News & Advice

The Real Reason It's Always So Cold on Airplanes

Once you step on a plane, it's sweats to shivers in five minutes flat.
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It is a truth universally acknowledged: flying on a plane means spending time in an environment that never settles to a comfortable temperature—things are always too cold or too hot, and rarely (if ever) just right. As it turns out, depending on the day, the blame for an airplane's fickle thermostat may fall on the plane itself or the crew at the controls.

True to everything else in the realm of commercial air travel, federal regulations govern cabin air comfort. Rules from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) specify how many pounds of fresh air planes must pump through the cabin per minute, per passenger, and note that the temperature cannot adversely affect passenger safety, but they have stopped short of setting limits on what is deemed too hot—or too cold. Typical cabin temperatures aim for 72 degrees Fahrenheit; on Korean Air's detailed website, for example, the airline states that all of their flights "maintain a temperature range of 23 Celsius to 25 Celsius," which equates to 73 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

Dr. Chris Manno, author, professor of English at Texas Wesleyan University, and current Boeing 737 captain for a major U.S. airline, says it's not as simple as setting a thermostat. “I keep the cockpit cool, as we're surrounded by windows," he says. "The temp in the cabin is regulated by separate controllers, by zone (forward cabin, aft cabin). Part of the ‘chill’ is aircraft exterior surfaces encountering -40 to -55 degrees Celsius, which in some ways becomes conducted by contact, metal part to metal part, with the interior.” (Manno knows how to exploit it: “There's a spot in the cockpit where I stow a soft drink can that's near the aircraft skin, and it's nicely chilled after about an hour of flight.”)

An airplane cabin is also a workplace for the cabin and flight crew, who have to put up with the temperature while working in limited space and wearing layered uniforms. “Our cabin crew is always calling for cool air, and I oblige,” says Manno. “Add to that the way many passengers dress, wearing light resort wear, so it's likely that when the temp is comfortably cool for the working crew, it's probably a little cold for the seated, not-working passenger in shorts and a T-shirt.”

To improve your chances of a comfortable flight, do a little research before booking the ticket. Google the flight number, or enter your plans into RouteHappy.com, to view what aircraft are used. The newer the plane, the more advanced the onboard technology, and that goes for air systems—more modern systems will be able to regulate temperature by zone, and some even by row. For example, searching flights from Dallas to Detroit show flights options on MD-80s and Boeing 717s, as well as Bombardier CRJ900s and Boeing 737-800s. Opt for flights on the latter two, as they are newer aircraft that benefit from newer, more precise air control systems. The simplest way to guess at your aircraft's age is by reading the Wikipedia pages; the Wiki for the MD-80 series notes that it was produced from 1979 to 1999, and the CRJ900's Wiki lists its series of aircraft from 2001 on. A search can even reveal the exact date your aircraft entered service, by Googling the individual registration number (typically a string of six letters and numbers painted back near the tail, beginning with an "N" for U.S. airlines).

Regardless, the cabin may also feel wintry for another reason. “I do cool down the cabin when there's a lot of bumpiness because it seems to reduce motion sickness for passengers," says Manno; a recent study also showed that warmer cabin temperatures can lead more people to pass out—hence the cooler plane temps. You can't argue with that.