If you think spending hours on an airplane got you that cold, you don’t know the half of it. In last month’s Wall Street Journal, Scott McCartney reported on germ-plagued flights and what parts of the plane you should avoid touching—pretty much everything.
[V]iruses and bacteria can live for hours on some surfaces—some viral particles have been found to be active up to a day in certain places. Tray tables can be contaminated, and seat-back pockets, which get stuffed with used tissues, soiled napkins and trash, can be particularly skuzzy. It’s also difficult to know what germs are lurking in an airline’s pillows and blankets.
As I mention over at weeklystandard.com, there are precautions you can take, such as using those alcohol-based hand-sanitizers, turning on your air vent, and not drinking the water from the restroom faucet (I can’t believe someone would try the latter). And try to stay away from those blankets, which a friend of mine who used to be a flight attendant once described as “scabies rags.”