US Air Doesn't Love Us

The ONLY airline I've had issues boarding barefoot has been US Air. Of three legs I've tried boarding barefoot over the past 6 months, I've been stopped on two. Other airlines either don't say anything or sort of joke about my not wearing shoes. Anyhow, last week I was in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. It had been cold when I left home, but Dallas was warm and I had a long layover, so I ducked into a restroom and changed. I emerged in my "standard warm weather travel attire": shirt, shorts, and bare feet. I wandered all over the airport, stopped in a few shops, even grabbed a bite to eat - all without a problem. When I went to board the US Air flight, the flight attendant just inside the plane asked if I had shoes and told me I had to wear them. We had an exchange (well, actually a bit more than that, but it doesn't matter) and I eventually took my seat still barefoot. It was clear I was pushing the system.

I decided to research footwear requirements for air travel. I didn't find anything on the FAA site, but realistically trying to sort through government documentation is time consuming if not impossible. Trying a different angle, I found US Air's "Terms of Transportation."

http://www2.usairways.com/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_378ECAFFA9B0D80F637592659DEFF81BF54F0200/filename/US_contract_of_carriage.pdf

If you go to page 5 of the document (with all the cover pages, etc., that's page 9 in Adobe), under Section 3.0, "Acceptance of Customers," Sub-section 3.1, "Refusal to Transport," it states the following:

In accordance with Tariff Rule 35, we may refuse to transport, or remove from any flight, any passenger for the following reasons:..


6. Any passenger who may pose a threat to the comfort and/or safety of other passengers or employees including (but not limited to) passengers who:

• Are over the age of five (5) and barefoot, or otherwise inappropriately clothed, unless required for medical reasons;

​

As has been discussed, businesses are free to make their own policies on who they will and won't serve. Somehow, being barefoot is considered a "threat to the comfort and/or safety of other passengers or employees." I haven't had the opportunity to check other airline's policies. If you notice on the cover, this document was revised March 1, 2010, so this could be a new standard across all airlines or it could just be US Air being anal. Anyhow, if you're flying US Air, bring your flip-flops.

FYI - the flight attendant did say that footwear is only required on the jetway and while boarding the plane. Once seated I was free to remove my shoes. Go figure. ​

 

I did a quick check of other airlines including Frontier, Continental, American, Southwest, and United. They all have the same policy specifically citing people who are barefoot. Some of the documents have revision dates and I've definitely flown those airlines without shoes since their documents were last updated. I guess it comes down to whether or not the flight attendant is going to enforce the policy or not. Most of the time it appears they don't bother, but US Air is particularly picky about not wearing shoes. If you want to find another airline's policy, google (without quotes or parentheses) "(airline name) terms of transport" Most have a pdf file you can search. The language is all pretty much the same, so I suspect this is boilerplate shared between carriers.

If you're gonna fly, make sure you have shoes with you. I'll probably continue to board barefoot, but will gladly slip on my flip-flops if asked. No need to be "profiled" these days.

 

At one time that airline was Allegheney Air. Among airport employees and it's patrons it was called Agony Air......nuff said.

 

Same with Delta http://images.delta.com.edgesuite.net/delta/pdfs/contract_of_carriage_intl.pdf

But it seems to be (surprise, surprise!) an American thing. My regular airline is KLM and its website doesn't mention bare feet in the refusal to transport (and nor does Air France's website, since it's the same company): http://www.klm.com/travel/travel_en/meta/booking_conditions_carriage/article_6_to_10.htm

I used to fly Northwest and never had a problem, except for a nasty remark from a stewardess.

It seems that the anti-hippy culture (because that's what it is) of the United States strikes again.

 

USAir
UselessAir
US-Scare
UnfortunatelyStillAllegheney

 

I think it's interesting that the policy reads, "we may refuse to transport, or remove from any flight,..." and not, "we will refuse,..." In other words, it's still discretionary whether people not wearing shoes are allowed on-board. My experience suggests US Air has taken the stance that if you're not wearing shoes, you ain't gonna fly. The other airlines seem to be more along the lines of, "if a passenger isn't wearing shoes but otherwise seems calm and rational, why bother?"

That said, in these days of heightened airline security I don't think it's a good move to argue with a flight attendant. If requested, just put on your flip-flops, walk the short distance to your seat, and kick them off again. Do you really want to be kicked off a plane after spending the money for the ticket and having plans at your destination?

