HibernateNow

does United still disinfect its planes these days? (especially after longhaul int'l flights)

I kind of know the answer, but just wondering if it's just my imagination. I see almost no evidence other than "cosmetic" cleaning.... (not to mention the fact that there's just no way they could really disinfect a 777 after flying 14 or 15 hours from a foreign country.. .with only an hour and 20 minutes on the ground before doing another flight.. or is there?)

eng3

Yes, they don't clean much, but just spray their disinfectant.

HibernateNow

why did I make the mistake of asking this question before getting on a longhaul United flight? (the aircraft use for the flight had just flown in an hour and half ago from [insert name of country with almost out-of-control COVID cases recently, according to BBC News]

Joshua

Recently on a 787-9 that had just flown FRA-ORD, I can attest the plane was certainly not cleaned (at least in the Fauxlaris cabin) from the perspective of underneath the seat or beside the seat. I dropped a piece of cheese beside the seat, and fished it out instead of just leaving it. The amount of other food and debris was quite staggering.

I am not very concerned about lots of cleaning and sanitation, but I do wish United would tone down all the announcements about CleanPlus[tm] and so on since the reality is it just doesn't seem that much cleaning really happens.

eng3

I would prefer they just sweep up the food crumbs or general garbage (wrappers, etc) from my seat area vs spraying/wiping some to pretend like they care about cleaning.

TBD

I've seen a crew of cleaners waiting at every UA flight arrival recently.
I have not seen a crew waiting for my plane to arrive when flying any other US airline.

I can't tell you what, exactly, these folks are doing. But it sure looks like UA is doing more than any other airline these days.

janicerobertson

Boarded a flight earlier this week and my seat area was full of crumbs. Called them to the attention of the flight attendant and she kindly swept them away and rewiped the surfaces. The cleaners may very well sanitize but the cleaning itself leaves much to be desired. Very discouraging.

fezzington

Those talking about spraying may want to look at United.Com/CleanPlus -- specifically, the "What is electrostatic spraying and where is it being deployed" section.

There *is* a disinfectant that they're using onboard, but the time to open, wipe, and close each tray table means that other things are being missed. I've seen more crumbs on seats than I ever had before. Frankly, I don't envy the cleaners' job.

zombietooth

Don't ever look into the gaps on the edge of the seat with a flashlight or, heaven forbid, lose something and have to actually look under the seat. On a flight only a couple of weeks ago, my wife lost her charging cord down the edge of a Polaris seat. I had to lay down sideways on the floor, with the seat in the lie-flat position, to get my hand on it. What I saw illuminated by my flashlight was lots of food debris, clumps of hair and dust bunnies, nail clippings, flossers, plastic and other food wrapping, clean-wipe wrappers, etc, etc. It honestly looked like it had never been cleaned under there, although you would have to get down low to put your vacuum nozzle in a position to do some good. Thank God there are bacteria that break down the organic debris or you would have a real mess after years of inattention.

trmbn65

On domestic flights, they seem to disinfect overnight. I have had a few <300mi flights and they are definitely clean for the first flight of the day. Any other times, it seems they are turning aircraft so quickly that there isn't any time to do more than taking out the trash.

fivesixseven

CleanPlus is primarily a marketing message to (re)gain trust of (potential) customers, not a binding promise.

UA vs NW

I actually have the same question as the original poster. If United claims they follow CleanPlus procedures as demonstrated on the video or through cabin announcement between flights, but in fact they are not doing that (which is almost for sure), can they be sued for false advertising?

HibernateNow

I was thinking more along the lines of wrongful death lawsuits... unless they can provide documents and testimonies from cleaning crew that the said disinfection/cleaning actually took place regularly as they advertised.

SPN Lifer

Lawsuits are not the solution to all the problems of the world. It would be difficult to establish proximate cause and damages against UA.

Lawsuits are expensive and bear only a passing resemblance to internet forum discussions.

narvik

United only ever cleaned & disinfected a total of exactly 2 (two) planes properly in all of 2020 and 2021.
Coincidentally, both of those planes were featured in promotional videos, #1 is from April 25, 2020, and #2 is from August 14, 2020.