‘Need a hazmat suit’: Virgin flight attendants are sick of cleaning dirty planes

Virgin Australia flight attendants are demanding the return of dedicated cleaning crews as mess left behind by passengers and gruelling turnaround duties leave staff working up to 10 hours without a break.

According to the Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia (FAAA), cabin conditions have deteriorated to the point where staff practically “need a hazmat suit”.

“The insufficient catering offer onboard leads passengers to bring their own food onboard,” said one Virgin crew member, who asked not to be named. “From chips to lollies and mushed-up fruit in the carpets, the amount of cleaning is increasing.”

Virgin requires the cabin crew to perform deep cleans between journeys, adding strain to their workload. After cleaning planes, the Virgin crew, who have won awards for their quality of service, must then serve food to passengers on subsequent flights.

The FAAA is now pushing to reinstate professional cleaners between flights to relieve overburdened staff and maintain hygiene standards.

FAAA industrial relations manager Steven Reed said: “It used to be ‘tidy the cabin, fluff the cushions, make sure there’s nothing in the seat pockets, and cross the seatbelts, ready for the next passengers coming on’.

“Now some of the state of the aircraft is such that they almost need a hazmat suit to clean it up.”

A number of Virgin flights to overseas destinations such as Bali and Fiji have been marked by excessively rowdy passengers, who add even further strain to the crew and leave cabins in disarray.

“It’s gone beyond what was entitled, and obviously the FAAA on behalf of its members is pushing really hard to get cabin cleaners back on the aircraft between flights,” Reed said.

The association recognises the need for crew to sometimes work “longer and harder” days – but it says they need better pay and more say over which shifts they take up.

Reed said that after cleaning cabins, the same crew will serve food on the subsequent flight.

In March, Virgin’s crew won the World’s Best Airlines Award for the eighth year in a row in the AirlineRatings.com World’s Best Airlines Awards 2026. The airline is also in the process of taking delivery of new Boeing 737-8s this year .

Virgin Australia said on Friday that it would add nearly 4000 seats on flights between Perth and Melbourne, and 1000 seats between Brisbane and Melbourne, to help Fremantle Dockers and Brisbane Lions fans attend the grand final next weekend.

Both Virgin and Qantas have been criticised for lifting the price on return tickets to Melbourne for the AFL grand final. On Monday, Virgin was charging $1728 for a Brisbane-Melbourne flight, almost triple the cost of the same flight two weeks later, Bloomberg reported. Qantas’ cheapest Brisbane-Melbourne return airfare was $1658. Both are about triple the price of the same route two weeks later.