^^ right on!

and you can also pop a multi-vitamin and/or vitamin c. it helps a little
for the long trips.

Do you guys go out to eat at all? What do you do then? Do you trust what ever they do behind the kitchen door? Do you realize how many people have touched your food/plate before it finally arrives on your table? Do you order salad or pizza? Oh my god, can you imagine those fingers tossing salads and rubbing pizza dough? Who knows where those fingers might have been?!
Do you press floor numbers with your elbow in an elevator? Do you bring your own beddings and towels to the hotel? Do you bring your own seat cushion on the plane? Do you try on clothes before you buy? Do you try on shoes before you buy? Do you sit or stand when you are in a bus/ train/ subway? Do you hold on to the handrail / pole? Do you turn on your sprinklers for half an hour before you take a shower? Do you let your kids swim in a public pool?
Gee, the list goes on and on and on, and people are worried about FAs making you sick...

Not me; their immune systems have adapted to more virus-causing bacteria than most people's so I'm not surprised they don't get sick excessively.

I think the OP has a very good point and is not being paranoid. Of course I am not a mental health practictioner, so what do I know. I believe in exposure to germs for a healthy immune system and I eat anything that falls on the floor that I can get to before the the dog does. This is my personal choice. I rarely get sick. But for those who believe in minimizing exposure to germs, it would be nice if people serving the public face to face had beter hygiene training and enforcement. Of course hygiene habbits that occur out of sight is out of our control. You can combat this with measures that are under your control. There are travel purifiers that can sanitize with UV light as well as good travel filters on the market. I have also seen travel "black lights". Maybe if we started to shine these on people it would help them reform their bad hygiene habits! The OP could also just bring their own beverages or cup or wait until someone comes along with a cup on a tray that you can grab yourself. I have not found a travel electron microscope. This would allow one to know for sure what germs are indeed swimming in your beverage!

My RN neighbour brings a bottle of bleach when traveling. She doesn't trust housekeeping.

I have yet to get her to try some sushi. She also insists on well-done steak. Bleh.

I have a niece who worked for about a years as a maid in a hotel. One day when the hotel did not have water, the staff was told to use the water in the toilet to rinse the coffee pots out with.

I have seen hotel maids clean the glasses and coffee cups with the cloth they use for general cleaning.

Airplanes are no worse than restaurants, many of which have some very unsanitary practices. Have you ever seen the cook come out of the bathroom stall then proceed out without washing his hands? Ever purchase draft beer at the beach only to see the vendor later collecting the used cups and merely rinsing them with plain water and re-using them? Many bars often quick rinse out the glasses.

You cannot be overly paranoid, but try some reasonable precautions.

When I serve drinks, my cups are stacked upside down on a clean linen on top of my cart. I hand you the can of your choice, (I never open them), grab the bottom of the cup on top of the stack, holding by the bottom, use the freshly opened ice scoop to scoop ice, and as I am handing you your drink, I fully open my palm, so I am extending your glass to you bottom side down, balancing on my palm. So, fresh ice (out of a just opened bag), fresh scoop, fresh glasses, and a can of whatever to open/disinfect at your leisure, and I swear, this irritates people. I am at a loss! Maybe they think I am lazy because I don't open the can and only give them a few dribbles?

As for the bleach lady:

Certain items are considered hazardous and are prohibited from air transportation by federal law. You may not travel with these items as checked, cabin-seat, or carry-on luggage. Examples of these items include:

* Flammable Items: fuel, paints, lighter fluid, matches
* Explosive Materials: fireworks, signal flares, sparklers, freon, helium, gunpowder
* Dangerous Chemicals: bleach, adhesives, linseed oil, spray starch, insecticides, cleaners and solvents, wet-cell batteries (except those in wheelchairs)

Bleach carried on an aircraft is a big no-no

For the record, we flight attendants (most of us) are somewhat germ-phobic just like you. I can't tell you how many times passengers try to hand us a snotty kleenex, just as they wiped their nose with it. They seriously don't get why they can't put it in our hands! My personal favorite, though, is the mother who changes her kid on the tray table, and bare-hands me the nasty diaper. This happens at least one time per trip. When I step away and tell them they have to dispose of that properly in the lav, and ask them to please do further diaperings on the provided baby changers, I become an uppity overpaid waitress!

So believe me ladies and gentlemen when I say, we are doing the best we can with the germ situation, and yes, our immune systems are impenetrable. I haven't been sick in about 5 years. Most of us are avid hand washers, and I suspect that this helps quite a bit.

I'll take the French kisses, thank you. :rolleyes:

The rim of a cup, exposed to the air, is a much less hospitable environment for germs. But if concerned, use some sort of wipe, or bring diluted bleach in a small container, and perform your own ritual ablutions.

This thread amazes me...people are worrying about the rim of cups but you are stating flat out that you had no issue at all with being "sick as a dog" and coming on a plane where you knew you would be in close contact with many many people. The best way to prevent illness, as you put it, is if you are sick, stay off planes!!!

Sick people on a plane are a way bigger risk than the FA touching your cup rim!!!

I don't know about catching something from the cups, but all this flying is making me sick of flying. Maybe forgetting the intermediate cup step and just french kissing the flight attendant of choice would make me stop dreading the next trip to the airport.

While having someone's hands on the rim of your cup does seem unsanitary, I think it's just one of many unsanitary things we don't realize is happening throughout the food/drink service process. It's really unlikely to hurt you.

Instead of focusing on this I think you'll do better to remember to wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer. Hand-to-face contact is the principal method of infecting oneself with a cold or flu.

Bingo! Unless what you see is really too gross, this is by far the best advice to follow. Buy the box of 100 individual Purell wipes at Sams Club and just enjoy the flight.