How to Disinfect your Aeroplane Seat

This article has been medically approved by Pharmacist Sumaiya Patel - GPhC Reg No: 2215078

You may have heard the horror stories about the germs on your tray table and aeroplane seat, but this can be even more concerning when planning your first trip after lockdown. While your chosen airline may have introduced more stringent cleaning policies, you can ensure it is clean to your standard by doing it yourself.

Keep washing your hands

It’s okay to disinfect your seat as long as it doesn’t affect the good routines you’ve built up. Keep washing or disinfecting your hands and not touching your face. The viral particles must enter through the eyes, nose, or mouth to make us sick.

Disinfect hard surfaces

When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use your disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces. Wipe the entire seat, including the arm and head rests, the seatbelt, the tray table and latch, the top of the seatback pocket, the screen of the entertainment system, and the volume controls on the armrests. If you have a window seat, you should also disinfect the shade before you use it.

Disinfecting wipes will state on the packet how long the surface needs to stay wet for them to work. It typically varies from 30 seconds to a few minutes.

You may also consider wiping the handle of your overhead bin or using a tissue or paper towel as a barrier when you open it.

Similarly, you might want to consider taking disinfectant wipes to the toilet with you or using a paper towel or tissue as a barrier before touching the door handle, toilet lid, flush, or taps.