
How to clean an airliner - Thevet
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151004-how-to-clean-an-airliner
======
vegabook
Bed bugs can be a major problem. They thrive in the wiring looms and complex
mechanical motor systems of modern airline seats, especially the flatbed types
in the higher classes. I have personally experienced a bed-bug-ridden long
haul flight London-Brazil. Aircrew told me mine was not an isolated incident
(flatbed sleep, middle of the night bedbug attack inside my collar).

One of the issues is that certain highly effective fumigants are illegal in
most countries, and those that are not are seeing developing resistance. You
need powerful fumigation to get into all the tiny little areas of a very
complex machine that is an aircraft. Some airlines, I am told, will wait for
the aircraft to fly to a country where fumigant policy is more "relaxed" and
give the plane a full dose poisoning there.

~~~
allendoerfer
You can kill them by heating the air inside the plane. They and many other
unpleasant contemporaries cannot stand a certain amount of heat.

I experienced bed bugs once and since that horror have a very uneasy feeling
about hotels, trains, planes etc.

~~~
mangamadaiyan
"Horror" is about the right term. I wouldn't want to wish them on anybody,
except perhaps the politicians in my country.

~~~
vegabook
There is one horror even greater. That is to wish the politicians in my
country onto the bed bugs.

------
mdnormy
I worked for few days after high school with company that do cabin cleaning
during aeroplane ground handling. This is in SouthEast Asia, and I'm dealing
with budget airlines. Most have 1hour turnaround time. So imagine inside the
cabin..

00:00 - Passenger disembark

00:15 - Everything started

00:20 - Cleaning/supply crew / repair crew / QC inspector (12 unit)

00:30 - Food crew (4 unit)

00:40 - Flight attendant & safety officer (8 unit)

00:50 - Cleaning crew / repair crew / safety officer /food crew disembark. I
believe captain and copilot will be on the plane by now.

Each steps done by different team with almost no synergy with others. It was
not pleasant experience if you consider the space inside the smallest 737. If
you'd think that I'll clean every nook and cranny, you're way off your chart.
We're specifically looking for visible stain(vomit/blood/soda). The only
special treatment First & Business Class get is stricter QC.

------
switch007
If you're at all squeamish, I wouldn't recommend searching the Flyertalk forum
for the word 'vomit'. There you'll also find comments like "they don't supply
us with cleaning materials, we have to use the soap from the toilets [to clean
up issues mid-flight]" from some flight attendants.

~~~
lucaspiller
My SO recently left her job as a flight stewardess for a large airline, so I
have heard many such interesting stories. On one of her last flights somebody
in business class couldn't wait for the bathroom, so they just peed on the
floor - then went back to their seat :s

~~~
hugh4
So was this a flight to China, or a flight from China?

------
dandare
I wonder if there is study correlating ones overall health with number of
flights he takes every month.

~~~
shoo
if you're taking >= 1 flight per month, you're probably easily in the top 5%
percentile bracket for income world-wide. so, with an appropriately broad
perspective, you're probably relatively healthy.

~~~
mangamadaiyan
> you're probably easily in the top 5% percentile bracket for income world-
> wide.

Either that, or your job requires you to be on a flight every month. There
/are/ such jobs.

