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Airport Check-In Kiosks Rife With Germs

by Megan Hill

Mar 12, 2018
Feature

If you thought airport bathrooms were bad, get a load of this: Airport check-in kiosks and monitors are dirtier than toilets, according to a new report from travel insurance site Insurancequotes.

The report looked at germs at three major U.S. airports and found the dirtiest surfaces by far were airline self-service check-in kiosks. Swabs showed 253,857 colony-forming units of bacteria and fungus per square inch, many times more than the average 172 CFUs found on toilet seats. One kiosk sample showed as many as 1 million CFUs.

“With mass amounts of traffic, self check-in is the quick stop for many flyers. It may offer more convenience, but at what cost?” the report said.

Other germy spots include gate seat armrests (21,630 CFUs) and drinking fountain buttons (19,181 CFUs). On board planes, hot spots were lavatory flush buttons (95,145 CFUs), seat tray tables (11,595 CFUs) and seatbelt buckles (1,116 CFUs).

“It’s often thought airplanes are cleaned between each flight, but the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration actually doesn’t regulate or inspect aircraft cleaning,” the report noted. “Each airline can decide how often and how well an airplane is cleaned, so if the turnaround time between flights is low, the plane may not be cleaned at all. Even when a plane is cleaned, general cleaners are used rather than stronger disinfectants, leaving dangerous germs right in your lap.”

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