Travel etiquette: Should you take your shoes off on a flight?

"Turn the flight around. Arrest-able offence," one person said of the passenger filing her heels.

"All that heel dust getting circulated," another noted.

But what if you keep your shoeless tootsies solely on the floor in front of your seat, and don't do anything that could send your foot cells flying?

The answer could depend on whether you keep your socks on or not. Fifty-nine percent of respondents to a 2017 British Airways survey of 1500 travellers from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany said they considered shoes off on a flight okay. But only 13 per cent said they thought baring your feet was acceptable. Interestingly, three-quarters of Italians, who come from the land of Prada pumps and Gucci loafers, thought removing shoes unacceptable.

I wonder how different the results would have been if New Zealanders had been included in the survey. Going barefoot is a long-standing Kiwi tradition – even if it does leave others perplexed.

On short flights, I rarely feel the need to de-shoe, but on long-haul flights it's another story. It's hard enough to get comfortable – let alone nod off – in the sardine can that is economy class without feeling your feet are constrained too, particularly if they're starting to swell.

When you're wrapped in your blanket, trying to get at least a little bit of shuteye, removing your shoes can make it easier to imagine you're actually somewhere conducive to sleep. Like business class or a bed. In fact, some airlines actively encourage passengers to remove their shoes by providing socks to wear.

Both Air New Zealand and Jetstar require passengers to wear footwear when boarding and disembarking, but neither explicitly state on their websites that footwear cannot be removed in-flight.

That said, Queenstown musician Peti Seiuli was wheelchaired off an Air New Zealand flight in 2011 after being told his bare feet were a safety hazard.

His connecting flight was held up while he tried to buy a pair of thongs in the Christchurch terminal, but he couldn't find any big enough, so was wheeled back onto the plane, then off again in Wellington.

Of course, just because you can remove your shoes though doesn't necessarily mean you should.

Footwear can become a safety hazard if it intrudes into the aisle, particularly in the event of an emergency evacuation, and walking around the plane barefoot is probably not ultra-hygienic.

In many countries, aircraft cleaning isn't regulated, so airlines set their own standards and protocols. While airlines typically clean aircraft thoroughly each day, the process is more superficial between flights. After a quick wipedown and spray with disinfectant, a bathroom might look clean but could still harbour fungus or bacteria. And as bathrooms are so small, it's easy for germs to spread.

Similarly, crew will clean up spills on the carpet when they happen or are noticed, but the carpet won't be deep-cleaned after each and every flight.

As the flight wears on, the cabin gets steadily more unhygienic. More and more passengers put their dirty mitts – and tootsies – on surfaces, and bathroom floors can become wet. It's best to bear in mind that the liquid on the floor may or may not be water. I'm not wanting to point fingers at any gender here, but I'd imagine one's aim could be compromised if there are bumps in the flight.

As I see it, the best thing to do is to follow the rules and keep your footwear on while boarding and disembarking, and to respect your fellow passengers by only taking it off only if you're sure neither it nor your feet will raise a stink. It's 23 degrees Celsius as I type, and my feet are sweltering after a quick walk around the block, so removing my shoes and socks under these circumstances would be unforgivable. At least not without some fast-acting deodoriser.

Given feet aren't always the most aesthetically pleasing of things it may be best to keep your socks on. The added bonus being they provide some protection from the germs on the floor.

Be careful not to let your feet stray into your seatmates' space or the aisle, or so far under the seat in front of you that you wind up playing tootsies with the person seated there. And if you need to get up for any reason, put your shoes back on. Ideally, airlines would take a cue from the Japanese and leave slippers near the door to be used in the toilet only, reducing the likelihood of passengers traipsing germs through the cabin.

That's just this barefoot fan's opinion though. What's yours?

Stuff.co.nz

See also:The 'disgusting' habits of plane passengers (and which class is the worst)

See also: The passengers you don't want to be sitting next to on a flight