren’t cleaned entirely in between flights either.
No matter how clean the airport carpet looks, never ever lie or sleep on the carpeted surfaces of the airport.
Millions of people step on these floors every day and you really don’t want to know how many colonies of bacteria per square unit can be found on these surfaces.