Airline etiquette: Should you keep shoes on during flights?

Imagine settling into your economy class seat on a 13-hour flight, only to find a stranger’s shoes occupying the space beside you.

That’s what happened to Jaskaran Gautam when he was flying from Tokyo to New York recently. The passenger next to him had switched seats but abandoned his foul-smelling footwear next to him.

“I complained to the flight attendant that the passenger had left his shoes,” says Gautam, who works for a technology company in Kyoto, Japan.

Almost nothing gets passengers more excited than the topic of shoes on a plane. Should you take them off or keep them on? What if you have foot odour? And how do you handle a passenger with smelly feet?

Foot skirmishes are becoming a regular problem on planes. Most of them are low-level, resulting in a complaint to the airline. But sometimes, people go too far when they remove their footwear. Back in 2018, Spirit Airlines diverted a New York-Fort Lauderdale flight to Myrtle Beach after the odour of smelly feet developed in part of the aircraft. They even had to call a hazmat team, which failed to find the source of the smell.

Passengers have been debating whether it’s acceptable to remove shoes on aeroplanes. Some argue it’s a matter of personal comfort, while others cite hygiene and safety concerns.But there’s some agreement on the question of whether to remove your shoes on shorter flights.

“It’s a non-issue,” says Jodi R.R. Smith, an etiquette expert with Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting. “On short flights, you should keep your footwear on for the entire flight.”

For longer flights – anything over four hours – it’s okay to take off your shoes, especially if you’re trying to sleep.

“But only if your feet have zero odour,” she says.

But one group of passengers should never remove their shoes, says Rosalinda Oropeza Randall, an etiquette expert.

“If you are seated in the emergency exit row, your shoes should always be on,” she says. “You have elected to take on the responsibility of calmly and expeditiously being ready to assist. There’s no time for a shoe search, untying the shoelace knot, and putting them on.”

Also, always, always keep your socks on. And if you need to use the bathroom, put your shoes back on. Because that’s not necessarily water on the floor of the lavatory. But you already knew that.

So, bottom line: keep your shoes on if you can. But if you can’t, then keep your socks on. Absolutely no bare feet on the plane!

First published by the NZ Herald, republished here with permission + edits.

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