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First-Class Passengers Shamed for Playing Barefoot Footsie Midflight

Jordan Allen
Articles
Jordan Allen has produced content for TPG on everything from travel trends to flight deals.
April 12, 2019
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2 min read
American Airlines 777 at LAX
First-Class Passengers Shamed for Playing Barefoot Footsie Midflight
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A couple aboard an American Airlines flight doubled down on two major passenger etiquette sins earlier this month: going barefoot and participating in over-the-top PDA. A series of photos of the culprits playing barefoot footsie in first class was captured by fellow (disturbed) passenger Laura Lakey, who then posted the evidence on Instagram.

It has since gone viral — and the public roasting has garnered headlines to land the incident in the #passengershaming hall of fame.

The video has since been removed or deleted from Lakey's Instagram account, but multiple news sources and screenshots confirm that the passenger's naked feet were pretty much all over the walls of their first-class cabin on AA's flagship 777-300ER. At one point, the female passenger rests her heel just above the cabin in front of her television screen.

Photo by @laurlake112 via Instagram.

Lakey's caption read: "First class seat — $1,000. Too many drinks in the airport before boarding — $100. Ointment to cure WHATEVER their feet will have after using restrooms barefoot — $20. Passing out after playing what she thought was a sexy game of footsie over the first-class divider wall ... priceless!'

Jokes aside, going barefoot on a plane is more than just disgusting, it's a health risk. American Airlines (as well as United and Delta) even explicitly states in its conditions of carriage that "bare feet or offensive clothing aren’t allowed." Flight attendants on Reddit also expressed how grotesquely unhygienic it is to walk barefoot on a plane — especially in the bathroom.

"I flew for a Middle Eastern airline from 2013 to 2016," wrote a flight attendant under the pseudonym boopboopster. "It is not water on the lavatory floors. It is pee. Wear your shoes. People are generally disgusting on planes. I once found human feces under a seat. Planes are cleaned between sectors (at least at my airline they were, not sure about US flights where they do multiple sectors a day), but still, consider that before you put your stuff everywhere.”