Gray airport security trays are the modern silver platter for social media influencers this summer. Photos of luxury goods artfully posed in the checkpoint bins took over certain corners of Instagram and other platforms. While the “TSA tray aesthetic” portrays an elevated level of status, it also spotlights one of the most germ-infested surfaces inside an airport: the security trays.
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To quickly unpack the “TSA tray aesthetic,” going through security is a ubiquitous part of air travel. If you’re there, you’re going somewhere on a plane. The tray is a jet-setting-themed canvas to show off what you take for a potentially glamorous journey afar. Posters will share everything from purses and sunglasses to sneakers and makeup. However, if you really wanted to flex, you’d avoid the security line altogether, chartering your jet and heading to the private terminal.
Any passenger should spend as little time as possible with the security bins. Almost everyone who gets into a terminal’s airside touches them. The germaphobic notion might seem over the top, but there’s data to support it. A 2016 study conducted at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland found viruses on 10 percent of surfaces. In fact, the trays were the worst observed surface, even worse than the toilets.
The flu and common cold were the most prevalent viruses found in the bins back in 2016. If this study had been done in 2020, it would have likely added a new contagion to the mix. There’s no reason to stop this visually appealing trend; just be sure to bring along a bottle of hand sanitizer.
A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik.
