scosprey

Hi, all. Can anyone provide details on the subject of CO aircraft "deep cleans"? I didn't see anything recent in FT threads, or on the web. Some older web posts (from the mid 2000s) indicate CO and DL had their aircraft on 35 day "deep clean" cycles. Any current details on the process, and locations would be appreciated.

UA767400

I have not heard of that. I am interested to learn about that too. Are you talking about interior cleanings?

scosprey

Yes, interior cleanings was my primary focus for this post.

nycboy

Its called bringing your own Lysol in 2oz spry bottle and disinfecting your own seat. We do it all the time travelling with an infant

764toHI

I was recently told that aircraft are deep cleaned when they overnight at IAH and EWR (possibly CLE too but I didn't ask)

scosprey

Thanks, 764toHI. Any idea how often? Would it be 30 to 35 days still?

pptp

I remember hearing that they have this sort of cleaning every month or so. It would include shampooing the carpet, wiping down the walls/ceiling/bins, cleaning the windows, galleys etc. No interior pieces are removed that I know of but I would guess that they replace all of the cushions or at least the covers.

ichiroll

On a EWR-NRT flight early last month my wife's BF seat had residual vomit stains on the carpet just below her feet and all over the seatbelt.

It was the most disgusting experience I've had on a plane.

With my wife 7 months pregnant and an almost 2 year old that wants to touch every nook and crack of virtually everything, I felt very helpless.

I used the blanket as a seat cover the entire trip and refused to use the seatbelt.

Sorry if this was off-topic, needed to vent.

travel.flier

what did they do when you pointed it out to the FA?

pptp

It should have been noted by the cabin cleaners and replaced by the station before, or when the crew came onboard. Known vomit is actually a maintenance issue since it involves potential contaminants.

If you tell the FA they will try and address it---but you can't wait until last minute. If the cushion can be replaced, it will be. If it can't, they will probably inop the seat. So do you know what that could mean on a completely full flight?

Not trying to discourage you from reporting but that's the reality if we have to take a seat out of service.

ichiroll

Not a god damn thing. Granted, we didn't notice it until moments before take off. They just gave us extra blankets to "blanket" the nastiness. At that point, I didn't really know what to do. Throw a fit? Demand that the plane not depart and have the seat belts replaced?

that being said, it'd be nice to know what you all fellow FTers would have done. Will be good for future reference.

UA767400

There should be a 24 hour flyer talk hotline!

pptp

<sigh> Sir or Ma'am, what exactly did you expect the crew to do with the problem "moments before take off"? I mean c'mon, give us something to work with here.

I'm a pretty chill person but I gotta say, these are the kind of expectations (waiting until the last minute then expecting something we can no longer provide) that make this job a little frustrating at times. We don't carry extra seat covers on the plane, and depending on how close to take-off you were, the crew is actually performing safety checks and getting strapped in so they don't get hurt. In no way do I mean to be cold or glib but we really do have more important matters to attend to at that point. About ten minutes before door closure FA's have to switch into safety mode---believe it or not we have a lot of responsibilities that we're held accountable for. We don't want to mess up.

If it was such a horrible condition, why oh why didn't you let them know earlier when they had some resources still available?

scosprey

Reviewing travel.flier's comment above, and reflecting a little on sitting in and around dried vomit for 12 hours plus, two thoughts come to mind. One, why wouldn't this family be moved out of these seats (after takeoff) if other seats were available on the flight--and the seats cordoned off? Second, what compensation should be offered by CO? I would think at least 10,000 OnePass miles, and an apology letter from J. Smisek at minimum would be in order!

pptp

That absolutely would have happened if there were seats. It's an easy fix for us (when possible) so no reason not to do it.In my opinion, no compensation due since the crew wasn't given the opportunity to fix the problem until too late---we can't work miracles. The reality is, sometimes things slip by and PAX have to let us know when they see something we haven't. If we don't know something's wrong, how can we do anything about it? We're all in this little tube together and we have to help each other to make it as pleasant as possible.