I found an interesting article on View From The Wing which described a passenger’s experience on American Airlines with a filthy plane. The quick summary of the story is that a passenger cleaned the headrest of a seat on an American Airlines flight with a wipe. What surprised me was the wipe was almost black from all of the dirt that was left over. He did not even clean the rest of the seat of the tray table.
I always travel with disinfecting wipes. I keep a package in my carry-on bag. I have learned over time that airplanes and hotel rooms are not clean environments. Before I wiped things down, I would get sick all the time. Since I have started my cleaning ritual, I have cut down how often I get sick by 66%
My take on this is that the people who clean airplanes and hotel room do not do the job as it should be done. This could be because they do not have enough time to proper clean it or they are being tasked with the appropriate tools and goals.
I am not surprised that you see so much dirt when you clean. Between, landing and takeoff, planes are turned around in about 30 to 60 minutes. This includes time to have the passengers deplane and the new passengers to board. In that time, they restock the plane with food (or snacks) and drinks. For a Boeing 737, it can have up to 170 seats and between 3 and 5 bathrooms. I am not surprised that a crew does not do a deep clean of the seats and bathrooms in the allotted time.
What did surprise me about this incident was how people reacted. There was a significant number of people who thought that a dirty plane was normal and that we should not expect anything different. One commentor said that if he wiped his steering wheel, the wipe would be black as well. I tried it with my steering wheel and I can assure you that it was not even close to be black. I guess I keep my car cleaner than that commentator. I also guess that I want to live in a cleaner world and I have higher expectations about the places I was to use. I just do not understand these people.