Air passengers are only just discovering function of 'hidden' foot pedal in plane toilets

Frequent travellers and cabin crew alike have only just discovered the function of the 'hidden' foot pedal in the plane toilets.

People who 'work on a plane' and have been flying 'for 30 years' have been left stunned by the revelation that's been hiding in plain sight all this time.

From the little button underneath the arm rest, which lets you move it up and down, to the next-level 'secret' rooms, it seems there is still a lot we don't know about planes.

If you don't know what we're talking about on the last one, United Airlines flight attendant Susannah Carr told CNN of the rooms: “It’s a little bit like Disney - we keep the magic behind closed doors.

“Occasionally we have people that think it’s a bathroom door and they try to open it, but we just show them the way to the actual restroom instead.”

The rooms are fully equipped with mattresses, linens, lights, air conditioning and are supposed to be a bit of a getaway for staff mid-flight.

But if we lower our expectations ever so slightly, there's another less impressive function on an aircraft that we've seemingly been missing out in for all these years.

When you head into the airplane toilets, sit down (or stand up) to do your business, you'll (hopefully) wash your hands, dry them off with some paper towels and chuck them in the bin.

But have you ever noticed how much of a pain in the a**e that bin is to open?

You've got to shove the tissue in with some force - and you end up touching the bin, which makes you want to wash your hands all over again.

However, it turns out that's what the 'hidden' foot pedal located below the sink is for and that's to open the bin.

TikTok user @3rfa9 shared a video of the 'hack' online and viewers were stunned at how they have never spotted it.

"I work on a plane and have never seen that," one viewer said.

Another added: "Bruh I am flying about 50 times a year and had NO idea."

While a third penned: "Flying for 30 years and it took an eight second TikTok video to teach me this."

Meanwhile, others were more concerned that the TikToker wasn't wearing shoes in the clip.

One commented: "What!! I’m going to have to look for that now - Thanks!! But more importantly - WEARING SOCKS IN THE BATHROOM - YIKES!!!!"

Someone else wrote: "WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES? but you don’t want to touch the bin?"

According to cabin crew, not wearing shoes around the plane can actually be a health hazard.

“By walking barefoot or even in socks around the cabin, you are putting your own health at risk,” Hailey Way, a flight attendant with charter-airline company iAero Airways, told AFAR. “The lavatory floors are probably the worst place to be barefoot.

“There’s likely a mixture of water, urine, and other bodily fluids in there.

“You can never be sure.”