Revealed: The disgusting reason you should never take your shoes off on a plane

By POPPY ATKINSON GIBSON

Published: 09:20 GMT, 15 February 2025 | Updated: 15:21 GMT, 15 February 2025

Most people look forward to their holidays and can’t wait to hop on a plane to sunnier destinations. 

For some, the family holiday is a once-a-year occurrence but for others, flying can become a familiar activity. 

Frequent flyers whether they travel for work or leisure, can sometimes get too comfortable and this even extends to what they wear – or don’t.

Most people have come in to contact with a passenger who takes their shoes off as soon as the plane has left the runway, and while some might not like it, there are actually important reasons to keep shoes on – and it’s not for the sake of the person sat next to you. 

The real reason is that aeroplanes are not as clean and sanitary as people expect. 

In fact, most planes are teeming with germs and bacteria from all the hundreds of customers clocking up air miles each day.   

And while the air on a plane may be ventilated and regularly cleaned, the same can’t be said for the cabin. 

Usually the cabin crew use the quick 15 or 20 minute gap between flights to go round and clear away the most obvious mess.

Usually the cabin crew use the quick 15 or 20 minute gap between flights to go round and clear away the most obvious mess but they only do a thorough clean every four to six weeks

According to pilot Patrick Smith, author of Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel, staff only have time to wipe down high-touch areas like toilet door handles as well as take out the rubbish left behind on seats and in seat back pockets. 

If there’s enough time, the floor might get a quick vacuum and obvious stains are cleared up but otherwise any cleaning done is fairly surface level. 

Aircraft only go through a full deep clean every month to six weeks meaning the seats and carpet can harbour bacteria and germs because cabin crew simply don’t have time to disinfect the entire plane.

And it’s not just the carpets – arm rests and tray tables are also often filthy and general advice is to bring antibacterial wipes with you to clean down wherever you’re sitting. 

Additionally, cabin crew aren’t actually required to give the toilets a proper scrub on most UK flights; and simply need to ensure they remain tidy. 

So that mysterious puddle on the floor could be all kinds of bodily fluids including urine. 

That means for those who decide to go barefoot on planes, if they need to use the toilet, they could well be coming in to contact with some disgusting substances.

Cabin crew aren’t actually required on most UK flights to clean the toilets, only to keep them tidy so passengers can be exposed to all kinds of germs as they settle in for their flight

And some don’t even bother to give them a quick tidy – instead using the cleaning time as a chance to get five minutes of time for themselves. 

Marika Mikusova, a former flight attendant previously told MailOnline: ‘When the crew goes to “clean the lavatory”, what that really means for a lot of them is that they just lock themselves inside for five minutes to check their cell phones.’ 

While taking off your shoes is considered poor form generally on public transport, on aeroplanes its actually against policy and could get you removed from the flight completely.

While it’s against dress code to forego shoes, there’s another important reason why you should keep your shoes on.

Because cabins are not cleaned regularly, those who opt to go barefoot could be making contact with all manner of germs and bacteria and in some cases could even pick up nasty infections.

David Krause, the former owner of a business that manufactured cleaning products used on aeroplanes told Travel and Leisure : ‘Those who decide to go barefoot might be picking up bacteria and viruses that could negatively impact their health.

‘Likewise, the concern of picking up a fungal infection is always there as well.’ 

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Revealed: The disgusting reason you should never take your shoes off on a plane

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