An Australian aviation insider is leading a call to mandate wearing shoes on planes after a Virgin passenger’s horrific experience with the woman sitting next to him.
Touring videographer Justin Fok told Yahoo News he experienced the “worst airline experience” of his life last weekend.
He was travelling from Sydney to Brisbane for a work trip when he noticed an elderly woman was sitting in his assigned seat.
“After I politely asked her to move, she scooted over and didn’t stand up, despite the whole row being empty, so I had to awkwardly squeeze past her,” he said of the first red flag of the journey.
“During the safety briefings, she was talking loudly on the phone on speaker, despite being the time for airplane mode.”
That’s when the sandals slipped off.
He said the woman folded up her bare feet onto the seat, brushing up against his thigh.
“Wrinkly, crusty, and with long untrimmed nails” were suddenly touching Justin’s thigh.
Not only that, the woman watched TikTok videos without headphones “for the entire flight”.
“Normally I would have said something about her feet and behaviour, but I was on four hours’ sleep going from show to show, I had to prioritise my nap,” he said. Instead, Justin “cracked her a dirty stare and proceeded to counter with a manspread”.
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Justin Brownjohn has led calls to mandate shoes on airplanes, as Aussies react in horror to the Virgin passenger’s ordeal. Source: Supplied
Justin said the woman simply moved her feet to the other side and touched the “other unfortunate soul on the other side”.
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Though “nobody said a word” about the faux pas, Justin believes it’s “unspoken common courtesy” to keep body parts to yourself and listen to entertainment with headphones.
Do I have to wear shoes on a flight?
Justin Brownjohn, a senior manager at RMIT’s Aviation Academy, who takes up to 70 flights a year, said he is a “supporter of shoes being mandated to fly”.
He told Yahoo News it is “never appropriate to put your bare, or covered for that matter, feet on a fellow passenger”.
Not only that, it’s “uncouth and just not safe”. Being barefoot, particularly at take-off and landing, is a major safety issue.
“It is well documented that those phases of flight are where most incidents happen — if you need to evacuate the aircraft, you don’t want to have to do it barefoot,” Brownjohn told Yahoo News.
“Having your shoes on will protect your feet as well as meaning less loose items flying around.”
He said a number of airlines, particularly those in Asia, mandate shoes during take-off and landing and is “enforced during the cabin secure procedures”.
In Australia, airlines require passengers to wear shoes when boarding and disembarking, but Jetstar and Virgin do not insist on shoes remaining on once passengers are seated.
Brownjohn said if you are seated in an emergency exit row, you will also be urged to keep your shoes on for take-off and landing.
He argues that while it’s “totally fine” to take them off while you are in your seat, it should be only then. And “it goes without saying: touching others with said bare feet is inappropriate”.
A spokesperson for Virgin Australia told Yahoo News that the airline encourages guests to “notify our crew if there is anything they can do to make their flight more comfortable”.
“Our crew are there to help all our guests.”
Yahoo understands that Virgin does require guests to conform to minimum dress requirements, including wearing footwear onto the flight.
The airline has policies and procedures to manage disruptive behaviour and will manage the situation depending on the severity.
Passengers can let cabin crew know by calling the bell, or discussing with cabin crew in the galley area to be more discreet.
Headphone use is not specified in the airline’s Conditions of Carriage, but for the comfort and consideration, Virgin Australia encourages the use of headphones when playing audio or video on board all Virgin Australia flights.
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