A flight attendant has shared several plane safety tips that could make your next trip more comfortable – including the one item you should absolutely never wear
The flight attendant urged people never to wear one thing (stock photo)(Image: GETTY)
You could be picking up all sorts of germs by wearing the wrong clothes on a flight.
When travelling by plane, whether it’s for a work trip or holiday, you usually want to be as comfortable as possible. No matter how long your flight is, sitting in a cramped space surrounded by strangers isn’t ideal, so you normally want to make sure your outfit is something you can feel relaxed in for at least a few hours, if not longer.
But one flight attendant has said there’s one thing you should absolutely never wear on a plane, regardless of how comfortable you think it is. Charity Moore is a flight attendant who regularly posts travel tips on social media, and in a recent video, she shared several things she wishes more people did on flights.
Among her tips, Charity said there’s one thing you should absolutely never wear on a plane, as it puts your body in direct contact with the seats – which aren’t always the most hygienic things to be sitting on.
1. Wear the right clothes
Charity insisted you should never wear anything that exposes your legs on a plane, including shorts and skirts. She advocated for wearing trousers at all times, because she’s seen some “diabolical” things happen on plane seats that aren’t always cleaned as thoroughly as you might like.
She said: “I am letting you know, from a flight attendant, the amount of things I have seen on the seat. Wear pants. Shorts, skirts, dresses, absolutely not. Wear full pants. None of your skin should be touching that seat. I don’t care if you come on board and disinfect it. Nope, nope, nope. Wear full pants. Trust me, I have seen some diabolical things.”
2. Disinfect the seatbelts
The flight attendant also said that while she often sees passengers using antibacterial wipes on things like the tray table, she hardly ever sees anyone clean the seatbelt – which she believes is the most important part.
She explained: “You guys all come on board with your little Clorox wipes and your little disinfectants, and you start wiping everything down. That little tray table in front of you [and] the back of your seat. I don’t really get why you’re wiping the back of your seat, because if you’re wearing clothes, nothing really touches that.
“What you should be wiping that nobody wipes is that seatbelt. The metal part, because everybody touches it, but also you should be wiping the fabric part of the seatbelt, because everybody pulls on that. The amount of throw up, baby vomit, bodily fluids, liquids that have spilt, and random stuff that ends up on those seatbelts. Wipe them down, babe.”
3. Exercise proper toilet hygiene
Charity claimed that not enough passengers have proper toilet etiquette when using the bathroom on a plane. This includes washing your hands once you’ve done your business, making sure you flush the toilet, and even closing the door behind you once you’re finished.
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While these might seem like obvious things you would do after any toilet visit, whether it’s on a plane or not, the flight attendant insisted a large portion of passengers don’t do them.
She also said if you’ve taken your shoes off at your seat to make yourself more comfortable, you should not go to the toilet without putting your shoes back on.
The attendant noted: “It is never ever water on the floor in the lav. And your socks are like two big sponges.”
4. Bring food
Charity’s final piece of advice is to bring food with you. She said it’s a “huge misconception” that you can’t bring food through security, and encouraged people to bring snacks or even a fully prepared meal with them to help them survive their plane journey.
In the UK, food items and powders are allowed in your hand luggage, but may obstruct images on X-ray machines, so your bags might need to be checked again manually by security, which could cause you delays.
You are generally not allowed to bring liquid or gel-like foods such as soup, sauces, jams, and yoghurts in your hand luggage, and may not be able to bring certain fresh produce, like fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy, across some international borders, so always make sure you check the rules before you fly.
In most cases, you will be able to bring snack boxes with things like sweets, chocolate, and crisps onto a flight. You should usually avoid packing nuts into your snack box, as you may be asked not to open these if a passenger has an allergy.
