Another Plane Feature Most Passengers Have Never Seen Or Noticed

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Even if they fly a decent amount, there are some things many passengers don’t know about or simply have never noticed. We’ve gone over some of them before:

• The special mark in the plane’s cabin and what it’s used for
• The “secret room” on some planes
• The easy way to tell if a plane is an Airbus or a Boeing
• How lavatories on planes work and why they’re so flippin’ loud

There’s another thing in a plane’s lavatory that most people don’t know exist.

It’s a foot pedal on the floor that you can use to open the trash receptacle. You can see it, in the picture below, as that brown thing on the bottom of the shot, with the big arrow pointing to it, in this picture:

Here’s a video of the pedal in action:

@3rfa9

For the people who don’tknow. #travellife #hack #airplane

♬ original sound – 𝟑𝐑𝐅𝐀𝟗⚡

Of course, this is genius, because who would ever WANT to touch the trash can on an airplane? Typically, you (and most people) use the lav, wash your hands, grab a paper towel and dry your hands with it. Then you use the paper towel as a barrier between your hand and the “Flush” button. Then finally, after you open the lav door with that paper towel, you throw the depleted towel in the trash…and wind up getting who knows what kind of germs on your hands because  your hand invariably touches the flap of the trash container.

Not that most of us have a choice. As smart of an idea as that foot pedal is, relatively few planes have them. I’ve heard that Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and A330s on Turkish Airlines, Saudia, and Etihad have them (Note: the 737-700s we were on to/from Texas a few days ago…did not). There could be others – if you’re aware, please let us know in the comments.

Feature Image: Delta News Hub / flickr / CC BY 2.0

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