A flight attendant who spends much of her working life in the air is urging passengers to avoid three common in-flight habits — and offering simple workarounds. In a TikTok clip posted under the handle @cherdallas, cabin crew member Cher says she will not drink directly from beverage cans, perform her skincare routine on planes, or use the aircraft toilet paper.
Cher told viewers she avoids placing her mouth on soda or beer cans because of how they are handled before boarding. “The catering trucks are truly gross, and I don’t trust that there aren’t sometimes bugs on the plane crawling around the outside of the can,” she said, adding that many cans sit for hours in stagnant buckets of water. Her alternative is to ask the flight attendant for a cup of ice or an empty cup so she can pour the drink into that rather than drinking straight from the can.
The second rule addresses personal care in the cabin. Citing the overall lack of cleanliness on flights, Cher said she never does skincare during a flight because “your hands are automatically filthy because you’re on the plane, the outside of your skin care products are filthy because they’re on the plane. Why do you want to rub bacteria around on your face?” She said that for long-haul trips she arrives at the airport with her skincare already done and uses a facial mist — she mentioned Evian — to freshen up in the air without applying creams with her hands.
Her final tip may be the most unexpected: do not use the airplane’s toilet paper. Cher said she carries Kleenex for that purpose, because she doesn’t “trust men’s aim during turbulence.” The comment underscores a practical hygiene concern at 30,000 feet that many travellers might not have considered.
Cher’s advice echoes earlier warnings from cabin crew and hygiene studies highlighting that tray tables and other high-touch surfaces can be among the dirtiest parts of an aircraft. While airlines and catering companies follow established cleaning and food-handling procedures, Cher’s suggestions are aimed at reducing personal exposure to whatever contaminants may still be present in a busy, reused cabin environment.
Her recommendations are straightforward and low-cost: ask for a cup or ice if offered a canned drink, do skincare before arriving at the airport and use a spray mist rather than creams in flight, and bring disposable tissues for bathroom use. Whether travellers adopt all three tips will likely come down to personal tolerance for risk and convenience, but the advice presents an easy checklist for those wanting to minimize contact with potentially unclean surfaces during air travel. Cher posts regularly on TikTok as @cherdallas.