The Nasty Reason Many Flight Attendants Don't Use Toilet Paper On A Plane

An ocean of ink has been spilled on the lack of cleanliness on flights. In a post-COVID-19 context, many passengers have taken to wiping down their seats and screens with bacterial wipes, always carrying hand sanitizer, and never drinking the coffee served. Flight attendants often take to social media to offer helpful tips, tricks, and secrets of aircraft that most passengers don't know about. TikToker @flightbae.b is no different. Sharing a video to her over 151,000 followers, the flight attendant revealed a trade secret about airplane toilets. No, it wasn't about the Mile High club. Rather, it turns out that even using toilet paper on a flight might lead to cross-contamination and bacteria where you don't want it.

"When turbulence hits and little boys who are pointing and shooting, they kind of point and shoot everywhere," she explained in a TikTok which has been liked more than 11,000 times. "That usually ends up on the toilet paper." With that in mind, it might be a great idea to always bring your own supply of TP or baby wipes when traveling. But what should you do if you forget these hygiene products? What does she and other flight attendants recommend you use instead? Let's take a closer look.  

Flight attendant @flightbae.b suggests in her viral video that to prevent contact with another person's splashback in the airplane toilet, eschew the toilet paper, usually placed low on the bulkhead next to the toilet seat. Instead, she recommends you reach a little higher. "If you don't want that kind of stuff in your nether regions, the tissue paper that's usually up top over yonder is cleaner, so just use that instead of the toilet paper." This makes sense since the tissue paper is normally placed much higher, near the sink and mirror, and away from the toilet seat.

Another flight attendant agrees that airplane toilet paper should be avoided at all costs but for a different reason altogether. Flight attendant @cierra_mistt shared a TikTok with her 3.2 million followers with a list of things to avoid doing on flights, and at No. 1 was, you guessed it, forgetting the toilet paper. She says, instead, passengers should be using paper towels. "It's higher quality, and it won't rip or dissolve like the toilet paper will," she advises. Seeing as her video has been liked more than 567,000 times, maybe she's on to something.