onboad spraying
 

The last time I flew with New Zealand airlines they had a couple of agents walking down the aisle with a bottle of insecticide on each hand and sprayed indiscriminately on the top of the passengers' heads. I wonder if they are still doing that.

Last time I saw that on a flight (not involving NZ) was flying to South Africa in 1981, with a stop in the Cape Verde Islands. I think the sprayed both on arrival and before departure.

I think islands have learned from Hawaii, which did not have mosquitos (they claim) until a ship arrived with some mosquitos in the hull/bilge in the 1800s.

I saw that on an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to LHR in the spring of 2009. It was done in a halfhearted way; one had the impression that the cabin crew didn't believe it accomplished anything and that they were doing it just so that they could say it had been done.

The page isn't dated so I don't know how current it is.

I've never heard of the UK requiring it; perhaps there was a specific outbreak of something in 2009 or it could have been a spray other than pesticide.

The page you quoted is pretty outdated.

I haven't been sprayed when entering Australia or NZ for at least 10 years, possibly longer. Can't speak for the other countries mentioned.

We were sprayed this month on a flight from Maun to Johannesburg. It was awful. I coughed, and my eyes burned. I wish I had had one of those masks!

If only it was a US carrier you might be successful demanding the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for what they just forced you to breathe without prior permission.

Got sprayed last week on Air Tahiti while departing LAX for Paris.

Have flown LAX > Australia and/or NZ about 12 times over the last 5 years on Qantas, Air New Zealand, and Virgin Australia and have never had the cabin sprayed. NZ customs is still strict to make sure there's no dirt/organics on hiking boots though.

Yup. Got sprayed on a flight from JNB to Livingstone. I didn't look up and into it, but my eyes still burned for hours afterwards. Been sprayed since, but now I put the blanket or something over my head and face and keep my eyes closed. They don't seem to care.

Is it ok to say that when I first saw this topic line, I thought it said, "onboard spaying," and I immediately became very concerned for any dogs on board?

The link in Wally Bird's post didn't say that Australia and NZ sprayed planes with pax aboard, it said that those were among the countries that require the planes to be sprayed periodically with a residual pesticide.

Here is another site that explains the spraying requirements of various countries, as well as gives the contact information for airline representatives who have information about the requirements:

http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/policy/safet...sinsection.htm

It should be noted that the residual method is done while the passenger is not on board, so one will most likely not notice when this is done.

I've seen that over the years with passengers on board in Fiji, New Zealand, Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

I've been sprayed within the last decade in Australia. IIRC they also require that planes be rotated somewhere for treatment that isn't done in the USA.

Spraying has little to do with the choice of airline, and everything to do with the countries you are flying from/to. If a country's law says "Spray", you can bet that every airline flying into that country will spray.

Just got sprayed last week on my flight from Guayaquil to the Galapagos Islands

Flying SA JNB-IAD a few years ago we watched as two male FAs walked with aerosol cans briskly from the back to the front up the aisles spraying during the refueling stop in DKR.

The one using our aisle was reassuring though: "It's not an insecticide - it's just to kill the bugs." ;)

Regarding the comment that spraying has little to do with one's choice of airline...there was a news television show (I think it was 20/20) that was aired years ago that stated that some airlines (I think United) applied residual chemicals on all planes that might be used for routes to certain countries, such as Australia. For these airlines, one is exposed to the chemical on some domestic flights of the airline since the same planes are used for their international routes.

Good point. I was referring only to the active spraying on the flight. This would apply to any airline which flies to the six (or so) countries whch accept the residual application method.

Did a couple trips to malarial zones this year through the EU on SN. SN FAs say spraying from certain countries is an EU requirement, and that they have to turn in the emptied spray bottles when they land. Got sprayed KGL-EBB, EBB-BRU, DKR-BRU. The announcements said it was "perfectly safe," which I don't really believe, but like all things in public health, I suspect the population risk from modest exposure to the spray is less than the risk from introducing some of those insect-bourne diseases into other areas.

They still spray, they just don't do it by hand with FAs walking through the cabin. The spray is pumped through the air conditioning, you can smell it shortly before landing.

A long time ago Thai did this on their flights between Germany and Thailand. But the last time i saw this was about 15 years ago i think.

I fly regularly between Australia-NZ and UK-NZ. I have never smelled this spray coming through the air conditioning.

I got sprayed on a QR flight from DOH to MLE about 6 months ago. One flight attendant ran up and down the length of the plane with two aerosol cans and pretty much nuked it. It was actually quite a strong chemical...

I'm wonder how effective this actually is. I don't think it would have effected any bugs stowing away in my carry-ons, and what about the cargo hold?

This is a daily occurrence on flights to/from West Africa as an anti-mosquito precaution. It is also mandatory on flights to certain countries (this includes many more than those listed in the links above).

Do the Port Health authorities really care? In theory, the crew have to fill out the serial numbers from the dispensed cans onto the ICAO Annex 9 General Declaration and then hand over the empty cans on arrival. I've had this actually checked by Port Health maybe twice in hundreds of arrivals.

My daughter has asthma, and it freaked her out when the FA came down the aisle with the spray can. Would those masks help?