Do airlines ever sanitize their planes?

That is why it is highly recommended to take your own disinfectant wipes on board and wipe down the seat arms, the tray table, and anything else you might touch. Airplanes are given the same clean up a theater gets between movie showings.

My last international flight to Taiwan last year, I took a small packet of Lysol wipes and wiped down my tray etc. I am not super germ phobic, but, it was the middle of winter and a little extra precaution never hurts. I’m more concerned about the food, quite frankly. The “yellow” sausages served on Air China were quite interesting, not that I ate them, oh no! lol

Under certain conditions they do. Disinfection is required anytime a passenger with a suspected serious infectious disease has been carried. This is typically done by flooding the (empty) aircraft with ethylene oxide gas for a few hours. Toilet areas are routinely disinfected with sodium hypochlorite. And the entire plane is disinfected (again by gas or spray) at its regular service intervals. There are also disinfection protocols triggered by incidents involving release of bodily fluids.

All of this is based on recommendations by the World Health Organization which are taken as the standard by most countries.

I read a study of airplane cleanliness. I learned two important things, don’t drink the water from the restroom faucets, and the magazine pocket is the dirtiest part of the plane. If you drop your unwrapped candy bar in that pocket, throw it away!