43 Flying is not always a pleasant experience. You are forced to sit in a closed space on the plane, where it is quite difficult to stretch your legs, so during long-distance flights, many people save themselves by taking off their shoes. But we're here because some of you probably need to be told: don't take off your shoes on the plane.
When the ancient Greeks told the legend of Icarus, doomed forever to be a warning against flying too close to the sun, they could not have known that the real danger at such an altitude would be fungal diseases of the feet and the urine of strangers, writes IFLScience. The shoes are actually disgusting.
"Passenger cabins are cleaned before every flight," said pilot Patrick Smith, author of the Ask the Pilot website. "But it will be more of a formality at a fast pace when there are only 15 or 20 minutes."
Even in the years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we are more aware than ever about hygiene and the importance of not sharing germs with strangers, there is no guarantee that airlines perform the cleaning you expect between flights It can be something small, like taking out the trash and wiping the doorknobs.
"If a plane is idle for more than eight hours - usually it's a long-haul plane - the airline will do a general cleaning," explained Mike Arnot in an article about airline cleaning processes. "During the general cleaning, all the seat cushions are removed, the seats are vacuumed, and the carpet throughout the cabin is washed with shampoo."
However, such regimes are very rare. It is much more likely that the plane you are boarding is at best "fogged" - that is, sprayed with electrostatically charged drops of disinfectant.
"It's a little bit like rubbing a balloon against your hair and then sticking it to the wall," said Joshua Robertson, CEO of EMist, a Texas-based company that makes electrostatic sprays for United Airlines and Alaska. “Every molecule that leaves this nozzle is charged. They are attracted to surfaces like a magnet."
In practice, it is like a cleaner with a backpack full of disinfectant and a sprayer that fills every corner of the cabin with a fine mist. After that, the whole team can come in and wipe down high-touch surfaces like chair armrests and doorknobs with disinfectant wipes, and if time permits, which is often not the case, vacuum the carpet.
Obviously, such a system is not as strict as a general cleaning, but it is certainly not the least that can be expected. Airlines are known to be driven by profit and not, as you know, passenger comfort or safety, and every additional second counts. Spills or splashes are spot-cleaned but not necessarily disinfected, fogging may not be used if the plane needs to make a quick U-turn – and worst of all, the plane does not require in-flight cleaning, not even in the lavatories. Yes, even if someone makes a mess. All this basically means: don't take off your shoes.
"Those who choose to go barefoot can pick up bacteria and viruses that can negatively affect their health," added David Krause, owner of SyQuest USA, a company that makes aircraft cleaning products. "Also, there is always a fear of catching a fungal infection."