An awkward airplane encounter has sparked debate after a woman found herself sitting next to someone who rested her bare foot right next to her during the journey.
Ashwini was flying from Bagdogra to Mumbai when the woman sitting next to her put her foot up on her leg, almost touching Ashwini.
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"I was madly uncomfortable and started thinking of ways I could signal her to move it without verbally communicating," Ashwini, who didn't want to share her surname, told Newsweek. "I stared at her and her foot a few times, but she was so engrossed in watching reels that she never noticed."
After snapping a picture, the traveler decided to share the moment on Reddit's r/indiasocial subreddit where it sparked attention ranging from sympathy to amusement.
A picture of the bare foot on an airplane that one passenger shared online. "I was madly uncomfortable," the passenger, Ashwini, told Newsweek.A picture of the bare foot on an airplane that one passenger shared online. "I was madly uncomfortable," the passenger, Ashwini, told Newsweek.night_lows/RedditOne user, u/aamere-nunupe-bethja suggested: "Do the same but with opposite leg. Foot to foot massage supremacy."
While u/RoboticWarfare, said they didn't think it was so bad: "If they have a nice foot, I wouldn't mind."
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Others believed that since the foot was clean, it wasn't as big a deal.
"It's clean, and not touching me, I'll probably not be the happiest, but I don't mind," wrote u/ReplyreplyShareShare, while u/ella_si123 said: "Looks clean. My feet are cracked and always end up dirty."
This is far from the first time bare feet on public transport have sparked viral attention—like the man dubbed "gross" for putting his feet on the seat or the woman who put her bare feet on a tray table.
According to the 2022 Airplane Etiquette Violations Survey of nearly 1,098 U.S. adults, a number of public transport behaviors frustrate others.
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Seat kickers and drunk people are among the most annoying to fellow passengers, while armrest hogs (39 percent), seat recliners (38 percent) and talkative travelers (29 percent) are also some of the most hated reported habits.
Twenty-three percent of those surveyed listed removing shoes as one of the most frustrating behaviors.
Despite some Reddit users saying they would be OK with the barefoot passenger, the general consensus was that it wasn't acceptable.
Redditor u/aestforu said: "Ugh, I hate when someone does this. I hate feeling any type of feet close to me," and u/LinearArray simply described the encounter as "disgusting."
"I shared on reddit to see if I'm the crazy one to be so bothered," Ashwini explained. "I constantly feared if she touched me by mistake with her foot because I really didn't want that."
