Various flight attendants have revealed a few key things you can do to avoid getting sick while travelling on a plane – such as not brushing your teeth while up in the air.
There’s nothing worse than feeling sick during a flight or getting violently ill after disembarking from an aircraft. But as it turns out there are a few things you can do to ensure you don’t catch a nasty bug when you’re flying.
For instance, a flight attendant – who wished to remain anonymous – recently revealed to The Sun that you should never brush your teeth in a plane bathroom as it could make you seriously unwell.
“Do not clean your teeth in a plane loo. The water on a plane all comes from the same water tank and it is not filtered.”
The anonymous flight attendant also warned of how dirty plane bathrooms are in general because there are no windows or proper ventilation systems. They strongly advised always wearing a mask in the bathroom and never touching any surface in the bathroom – including the toilet seat and flush button.
This echoes a similar sentiment from Flight Bae B, a TikTok influencer who’s also a flight attendant, who said you should never touch the toilet paper in plane bathrooms as turbulence causes men to miss the bowl while peeing… Yuck.
Another tip to ensure you don’t get sick on a plane comes from Taylor Strickland, the lead cabin attendant for Alerion Aviation. She told Reader’s Digest that drinking lots of water is key.
“It’s dehydrating to fly, and if you’re dehydrated, your body is a little weaker, which makes it harder to fight off the germs you’re encountering.”
Taylor Strickland, Alerion Aviation flight attendant
However, if you want to follow Strickland’s advice, you’ll have to pick up some bottled water before you fly… Flight attendant Kat Kamalani claimed on TikTok earlier this year that plane water tanks are never cleaned. For this reason, Kamalani highly recommends avoiding tap water as well as tea and coffee while on a plane, as you’ll most likely get sick.
Finally, we’ve got bad news for those who enjoy looking out the window as a plane takes off: flight attendant Tommy Cimato disclosed to Chronicle Live that window seats have more germs than other seats and for that reason, you should never lean against the glass.
“Do not fall asleep or lean your head on the window. You are not the only one that has done that and you don’t know how many people or children have wiped their hands, or other things, all over the window.”
Essentially, if you don’t want to get sick, don’t touch anything on a plane – that’s the message we’re picking up from these various flight attendants. Of course, it’s kind of unavoidable to not touch anything, so we suggest keeping hand sanitiser and antibacterial wipes nearby so you can whip them out whenever you’re inevitably forced to make contact with something during a flight.
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