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In reporting this story, I learned so much about how airplanes are really cleaned, gathering info from scientists, pilots, flight attendants, airlines, and (most critically) cabin cleaners themselves. A short thread, in case you're debating whether to fly: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/coronavirus-janitors.html
Cleaning has become a marketing tool, and the airlines have publicized a ton about overnight disinfection, sprays they say repel the virus for days on end, etc. But scientists say one task is paramount:
Cleaning between flights. You do not want to slide into a seat that was occupied by a virus-shedder an hour before, with little to no protection.
Now think about the way airplanes are usually cleaned. You've seen it yourself. Low-paid contract cleaners dash onboard, dispose of trash, tackle obvious messes and disappear, often under serious time constraints. We're talking minutes.
Airlines say they've boosted between-flight cleaning efforts. @Delta has made one of the more serious commitments, saying they are doing electrostatic spraying (a thorough form of disinfection) before *every* flight. But...
Pilots, flight attendants and cabin cleaners say the process, across airlines, is still rushed and inconsistent. “Just pick up trash, check the seatbelts, cross them, make it look good, and if a tray table looks dirty, you wipe it,” said Barbara Gomez, who cleans at LAX.
Co-workers backed up her account and added other details. Sometimes they do not have time to disinfect the bathrooms, they said. Rags get re-used. ( @AmericanAir called this a troubling violation of its standards.) If you don't believe them...
Consider these recent reports from the pilots union ( @alpa) and the flight attendant union ( @afa_cwa).
Let's repeat that for a sec. Of hundreds of flight attendants polled by @afa_cwa, only 44% said their planes were thoroughly disinfected and cleaned between flights.
The point of this article is not to tell you whether to fly. That's your decision. (I'm aching/tortured over an upcoming family wedding.) It's to listen directly to the people doing the cleaning, and ask big questions:
Do these custodians have the time and tools to do their jobs, especially now that they're supposed to combat a killer? This question extends far beyond airlines, to offices, restaurants...
To end, consider Martha Lorena Cortez Estrada, who worked at a luxurious Miami office tower for $8.56 an hour-- and resorted to bringing in her own Clorox. And ask yourself: do you have any idea how the space around you is being cleaned, and by whom?
