UA's dubious cleaning procedure
 

I was shocked to see this, ESPECIALLY as it's so recent:
United is touting their great procedures in cleaning the planes (from https://hub.united.com/united-corona...5397564.html):

"Ensuring our aircraft cleaning standards meet, and in many cases, exceed CDC guidelines. Our aircraft are cleaned at a variety of touchpoints throughout the day. The cleaning procedure for flights includes a thorough wipe down using an effective, high-grade disinfectant and multi-purpose cleaning of lavatories, galleys, tray tables, window shades and armrests."

Just be aware that if any of the employees cleaning the plane have COVID-19 they'll be spreading it on all surfaces. Absolutely no physical distancing, and no one is wearing masks :mad::confused::td: (they are wearing gloves for some strange reason though, as it wouldn't help COVID-19 from spreading or infecting the workers):

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0e6f6563a2.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f9e47f5109.png
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ea1015eb06.png

The above pics are screen-grabs from United's YouTube video posted on April 24, 2020:

I believe this video was filmed in early April, before widespread acceptance of masks-at-all-times guidance.

Still, a bit of a mixed message now.

No kidding!
Should be taken down IMMEDIATELY and if they choose to do so, re-shoot with the help of an expert's advice (who is knowledgeable in regards to the spreading of this disease).
And by the way, in early April it was already well-know that masks help and gloves do not!

These two are about 0.5m apart and facing each other with no masks! THAT is ridiculous for anything published after January this year having to do with "promote social distancing in the air and on the ground" <--- that quote is from the SAME web page!
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d8c27b72b2.png

It’s a profound messaging blunder and doesn’t inspire confidence that UA leadership has the required acumen to navigate this pandemic. It’s a liability exposure of huge proportion. I feel sorry for those workers as they’re so exposed.

From a liability perspective, not exactly, but is it any surprise that United's messaging is disjointed?

You'll find similar transgressions in most corporate videos of this kind, especially those hastily produced a month or so ago in the midst of the demand collapse.

I’ve been flying quite a bit lately, I’ve never seen both the airplanes and the airports so clean...ever.

The gloves are to protect them from caustic chemicals. I have no answers for the rest of the issues

How about "empowering" the flight attendants to wipe down some of the common touch points (doors, bathroom counters) during the flight?

The FA's are part of the cleaning process now. I have seen a FA touch up the FC lav recently & I have talked to FA's & they are doing some form of cleaning on the ground. Especially on "turns" or connections where cleaners would not normally enter the planes.

Easy to fingerpoint, but I'm sure that your trip from home to do daily things versus flying will find you encountering far more high risk situations.

Clearly UA could clean up their marketing as well, but is this a surprise, LOL

Good point. As late as the end of March (possibly even a little later), the WHO was advising that masks were useless against COVID-19 and they advised not to wear them.
I'm not sure how the science suddenly changed, but now the WHO recommends everyone wear masks. So yes, not good messaging, but the time of the photo may give the answer.

Most people dont understand how masks and respirators work.

Best thing to keep you from breathing in particles is an N95 respirator that seals tightly on your face. 2 problems with these. 1. People dont adjust the metal bands around nose to make air tight. 2. If you have Covid should not wear these because valve on mask blows your particles out.

Surgical mask: They are actually designed to keep the person wearing it from contaminating sterile environment. Not as good as an N95 but will effectively keep most particles out.

Bandana and other cloth. Same as Surgical mask keeps you from spreading covid more then protecting you from getting covid.

+1.

Masks aren't to prevent you from getting sick. They are to prevent you from getting others sick. This is crucially important for asymptomatic folks.

Wash your hands before putting your fingers in places if you don't want to get sick. Or wear gloves and then wash your hands.

We all know these procedures are a huge improvement over what we had before. We also know that no procedure will remove all personal risk. It seems entirely possible that disinfectant remains on surfaces for a minute until it dries and therefore it is also possible that the crews' masks have -zero- impact on your personal risk.

Excoriate United (and others) all you want for what you perceive as the wrong move. Unless you're a microbiologist or epidemiologist, you aren't really qualified to evaluate the situation in the first place.

So I was correct all along. United's FA did not clean toilets in first, business, or economy (before COVID-19), because it was not their job.

Hmm.

https://xkcd.com/2300/

David

I wouldn’t have expected the FAs to clean the lavs on the ground...

Its just marketing, good or bad. I've seen the actual cleaners recently, they're all wearing masks now and then some.

Hmmm...I didn't know the toilets on the ground are categorized as first, business, or economy. Can you tell me which airport has them?
:rolleyes:

They detailed their cleaning process in the earnings filings today and it said they expect to have the process completed sooner. Kind of an odd thing the way they phrased it.

The post you quoted referred to the lavs in question.

I thought cleaners would go onboard after every landing.

Strictly to remove trash. Certainly very little if anything was cleaned during a standard turn.

UA's cleaning procedure was always dubious - slapping masks and gloves on the same cleaners doing sloppy, substandard work doesn't result in the aircraft being any cleaner. I am not planning to travel until I have enough disinfectant wipes on hand for my usual cleaning procedure after boarding, which has always been substantially better than anything done by UA's cleaning contractors.

The FA job starts when they enter the aircraft, that is when their pay clock start ticking. Their jobs end when they exit the aircraft and their pay clock stop.
Their pay clock has nothing to do with airplane being in the air or on the ground, and has nothing to do with COVID-19.
I will now explicitly tell you that UA flight attendants did not clean airplane lavatories either in the air or on the ground. There were numerous times that I saw the lavatory was dirty and the FA just locked it up and tell passengers it's broken.
If it is true that FA are cleaning the lav now, I applaud their new task on the job.

Let's stay with the present and what is happening now. The past is not relevant to this thread.

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

Uh,...NO
 

Inaccurate, Mama. Clock starts when door closes. All that assistance with getting pax into seats and luggage stowed is off the clock.

Airplane cleaning
 

Received an email this morning from Flyertalk and noticed that everyone cleaning the Polaris class area was missing something " A MASK".
Why are they not required to wear a mask when flight attendants and passengers need them to prevent passing the virus in airborne form?
How can the area be clean when none of the cleaners are wearing a mask?
They are cleaning and polluting all at the same time.

most of the time these photos are taken from the archive ...

Yep, discussed here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...procedure.html

For general discussion of UA's present COVID precautions, please use UA COVID19 precautions: no longer blocking middle seats ,**REQUIRING** mask usage,
This thread can be about these "dated" photos

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

So can any FTs and/or UA persons confirm that the cabin cleaning crews are using masks when they board and clean the A/C?

David

I can confirm the cleaners are wearing masks and using new, sterilized pillows/blankets between turns.

Great to hear

Thanks - good to know. Better that they fixed that.

David

As the issue of the photos have been resolved with confirmation cleaning crews use mask and there is a master thread on the aircraft cleaning / sanitization process, will close this thread and refer all to https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ask-usage.html

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator