Avoid aisle seats to reduce chance of picking up in-flight bugs

Sitting in the aisle seat on a plane may come with a price as research has found it increases your chances of getting sick because you come into contact with more passengers’ germs.

Aisle seats should be avoided as you come into contact with a lot more germs if you sit there during a flight Image by Iwan Gabovitch / CC BY 2.0

While choosing to sit there will give a passenger more leg room, the reality is, it’s touched by more people’s hands as they walk in and out of a plane – meaning a traveller has a greater chance of contracting an illness. Germ hot spots can be found on the pouches on the backs of seats, tray tables and pillows, which too often are reused after flights without undergoing any cleaning process.

With so many new bugs thriving on planes, it is often a few days after having travelled on a flight that passengers find themselves getting sick. The MailOnline also reports that it’s a myth to suggest that air systems in an aircraft can make travellers ill. In fact, it is quite the opposite as 99.97% of the bugs are removed during recycling the air. This means it is better to blow the air from your personal vent just in front of your face than use secondhand air from other passengers.

The website urges passengers to drink lots of water while flying but warns not to source water from bathroom taps as that could be dangerous. It is also advised that passengers should bring their own antiseptic wipes to use as a cleaning measure on surfaces around the area you will be sitting during the flight.