Dirty Airplanes: Passengers Complain About Garbage on Airliners

A while back, I was reading a newspaper article regarding passengers complaining about trash left on airplanes when they board the aircraft. There seemed to be a lot of concern about the aircraft not being sanitary, not to mention what's left on the seats from sweaty, bug infested passengers. I have to admit, that I understand the concern over what's on the seats. But, I honestly don't have much sympathy over the trash situation. Airlines spend a lot of money on fuel with rising fuel costs, as well as landing fees at most airports, staffing salaries, aircraft to pay for and maintenance to keep them airworthy. All these fees and expenses are paid for by your tickets you purchase. As seats commonly get cheaper due to the internet, "vacation package deals", and other factors, airlines are forces to cut operational costs. A lot of times, through pay cuts, serving half cans of soda rather than a full can, no more meals, and no more peanuts we all love so much, unless you want to PAY for them in addition to your ticket. SOMETIMES it even means cutting budgets in other areas just so that the airline can survive. Unfortunately, cleaning staff is not immune to budget cuts.

I am an First Officer on a small regional airline. On our aircraft, we don't operate with flight attendants. Most of the airports we service do not have staff to clean the cabin of the aircraft after each arrival,so, the first officer is responsible for clean-up of the aircraft's interior in addition to the other duties you would expect a pilot to have. Most of the time, we have 30 minutes or less from the time of arrival to clean the cabin, pre-flight the aircraft, copy weather and takeoff clearances, supervise baggage loading and fueling, and assist passengers boarding. The Captain has a whole other list of duties in addition to take care of between flights. Sure, there are ways any airline in these circumstances can spend a great deal of money for regular cleaning crews. But you as a passenger can also help alleviate the situation.