 

At some time in the past, the FAA had a rule against flying barefoot. All people 5 years and over had to wear shoes while flying, just like the USAir rules still state. Their rule seems to be gone (a search of their site on 'barefoot' now only turns up an employee living in Barefoot Bay, FL). The FAA site has now *recommends* wearing low-heeled, canvas or leather shoes for in case of emergencies; someone has apparently noticed it made no sense to single out bare feet while allowing 'footwear' including stiletto heels, platforms, flipflops, etc. Yeah! Makes me feel good that the FAA at least has people who are putting some real thought into safety rather than following myths

Unfortunately many individual US airlines have not bothered to review their safety rules, and still feel passengers are somehow safer in 'shoes, any kind of shoes' than barefoot. Bummer.

Indeed, airlines from other countries often don't have any rules relating to footwear, I've looked up KLM and EasyJet and they don't require shoes. However most airlines also give the captain of the flight a great amount of power over what goes on during his flight on his plane (no time to look up the quote right now, but KLM & EasyJet do have some blanket rule like 'instructions from the pilot must be followed at all times' or whatever). So if you happen to get a true foot-phobic as captain you may still run into trouble. Fortunately this is also less likely to happen on flights from non-US carriers; foot phobia is far less common here in Europe!

 

Eh. Instead, there should be regulations against taking off one's shoes if the only place one does that is on the plane. Makes for a very unpleasant olfactory experience for everyone.

Anyway, appearing calm and "normal" is probably the best way to get away with it. Wearing pants instead of shorts also helps—funny that my legs get cold but my feet don't. (It also helps if you're boarding on the élite line. I think you could be naked and they'd still be extra nice.)

 

yes the barefoot thing is "in case of emergency", yanno; if there is hot floor, sharp edges, broken glass. if the emergency is that severe being barefoot would be the least of problems.

also, if a ground emergency and one has to use the emergency slide the tell you to remove your shoes, go figure. :-/

 

Nothing is optional in an airport anymore. You do exactly as they say, get out, or go to jail.

 

Airports? Never had a problem. Barefoot boarding - different issue.

 

I was "bumped off" a BA flight at Christmas '06 (nothing to do with my bare feet, the flight was over booked) and took a new year resolution never to fly again, and i don't miss it at all.
Europe is small enough to go by train, which is more fun, although more expensive.

 

Certainly true for Europe. Here in the Pacific, however, we've little choice, as it would take weeks to get anywhere at all by boat.

FWIW, I've not had any problems in airports or boarding anywhere in the world. I've not, however, flown US Air and will be sure to make a point of avoiding doing so.

 

I get the argument of "It's only a risk to us, not you" for places like malls and such; but in a usually cramped and enclosed little place like a plane where you're stuck in close proximity to people for extended durations; I sure as hell don't want them barefooting it.

The whole hippie barefooting thing is great, but for every one of you guys who takes care of their feet there will be a half dozen woolly mammoths with gross, oozing, nasty feet that smell like a perpetual fart for the entire duration. Public transportation is gross enough as it is.

 

But all these airlines that don't allow bare feet are fine with flipflops, as do trains, buses and metro's. How do flipflops help against seeing those gross, oozing, nasty mammoth feet and smelling that perpetual fart smell?

 

I don't like personally care for flip flops either; but we must pick our battles somewhere.

 

It's ridiculous to pick on bare feet in particular if those are your reasons.

 

Come to think about it, do you really see that many bare feet in Pennsylvania that it's even worth fighting a battle over it? In all the years I've been barefoot, I've seen only about a dozen other people on bare feet, not even ONE a YEAR! (not counting arranged meetings). On the other hand the flipflops and other types of sandals with very narrow straps are hard to count once the weather gets nice. My estimate of bare feet against flipflops/narrow strapped sandals in summer would closer to 1 in 100,000 than 1 in 10,000.

Add to that the fact that someone who likes going barefoot would probably be far more likely to put flipflops on than to go straight to closed shoes, the impact your 'battle' would make on the number of crusty, hairy, smelly feet you see would be very close to zero. Maybe you could try promoting using foot lotion, shaving legs and getting pedicures instead.

 

Hey, what's wrong with hairy feet?
:-D

 

The myriad of unpleasant things the feet of those in question are usually covered in do smell, however. I understand posts that are not in enormous red font are much harder to read; but you should give it a shot anyway.

Considering the width and breadth of my 'battle' is writing a post or two on the internet once a year at most; it's not a very big conflict nor is it something I really give a damn about.



Generally I just get a kick out of barefoot folks acting like someone saying "You have to wear shoes on this private property for reason X" is a hate crime.