As the aviation industry gets back to normal, clean flights may (once again) become less of a given…
A viral video by TikTok user @scottandsals, showing a Ryanair seat covered in chip crumbs, and claiming “cabin crew told us they don’t clean between flights,” has ignited debate online.
The video, which was taken on a flight between the Canary Islands and London, was so widely seen, it inspired the New York Times to claim “clean flights may be going the way of masks.” This particular video isn’t the only one showing how gross some flights have been lately, with TikTok user @suezannaj making a video in which they use a testing kit to show just how much bacteria is present on aircraft seats.
WATCH: Passengers Show Off Disgustingly Dirty Flights
It’s not just Europe and America suffering either. Who could forget the viral video in which a Qantas passenger flying from Sydney to Perth hits their seat, only for a cloud of dust to be seen emerging from the ether?
But whose fault is it? Flight attendants’ or passengers’?
“Flight attendants are not maids,” Nicole D. Lawson, a flight attendant unaffiliated with either airline named and shamed in the video above, told The Times, saying she gets frustrated with passengers who don’t take away their own rubbish.
On TikTok, both parties were blamed, with one user writing in the comments of @scottandsals’ video: “The people should be hold accountable as well as the company.”
“It’s a budget airline for a reason,” another social media user quipped.
Others came to the defence of the flight attendants, with one writing: “They have 25 minutes on the ground they can barely complete safety checks let alone cleaning duties. Don’t blame them blame the people who left it.”
“Ryanair have a tight turnaround period, unfortunately some people are messy and don’t care about anyone else who may sit there after them.”
TikTok user @Jen-Tok
Others pointed to a lowering of hygiene standards, which were raised artificially during the height of the pandemic, but which are now dropping back to normal. This, ultimately, is the explanation for us. Not only is it summer, but airlines are getting back to normal
That’s right: this isn’t anything new. Airlines are just going back to their old cleaning procedures, which means that every now and then you will get screwed over by one of the people in front of you, especially when you are flying a budget airline.
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