Flight attendant shares the first thing you need to do after boarding

Arina Bloom, a flight attendant with two years of experience, recommends that airplane passengers do one important thing immediately after boarding a flight that can save ther lives. The stewardess advises disinfecting your seat-back tray right away.

According to Insider, you should do this as soon as you put down your carry-on baggage and buckle up in your seat. After taking a seat, passengers instantly have a desire to read a book or drink tea.

"My airline hands out little alcohol wipes during boarding for a reason. Just give the tray a quick wipe when you sit down," the flight attendant wrote.

According to her, flight attendants warn that, in addition to various viruses, there are a number of other reasons to disinfect your table.

"You may think that people only place drinks on seat-back trays, but the person before you could've slept on it or used it to change a baby's diaper," the crew member added.

By the way, her words are confirmed by a study conducted in 2015 by Travelmath, a travel planning website. Back then, samples were taken from surfaces on four flights operated by two major US carriers.

In addition, the study found other places on the plane filled with bacteria. These include the overhead vents and seat belt buckles, as well as bathrooms.

The experiment also showed that the flush buttons in the toilets contained eight times less bacteria than those on the seatbacks.

However, William Schaffner, MD, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, says that even if you thoroughly disinfect the area around your seat, other parts of the plane that are teeming with germs will still remain beyond the reach of wet wipes. That's why he recommends washing your hands thoroughly.