There are some limited circumstances when it's OK to take your shoes off when you fly, but mostly you should plan to leave them on.
My seat neighbor and I responsibly kept our shoes on for the entire flight.
Screenshot of the Instagram story I posted when a stranger touched me with their foot on a plane.

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The Transportation Security Administration announced earlier this month that almost all travelers can leave their shoes on at screening checkpoints in the airport, and while it’s not a security concern, this shoes-on guidance should extend to the airplane cabin as well, in my view.

“I think it’s, like any other public space, you should have your shoes on. It’s basically a form of public transportation. You wouldn’t get on a subway without your shoes on,” Rich Henderson, a flight attendant at a major U.S. airline and one of the authors of the Two Guys on a Plane blog, told me. “People go to work eight hours a day and leave their shoes on; I don’t understand why you’d want to take your shoes off on a flight.”

He acknowledged that long-haul flights, especially overnight, can be a major exception, particularly if you’re in a fancy cabin that distributes slippers, but in general, Henderson said travelers should keep their shoes on while flying for a variety of reasons, including safety and hygiene.

So what do the pros think the shoe rules on an airplane should really be? Here’s what I heard from airline and etiquette experts:

Safety first

Safety is the top priority when it comes to flying, and that’s why it’s especially important to keep your shoes on when the plane is still on the ground and as your flight is preparing to take off and land.

“For me, I always keep my shoes on until we’re airborne. The last thing I want to be doing is running down the tarmac away from a burning airplane in my bare feet,” etiquette expert Nick Leighton, who co-hosts the “Were You Raised by Wolves?” podcast, told me.

Henderson said Leighton’s guidance is on point, and added that in an evacuation, every second counts and you might not have time to get your shoes back on.

He added that it’s important not just to have footwear generally, but the appropriate kind of shoes for when you travel.

Airline safety videos often highlight the danger high-heeled shoes can pose in an evacuation because they could puncture the slide, but Henderson said flip-flops and other footwear that’s hard to secure also isn’t practical in an evacuation.

“Obviously, the slide getting punctured would be more damaging than one individual getting hurt because they’re not wearing the right shoes, but I do wish people drew more attention to that,” he said.

Henderson also said it can be a safety issue to walk around barefoot because you just never know what’s going to be on the floor of an airplane.

“Things break in galleys all the time, if someone dropped a glass or something and we don’t necessarily have the right tools to get rid of all the glass,” he said.

Don’t be nasty

Henderson and Leighton both agreed that probably the grossest thing any traveler can do is go into the bathroom without shoes. And really, why would anyone do that?

“Walking to the bathroom in your socks or with no shoes on or whatever, that will never, ever make sense,” Henderson said. “It’s a hygiene thing. Floors are disgusting.”

Leighton agreed that no one should ever go to the bathroom on an airplane without shoes, and generally, he said, his rule of thumb is that you should only ever be barefoot at your own seat, if at all.

Respect the bubble

Leighton has frequently spoken to me in the past about the importance of respecting your fellow passengers’ personal space when you fly, and keeping your feet to yourself is one important way of doing that.

Last winter, I was on a flight and the woman in the seat behind me put her foot (wearing a sock, but no shoe) up on my arm rest and it touched the side of my torso under my armpit. Truly, it was one of the most shudder-inducing things I’ve ever experienced on a plane, and I promptly posted about it on social media.

Leighton said that’s exactly the kind of etiquette slight people need to endeavor to avoid.

“I think there is a temptation, especially as air travel gets more expensive and flights get more unpleasant, there is this sense that I’m entitled to this experience, I’m entitled to some me-time. But it’s not me time up there, it’s we time. Flying is a team activity,” he said. “Feel free to be gross on your own time, but when you are with the rest of us, we need you to step it up.”

Get with the culture

Leighton acknowledged, however, that most of these guidelines apply primarily to Western airlines.

“It is important to know there are different cultural sensitivities around shoes and feet. There are cultures where you do remove your shoes; it’s not uncommon,” he said. “I’d keep in mind the airline that I’m on.”

Henderson added that if there’s a medical need to remove your shoes, that’s usually acceptable, too.

“I know people have medical issues, and people have swelling in their feet,” he said.

So at the end of the day, it just comes down to: be respectful. Take your shoes off if you need and want to, but don’t do it in a way that obviously interferes with or grosses out any of your fellow passengers.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Flight attendants say this is the nastiest thing travelers do: 'Be gross on your own time'

Reporting by Zach Wichter, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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