HAVING to deal with other passengers is one of the worst aspects of flying, particularly those who clearly have no awareness of the people around them.
Yet all too often stories emerge of people sitting down in their plane seats and taking off their shoes and socks, as if they’re at home.
Everyone from frequent flyers to flight attendants agrees that it’s awful behaviour, yet so many passengers still insist on doing it.
It sometimes gets even worse, with those passengers stretching their bare feet out into other people’s personal space.
When that happens, you’re well withing your rights to take action to stop them from putting their trotters all over the seating area that you have paid for.
One person who is well used to dealing with other passengers is TV travel show host Samantha Brown.
She has urged passengers to take drastic action against space invaders, especially if their bare feet are encroaching.
In a blog post, she wrote about the two steps she takes to ensure anyone putting their feet near her on planes never does it again.
She said that her first step was an obvious one – “Ask them to remove their feet immediately!”
However, if that doesn’t work, she uses a much more inventive approach.
She added: “You could also start taking pictures of their feet so that their friend nudges them to let them know.
“That alone should get them to put their bare feet away. If not out of realising how rude they’re being but because they don’t want to risk winding up on one of those kind of sites.”
The websites Samantha is referring to are social media accounts, or Reddit threads like Passenger Shaming, where people are publicly slammed for their unsociable behaviour on planes.
A lot of people have been seen on that site getting their feet out during flights and in plenty of cases putting them on other people’s armrests.
One such passenger had to resort to putting ice from her drink on the encroaching foot to stop it from happening.
However, for those who don’t like confronting other people, asking the flight attendants if they can help is another way of dealing with such situations.
Sun Online Travel’s resident flight attendant explained that they regularly have to step if to solve similar arguments.
They said: “Firstly, you should never get your feet out on a plane – it’s disgusting.
“The floors are rarely cleaned beyond a quick once over with a vacuum cleaner and think of all the people from all over the world who are dragging their feet through the cabin.
“However, if another passenger has stretched their feet into your space, or is taking over your armrest, feel free to let us know.
“We’re more than happy to tell them to stick to their own space.
“After all, you’ve paid for that seat and the area around it, so you shouldn’t have to put up with other passengers trying to use it for themselves.”
Meanwhile, this woman was filmed giving herself a full pedicure during a flight.
And this passenger put their bare feet on the armrest in front of her during her flight.
