A woman at the window seat in economy on an American Airlines Airbus A319 took off her shoes and is barefoot, with legs tucked up sideways. She pulled out a foot sander/callus grinder and spent about 30 minutes grinding dead skin off her feet, creating visible “foot dust” in the air and on the floor.
She had already spilled coffee on her seatmate earlier in the flight. He told flight attendants about what she was doing, and says they “shrugged their shoulders” at the DIY pedicure – so he stood for the rest of the flight instead of sitting next to her.
This is disgusting: “repulsive,” “vile,” “biohazard,” “farm animal,” “sociopath,” “Bad Place” in the words of commenters on social media. It should have been shut down. Honestly, what’s the value of a flight attendant other than in outlier emergency landings if not to address this? Because allowing this to continue creates unsafe conditions. Most seatmates wouldn’t just excuse themselves and stand for the flight. It could have ended in a fight and diversion.
I’m at a loss for words..
byu/FourPointsTet inmildlyinfuriating
The one thing I really had hoped would last coming out of the pandemic was elevated cleanliness, but it really didn’t. I’ve suggested the problem with going barefoot is the bathroom. But this is even worse – if you’re going to do this, at least do it in the lavatory? (Not that it would be ok.)
We’ve seen passengers clip their nails inflight (and flick them onto the passenger next to them), paint their toenails onboard, go go shirtless and even strip naked and rub the crew. This goes at the very top of that list.
An airline can refuse transport or remove a passenger if the person is barefoot or wearing attire, hygiene, or odor that creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to others. Here we need a ban, and law enforcement meeting the flight on arrival.
The real question: What does Secretary Duffy think about this? Is this ‘courteous to your fellow passengers’ or ‘dress(ing) with respect’?
Not sure what to think about this until @1990 shows up and replies to himself 10 times inferring that it’s Trump’s fault
Hilarious – right on cue
@Coolio — Gary with the one-two punch this mornin’
If Duffy was sittin’ next to her and the Flight Attendant acted the same way “What would he do? WHAT WOULD HE DO”?
Another data point on where society has gone.
@MIAZiggy — You really think Duffy is gonna start flying commercial and in Economy, middle seat? (It’d probably be a good idea; you know, ‘man of the people,’ maybe learn something, too.)
@Coolio. I can assure you that life is much better if you ignore posts by the high posting volume (HPV) idiot.
ewwww
@This comes to mind — Be kind to yourself. Sure, you post a lot, but, it’s not unhealthy.
@1990 you are personally responsible for the degradation of experience for this and other travel blogs. You ruin the experience for others by apparently having nothing else to do all day but spam your idiocy nonstop n the comments. Have some self-awareness, do you really think other users enjoy seeing your blather represent 25-50% of ALL posts across ALL travel blogs?
I always thought there was a “rule” against flying barefoot. so what is a rule if it is not enforced
@mikey flies — Wait ’till ya hear about ‘speed limits’ and ‘enforcement.’ Laws, norms, etc. all human constructs, not naturally enforced. For real, though, airlines are gonna have to pay the FA’s more if you want them to be ‘dress-code’ police.
“Coolio” The word you want is IMPLYING, not INFERRING.
You managed to show yourself as profoundly undereducated while insulting someone else’s posting style. Well played.
And whatever comes to mind: you too.
basketball or curry american? lol
@WearyWatchdog — Zing!
Flight attendants should not force an issue like this into an ugly confrontation or diversion but they should have some enforcement powers. They should inform the passenger to stop the behavior and if they don’t comply, say I will take a picture and report this behavior for review. It can result in being banned from flying the airline for a period of time. The passenger who had to stand up deserves a refund.
@HPV I suspect you think I lie when I say I don’t read your posts. But, I don’t read them. I read posts I suspect you wrote under a different name, because you’re that kind of narcissist. I know you respond to my posts, because Gary doesn’t provide the technology to not see them. So, I must scroll past them and can’t help noticing you have addressed me. But, I never read them. Never. I save so much time and my life is better without you.
@This comes to mind — Something, something, doth protest too much, blah, blah. You know that one by now. Are you sure you’re not @Tim Dunn? Because he’s started referring to others by nicknames, like Liz, which is cute, but also, not effective, rhetorically or otherwise. (I don’t do that, though; most New Yorkers aren’t passive aggressive like that; we’re not back-stabbers; we’re front-stabbers. I want you to know it’s me, so I’ll only ever use ‘1990’ unless Gary bans me, and that’s his call, as always, but I don’t think I’ve done anything to warrant that, especially when some other go full-‘hard-r’ on here regularly.)
Back on topic. The foot dust is a helpful reminder not to retrieve dropped stuff without being sure you really really want to keep that item! Ick.
As disgusting as this is, it should be put in context of other disgusting actions on airplanes. Many are just as bad but don’t merit a no fly situation nor law enforcement. I suggest that the use of those as courses of action has gotten out of hand.
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@Ken A — rofl
Xanax…
is not a solution buy might get you through the torment of your next flight. Just don’t mix with alcohol or take more than prescribed, cause that becomes an issues too. Keep prescription bottles in your possession too so we can easily diagnose the situation should it come to that. Perhaps an extra layer or set of underwear just in case you forget the first pair in the lavatory upon leaving.
Thanks for flying the Friendly Skies.
We need to normalize punching people like this in the jaw again. If someone locked me in a tin tube with a gorilla, I’m not letting the gorilla wipe me down with feces or eat me. I’m going to fight for my safety and sanity. You want to scrape your feet? It better be worth it, because either you or the scraper are going out the door at 13k feet you keep it up – I’ll let you choose which. Then I’ll choose both anyways.
This blog has reached a new low.
Well, this is America after all. These behaviors we’ve come to expect. And they’ll only increase on subpar modes of transport like the US airlines.
I’m going to assume an important detail was left out; identifying the offender. Some folks know they have a card they can pull to do anything they want.
@HeadTraumaHelpswiththat — Naw, responding to mild misbehavior with physical violence (including what you suggested, which would bring down the entire aircraft) is not ‘the way.’
Spill your drink on her. And when she strikes you, fall to the floor.
I love American Airlines. I fly internationally with them. The flight I hate more than any other one is Los Angeles to Kona (where we live). That leg is by far the most obnoxious and trashiest. Footnote…horrible pun intended…I would have lost it had she been next to me with that biohazard dust.
If your into feet you may get turned on 😉