I'm far from having some kind of germ phobia, but something should be done about the nasty little surprises found on planes - I agree. Ever reach into the seat-back pocket in front of you to find some kind of sticky, gooey, unwanted souvenir waiting for you? Yeah, it's gross. It has happened to me, but not only that I've gotten on flights where crumbs were left on my seat by the previous passenger. Eww... What was it? Granola? Possibly some type of hardened baby upchuck? Did I really want to know? Due to the time restraints between booting off the previous passengers and boarding the new passengers they weren't able to clean the plane and the crew offered their deepest apologies while all the new passengers (including myself) tried their best to tidy their seats for the next few hours. READ MORE. Photo by Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times. 11/02/08