September 25, 2024, 8:35 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Good service on board is important for air travelers. However, some doubt airlines really wash pillows and blankets after every use. Is this concern justified?
Finally, vacation, finally off the plane. The best time of the year can begin. Especially on long-haul flights, passengers on the airplane are usually given blankets and a pillows – because it can get quite chilly on board. Many passengers snuggle up in the blanket for the entire flight.
But isn’t it better to steer clear of airplane pillows and blankets? Are they really washed after every flight?
Pillowcases are disposable
Sandra Kraft from Lufthansa says: “Of course, used blankets and pillows are collected and cleaned after every flight.” Passengers can recognize this by the fact that they will find the fresh blankets shrink-wrapped at their seats. At Condor, the blankets are also cleaned in a commercial laundry after every flight. On the other hand, the pillowcases are disposable and disposed of after the flight, says a company spokesperson.
And when will the blankets and pillows finally be thrown away? At Condor, pillows in Economy Class are reused around 65 times before they are broken or dirty and are therefore discarded. The airline uses blankets an average of 24 times.
But what happens to the blankets when they are worn out? And what happens to all the other thousands of blankets that passengers use every day when their time is up? TRAVELBOOK asked the airlines to find out.
Blankets become insulation material
Lufthansa uses its blankets around 30 to 70 times. The blanket’s condition determines when it will meet its fate: if it is broken, it is sorted out in the laundry. If the discarded blankets are still in reasonably good condition, they are donated with other items. In the autumn of 2015, many such blankets were distributed to refugees via the aid organization HelpAlliance.
However, the blankets are often in such poor condition that they are no longer suitable for donation. Lufthansa then tries to find a buyer to recycle the fabrics. At Condor, they are reused as felt and insulation material.
However, many blankets are never sorted out, as passengers take them home as souvenirs and reuse them at home.
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A heart for animals
The Australian airline Qantas has come up with something very special for its old blankets. As the Australian online portal “news.co.au” reports, the airline has been donating used blankets to charitable organizations for years.
However, the blankets have recently been used for another good cause: Some are going to the animal welfare organization RSPCA. The blankets are used in animal shelters, where they serve as a warm bed for stray dogs and cats. “It’s great that the blankets will continue to be useful and help our four-legged friends,” Phil Capps, Head of Customer Products and Customer Service at Qantas, told news.co.au.
The original of this article was published in 2017.