Airplanes can often feel like disease barges with recycled air and tons of passengers in a confined space for hours at a time.
Fortunately, Georgia researchers have discovered the section of the aircraft where travelers are the least susceptible to germs, which they detailed in a 2018 study.
To determine which part is the most cootie-free, scientists at Emory University in Atlanta flew on 10 transcontinental flights to analyze the rate of “virus shedding” and infection transmission among 1,540 flyers, Travel and Leisure reported.
“We chronicled behaviors and movements of individuals in the economy cabin on single-aisle aircraft,” the researchers wrote. “We simulated transmission during flight based on these data.”
The researchers wrote that transmission risk has to do with contact contact with fellow flyers and flight attendants.
The scientists found that — outside of certain super-sequestered first-class cabins — the window seats are the most sterile as they’re the furthest from the aisle, which is frequented by microbe-carrying passengers and crew members.
Window-seaters are also less apt to go into the aisle than their middle and aisle brethren, per the study, which found that 80% of aisle seaters left their seat at least once during flights compared to only around 40% for windowers.
All told, passengers in aisle seats averaged 64 “contacts” with other passengers per flight, middle seaters had 58 contacts, and passengers seated by the window had just 12.
Another way to avoid the bacterial bouillabaisse? Sit at the very back of the plane.
That’s right, the aircraft’s most maligned section is actually optimal for preventing infection because passengers don’t have to fear getting breathed on by passengers from behind, per a 2022 study on the best seats for steering clear of COVID.
This is due, in part, to the fact the airflow moves from back to front and not vice versa on an airplane.
So these areas might be worth considering the next time a fellow flyer requests that dreaded seat exchange.
Passengers can also further reduce the risk of contamination by mitigating contact with the airplane’s dirtiest areas, which constitute lavatory doors, overhead bins, safety cards and tray tables.
These precautions are essential given that planes are often considered to be flying microbe-breweries due to the sheer number of people.
“With over 3 billion airline passengers annually, the inflight transmission of infectious diseases is an important global health concern,” study authors wrote. “Over a dozen cases of inflight transmission have been documented, and studies of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and pandemic Influenza (H1N1p) transmission on airplanes indicate that air travel can serve as a conduit for the rapid spread of newly emerging infections and pandemics.”
That being said, the exact risks of transmission of respiratory viruses in an airplane cabin have yet to be scientifically proven