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I'm very surprised that Delta has cleaners at every station. That has to be one very high expense.
No wonder they are losing money
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Nah, it's a contractor. 3 people at $6/hr part time, and a 15 minute cleaning job doesn't amount to much. Especially since it's all subcontracted.
It's real easy for a pilot and three flight attendants to clean a narrowbody like a 737, but when you're dealing with 75's 76's MD-11's 777's, etc, it's extremely impractical because you've got to clean the entire aircraft before boarding.
Generally, the cabin groomer's will hit the bathrooms first and then first class. While this is going on, the FA's coordinate with catering to restock the aircraft, then work first class as they start boarding. The cleaners then start cleaning the coach cabin.
By the time that first class is boarded, the coach cabin is clean and then normal boarding commences.
If you keep the same narrowbody jet all day, it *may* work, but if you're constantly swapping jets, terminals and deplaning thru major hubs, it's cheaper and more efficient to hire some cleaners than to try to cut corners, costs and end up having dirty aircraft that board late because the flight attendants couldn't clean the cabin in enough time.