Why you shouldn't wash your hands in airplane bathrooms, according to experts
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
An expert has shared a reason why you shouldn't wash your hands in an plane bathroom.
That might sound pretty counterintuitive given that washing your hands after finishing up in the toilet is a cornerstone of basic hygiene, after all no-one wants to be going around with dirty hands with number one, and certainly not with number two.
But it seems that when cruising at 30,000ft, the usual rules don't apply, and for a very simple reason.
Air travel may be one of the biggest engineering achievements humans have made, but technology aside, there's no denying that flying often isn't the most pleasant experience.
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There's the cramped seats, stale recycled air, and knowledge that a large number of total strangers have also sat in the very seat you're in.
And that's before we get to the toilets.
It might surprise you to find out that hygiene is the very reason that experts advise you not to wash your hands while in the loo on a flight.
It's because even though the toilets are cleaned, other parts aren't.
Flight attendant and travel blogger Josephine Remo wrote: "The toilets are regularly cleaned, but the locks and door handles are not."
That's something to consider if you're thinking about joining the Mile High Club as well... hardly the most romantic thought.
The problem is that even if you do wash your hands, they'll immediately become dirty again because you'll have to touch the door handles to get out again. But there's still a problem - how do you keep things hygienic after finishing your business in the loo?
Shanina Knighton, a research associate professor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, has some recommendations on what you can do instead.
Per Travel + Leisure, she said: "I try to avoid the restroom if possible, but on longer flights, it’s sometimes unavoidable, and those little hygiene habits help me stay protected."
Knighton explained that these habits are that she is 'mindful of surfaces, especially the latch on the bathroom door, which everyone uses to open the door—even if they haven’t washed their hands'.
Meanwhile, Charles Platkin, executive director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, told T+L: "I don't wash my hands either. I have wipes that I use."
But that wasn't it for Platkin, who also had another piece of advice from his research on travelling by plane: "My takeaway from doing the research was to not drink the coffee and the tea. At all."