Traveller's gross mid-flight act sends Aussie woman into fit of rage
On a flight home from Europe, an Aussie woman ended up getting much more than she bargained for after a man decided to come and join her in her empty row of seats...
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Katie took her seat on a recent flight between London to Shanghai with a feeling of triumph.
"I was stoked to have a row of four empty seats to myself," the Aussie, who recently got back from Europe, tells Escape.
But the second the cabin crew locked the doors she was joined by a large man who sought the empty space for himself. Katie didn't mind initially, figuring - fair enough, we all want more room and assuming "we would each get two seats to ourselves."
However, proving the maxim "give them an inch and they'll take the whole damn row and waggle their feet in your face," the man soon breached this unwritten contract.
The luxurious extra seat situation soon became an 11-hour nightmare.
"When the seatbelt sign blinked off he immediately started lifting all the armrests including my own, to which I shook my head very forcefully and said no."
"He looked confused, and over the next 10 hours repeatedly tried, putting his feet over all the tray tables, against the seat in front of me and even put his feet on my legs at one point."
It may not be as disturbing as this guy, who made love to a footrest with his toes (leaving Escape writer Alexandra Carlton suppressing dry heaves) but it was incredibly annoying.
Katie had gone from having a whole row to herself, to reluctantly sharing half of it, to being pinned to her own seat by a pair of feet.
See also: 'Menage a trois' flight trend sends TikTok into meltdown
"I had to physically remove his feet and legs off my seat, body and tray table much to his confusion. The flight attendants were unsympathetic and he moved slightly each time I readjusted him, only to end up back in the same positions."
"By the time we landed in Shanghai I was livid and exhausted."
Abominable in-flight acts are nothing new. And for some reason, they always seem to involve feet. We've seen people wiggle their toes on the ceiling, underneath the seat of the person in front of them and on other people's armrests.
One poor woman was appalled to find a pair of crusty toes nudging her noggin back in 2022.
Some say this is because seats are getting smaller (so people are taking their revenge on how uncomfortable they are out on each other) and our standards of morality are in decline.
John Hannan, Digital Director of Delicious, Escape and Body+Soul, says people are treating plane cabins more and more like their living rooms, sharing that on a recent flight he had someone fall asleep on his shoulder.
He tried multiple times to wake them, explaining the situation was "very awkward." By the time they woke up they had slid down until they were "almost in my lap," he says.
See also: 15 things that make you an annoying traveller
Simone Mitchell, Escape's Associate Digital Editor, has also noticed a decline in in-flight manners, saying: "I once had a woman with long, wiry, hair drape her mane over the back of her seat while she slept."
"Which meant I had her hair all over my entertainment screen. And dangling over my meal tray. One of the grossest things I have had happen to me on a flight."
Over on TikTok, there is even a genre of videos where people show the gross ways they make themselves more comfortable on flights. One user posted a video showing how they wedge their toes into the seat in front of them like they were rock climbing, writing "literally have to grip your toes on the smallest surfaces on the plane to get comfy."
Another claimed: "feet on airplane seats are ok."
Others theorise that people are just gross - if you're rude on dry land you're not going to hold back on being selfish just because you're crammed in with a bunch of other poor suckers on a flight.
See also: People complaining about bare feet on flights need to get over themselves
Whether you think we lost our manners during 2020 and never got them back, or whether you think this is just nature (and the world's foot fetishists) healing, experts have warned travellers to never go barefoot on a flight.
California-based podiatrist Ebonie Vincent said that being barefoot leaves travellers exposed to bad bacteria.
As for me? I'll take bacteria over someone's stinky feet anyday.
Speaking of etiquette, we need your help settling some of the country’s biggest arguments. Have your say in The Great Aussie Debate here:
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Originally published as Traveller's gross mid-flight act sends Aussie woman into fit of rage
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