--- title: Plane: Use This Clever Flight Attendant Tip For Bathrooms description: Over the years, cabin crews have developed a clever strategy to keep things smelling fresh under less-than-ideal conditions canonical: https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-19T18:53:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:19:06.440Z og:title: Here's the Clever Trick Flight Attendants Use to Deal With Smelly Bathrooms on Planes og:description: Cabin crews have developed quite the sneaky strategy og:url: https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2622a87fcbca61fa/6988d249196cf4e12e040aa0/plane-bathroom-sign-planebathroom0617.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1600 og:image:height: 900 og:image:alt: plane-bathroom-sign-planebathroom0617 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Clever Trick Flight Attendants Use to Deal With Smelly Bathrooms on Planes twitter:description: Cabin crews have developed quite the sneaky strategy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2622a87fcbca61fa/6988d249196cf4e12e040aa0/plane-bathroom-sign-planebathroom0617.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the Clever Way Flight Attendants Deal With Smelly Bathrooms on Planes > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=6d513144-6bb7-4378-a153-2924939ccebe&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Flight Attendants Have Higher Rates of Many Cancers, Study Says [Watch (HLS stream): Flight Attendants Have Higher Rates of Many Cancers, Study Says](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0uaaQ5I9.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2018-06-26. Flight attendants are exposed to a number of known cancer-causing risks, but few studies have rigorously quantified that risk, and researchers say they are an understudied occupational group._ by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Jun 19, 2017 6:53 PM UTC Flight attendants are exposed to a number of known cancer-causing risks, but few studies have rigorously quantified that risk, and researchers say they are an understudied occupational group. by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Jun 19, 2017 6:53 PM UTC The bathroom is the unsung hero of the airplane. Particularly on a long-haul flight, this space provides relief to hundreds of passengers with very few breaks. All things considered, the airplane bathroom should be a much, much more disgusting place than it usually is. We have the flight attendants to thank for that. Over the years, cabin crew have concocted a clever hack to keep things smelling fresh under less-than-ideal conditions. If there’s a lingering smell in the airplane toilet, flight crew will brew a very strong pot of coffee and bring it with them while they clean the area. [According to _The Sun_](https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/3782520/flight-attendants-have-come-up-with-a-really-simple-trick-to-get-rid-of-bad-smells-in-plane-toilets/), the smell of the coffee will neutralize any unpleasant odors. Basically, because the smell of coffee beans is so powerful, it will overtake all other smells in its vicinity. Once flight attendants learned this hack, many started keeping bags of old coffee grounds immediately next to the toilet. Passengers who head to the bathroom with prior knowledge that they are about to commit a dastardly deed can ask a flight attendant for a bag of coffee grounds before they close the door. Don’t worry — they’ll usually know what’s up and refrain from asking further questions. It’s the polite thing to do. So if you smell coffee the next time you head into an airplane bathroom, you’ll know exactly what happened there moment before you walked in. _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/how-flight-attendants-keep-bathrooms-fresh) _originally appeared on_ [_TravelandLeisure.com_](http://travelandleisure.com) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/"},"headline":"Here's the Clever Way Flight Attendants Deal With Smelly Bathrooms on Planes","datePublished":"2017-06-19T18:53:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:19:06.440Z","description":"Cabin crews have developed a clever strategy to keep things smelling fresh","url":"https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/","keywords":["Living","Travel","airplanes","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2622a87fcbca61fa/6988d249196cf4e12e040aa0/plane-bathroom-sign-planebathroom0617.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2622a87fcbca61fa/6988d249196cf4e12e040aa0/plane-bathroom-sign-planebathroom0617.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"plane-bathroom-sign-planebathroom0617","caption":"","creditText":"frontpoint","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/","name":"Here's the Clever Way Flight Attendants Deal With Smelly Bathrooms on Planes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Flight Attendants Have Higher Rates of Many Cancers, Study Says","description":"Flight attendants are exposed to a number of known cancer-causing risks, but few studies have rigorously quantified that risk, and researchers say they are an understudied occupational group.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0uaaQ5I9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-06-26T18:49:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0uaaQ5I9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/","duration":"PT1M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4823762/planes-smelly-bathrooms-coffee-trick/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```