Flight attendants are sharing insider secrets about which items are cleaned and repackaged for future use, with one common, complimentary item standing out as particularly surprising
You may want to think twice before accepting these complimentary items aboard your next flight. Flight attendants recently revealed a few little-known industry tidbits, and one is particularly shocking to many frequent flyers.
The airport transportation platform, GoOpti, has revealed 10 flight attendant secrets and one which is particularly stomach-churning. According to cabin crews, the individually packaged and free headphones that you receive on long-haul flights are not actually ‘new’.
According to the platform: “Before landing the crew collect all of the headsets and put them into a bag. They are cleaned and packaged again.” But that’s not the only thing that is reused on aeroplanes.
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“It is the same with pillows and blankets,” according to the site. “The ones on board can’t exactly be trusted to be clean.”
This may come as a horrendous shock to those who rely on the airline-provided headphones to enjoy the inflight entertainment. Though it is becoming increasingly common for flyers to travel with their own headphones given that the complimentary ones are usually of poorer quality.
They also lack the noise-cancelling element that many deem a necessity to drown out the sounds of other passengers and catch some shut-eye.
Germaphobes will want to steer clear of the blankets on aeroplanes from now, as well as avoid drinking hot drinks. Research by Healthline noted that microorganisms, including coliform bacteria often lurk in onboard water supplies.
Kat Kamalani, who shares travel hacks and tips on social media, has issued a stark warning to her followers. In a TikTok video that has earned over half a million likes, Kat advises her followers to “never consume any liquid that is not in a can or a bottle” on an aeroplane.
She explains that this is because of the hygiene and cleanliness around the plane’s water tanks. “Those water tanks are never cleaned and they are disgusting. Talk to a flight attendant,” says Kat.
She also says while you may be desperate for a coffee or tea – even if it is subpar – it’s best to steer clear. “We rarely rarely drink the coffee or tea. They come from the same water tank. And so when you’re drinking that coffee and tea come from that hot water and it’s absolutely disgusting.”
For those also worried about the cleanliness of their seat, another flight attendant has shared the cleanest and comfiest economy seat on most commercial aircrafts. As posted on Reddit, a cabin crew member shared that the seat near the emergency exit the ‘best’ – offering plenty of legroom.
Commenters on the post also highlighted that it’s likely to be the cleanest since children are not allowed to sit in those seats.