Passenger Uses Toes To Control Entertainment Screen When Business Class Seat Doors Close

One British Airways passenger says that when they set their business class seat up as a bed, and they’re lying down, they find it much more convenient to control their television with their feet. That way they don’t have to get back up. And they wonder if anyone else does this, and whether there are other embarrassing things that they do when the doors to their business class suite are closed?

Oh, and they “like to be barefoot anyway, so why not?”

This is horrible. The airline isn’t sanitizing the screen between passengers. And you have a controller at your seat to change channels and adjust the volume on the screen, you can reach that without getting up. Don’t use your bare feet!

Here a business class passenger who flew Delta from Turks & Caicos to New York JFK last year shows tremendous dexterity using their feet to control the seat back entertainment system. A reader took video of this skill, and I can’t look away.

Passengers using their feet to change the channel on the inflight entertainment system are probably also too lazy to put their shoes back on to go to the lavatory. And the drops of wet on the floor there aren’t from the sink. Airlines can help here, and provide disposal slippers in business class to promote hygiene in the lavatory.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention want you to know “Athlete’s foot, or tinea pedis, is an infection of the skin and feet that can be caused by a variety of different fungi. Although tinea pedis can affect any portion of the foot, the infection most often affects the space between the toes. Athlete’s foot is typically characterized by skin fissures or scales that can be red and itchy.

    Tinea pedis is spread through contact with infected skin scales or contact with fungi in damp areas (for example, showers, locker rooms, swimming pools). Tinea pedis can be a chronic infection that recurs frequently Treatment may include topical creams (applied to the surface of the skin) or oral medications.”

    I am thankful this passenger did not try to control their entertainment screen using their butt.

  2. Don’t be so thankful Ken, for it seems this passenger not only thinks with it’s butt, but has the manners and consideration of one too.

  3. People can be so disgusting. I will never understand people who take their shoes off on a plane or those that put their feet on the walls, on seat backs or anywhere else other than the ground. People run around dousing everything in antibacterial solutions and then put their nasty feet up on everything.

    I wonder if they do this in their own homes.

  4. I don’t care what people do in their own homes.

    Add to the list, people putting their feet on the arm rest of someone in the seat in front of them! Ewwww!

  5. Row 1 in domestic business class cabin, and any domestic cabin row facing a wall always always without fail has at least one passenger with feet up on the wall.

    I don’t think they put their feet up on walls when visiting their friends’ homes, but maybe they do.

    That said, earlier this morning I was watching a video of a person of determination who happened to have no arms, and used her feet to care for her baby, and I’ve seen other stories like that. I think that’s the only exception that a civilized society should allow.

    I don’t know what else to say, except that in 2019 and earlier (before that thing you know) I brought my own roll of sanitizing wipes on board, to clean my seat area regardless of its appearance.

  6. This is hilarious. I go barefoot every chance I get, but on an airplane???? Not a chance. But anyone who boards a flight these days without wiping down every surface twice is foolish. So, toe-guys … have at it. I can clean up after you with no problem.

  7. A software developer should program a pop-up that says “Feet detected, screen deactivated. Don’t be gross.”

  8. Saw someone in 1E with bare feet on the bulkhead just yesterday on IAD-DCA. Disgusting. What a maroon.

  9. I don’t know why I tapped on the screen with my FINGERS to view this.. …the guy must have a FOOT fetish.

  10. Maybe he was a war Veteran and has no fingers that were amputated from a b@mb? “Thanks for your service” as we say.

  11. This is why I wipe down everything within my seat area (especially the IFE screen) with disinfecting wipes as soon as I board. Got a few strange looks pre-pandemic. Not so many now 🙂

  12. I wouldn’t worry about it. I think human germs have penetratedto the inside all of us as we sit down in an airplane. With the hundreds of FINGERS (and TOES) all around us. And yes, do wipe down your seat including your backrest.

  13. Things like this happen because of a lack of violence in our society. Break his toes and puch him in the face a few times for good measure. Guaranteed that he never does it again. And guaranteed that anyone watching never does either.

  14. Toes are doubtlessly as clean as fingers. C’mon people, shed your foot inhibitions.

  15. Those who fly and are concerned about the possibility of getting infected should carry small containers of sanitizer and use them — judiciously on all surfaces that previous passengers may have contaminated.
    It’s foolhardy to rely on the airlines and if you get infected, that’s your problem, not the airline’s.
    We live in a time when many people have little, if any, consideration for their fellows. Get used to it and take reasonable precautions to protect yourselves. Complaining about the carriers — airlines, trains, buses, taxis, Uber or Lyft vehicles, is pointless. Rules won’t protect you, and the carriers aren’t about to prosecute violators unless they behave egregiously, and may not prosecute them even then.
    Try to behave toward others as you’d like them to behave toward you. Yes, I know, it’s often not easy. But do you benefit when you lower yourself to a boor’s level?

  16. What is it with those privacy cubicles and doors now…? It’s more entertaining to watch the flight crew and service in the isles etc. besides attractive fellow passengers …

  17. How gross. These cochons ought to take lessons in civility and manners from Malay, Thai, Indonesian and most Eastern cultures where using one’s feet to point, to nudge or to sit in a manner as to expose the sole of your foot to another person is highly offensive and disrespectful.

    The only appropriate time to display dexterity with one’s feet is during a sporting event or when one is on the dancefloor.

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