Plane and simple, you shouldn’t be using airplane blankets.
Flight attendants are warning that the complimentary blankets given out on planes are full of gross things like hair, food, mold and bodily fluids.
Natalie Magee, a flight attendant of 20 years, admitted to Travel + Leisure that not even flight attendants want to touch these blankets.
They have seen passengers use these throws to clean up spills and messes, wipe their noses and even gather toenail clippings.
“Probably one of the grossest things I’ve seen is someone using blankets to change their baby’s diaper,” Magee shared.
How often these blankets get washed depends on the type of flight itself as well as the airline.
“Most airlines have contract cleaners that take the blankets off after international flights and wash them in hot water, then seal them in plastic bags to be reused,” she said.
“However, on domestic flights, I’ve had blankets on my flights that we are instructed to just refold and put back in the bin.”
Magee shared that if these essentially communal blankets “aren’t in a [sealed] bag, they aren’t sanitary.”
Her advice to travelers who wish to have a blanket during their flight is BYOB — bring your own blanket.
“I always bring my own if I want to use it for comfort,” she said.
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