Airplane cabin air is heavily filtered through medical-grade systems and is actually significantly cleaner than the stale air circulating in your miserable office building.

A closer look

Airplane cabin air is heavily filtered through medical-grade systems and is actually significantly cleaner than the stale air circulating in your miserable office building. The myth that aircraft recycle disease-ridden oxygen to save money is entirely false, as the air in a modern jet is completely refreshed every two to three minutes with a mix of outside air and deeply scrubbed internal air. Therefore, if you get terribly sick after a long-haul flight, you cannot blame the plane's ventilation system, you just have to blame the guy in seat 14B who coughed directly into your face without covering his mouth. The real biohazard on an airplane is not the invisible atmosphere above you, but the aggressively unhygienic behavior of your fellow passengers who treat personal space like a polite suggestion. Next time you board, fear the unwashed hands touching the tray table far more than the overhead air nozzle