‘Disgusting' flight photo provokes fierce debate about plane travel etiquette
A passenger's conduct on a flight has sparked a furious debate around travel etiquette on aeroplanes.
Reddit user PepperLunchies shared a photograph of the offending passenger on the popular forum website, in a thread dedicated to the travel company Singapore Airlines. The photo shows the person sitting next to them with their shoes and socks removed, and their bare foot touching the seat in front.
'Just wondering, if a passenger is rude next to you, like this example here. Can I request to change seats or get him to put on his stupid shoes?' the Reddit user asked.
'He was like [that] throughout the flight except for meal times at which he kept asking for whiskey and only after confirming that it was a Johnny Walker red label….. for the life of me. Why did I have to put next to this heathen?'
The question prompted a wave of responses, with many offering differing verdicts on how to handle the situation.
'Ask him nicely. Then ask the crew nicely. Nothing else you can do,' one prominent response read.
'Omg I swear there are so many disgusting people in this world that i feel like i have to pay 4x the price to sit business so that I can avoid this kind of situation,' wrote another commenter.
'Disgusting, if you want to take out your socks and air your feet I suggest booking a business class ticket instead,' someone else remarked.
Others suggested escalating the situation with a more confrontational approach.
'Quite simple actually. Just use your feet and touch his feet, you're wearing shoes, he isn't,' one person said.
'I would accidentally tilt beverage all over and say sorry,' another wrote.
After being asked what the original poster's response was to the etiquette infraction was, they explained: 'No, [I didn't ask him to cover his feet]. I was afraid cos he seemed partially drunk. I mean, I just wanted no drama if possible. Yah sadly I can be a pushover lol.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
3 days ago
- The Sun
Travelers warned over ‘underweight' bag issue as flyer is stopped by airline agent – it was all down to what was inside
ONE disgruntled passenger has come under fire for their bag - which was deemed too light. A frustrated Delta Air Lines passenger shared his confusing experience on Reddit - which garnered plenty of attention. 2 The vexed traveler wrote: "I bought some large lightweight souvenirs that wouldn't fit in my checked bag or carry-on, so I stuffed them into the secret duffel bag that I always bring for such contingencies and tried to check it. "Imagine my surprise when the agent said I couldn't check my fluffy bag because it didn't weigh enough! Is this the bizarro luggage counter?" He continued: "The agent said I should go ahead and take it as a third carry-on, but I didn't want to get hassled by the gate agent. I've read in this sub that the counter agents will say stuff just to get rid of you, only to have the GA say 'nuh-uh'. "I didn't want to be forced to gate-check my backpack... so I found some heavy things in my other carry-ons to bring it up to three kilos. "Has this happened to anyone else? What do you think is the reasoning behind this? Maybe they have some weight-based tracking systems that wouldn't work? "Are they worried my bag could literally slip through a crack? I wonder if there are also minimum dimension requirements?" Users commented: "Might have been too lightweight and flexible to make it through the sorting machines and various belts to get from the bag check conveyor to the plane. "Need some heft to push through turns and flaps and rollers." A second admitted: "I work at the airport and I see how the ramp people treat those bags. They also get stuck between the belts." A third suggested: "Could easily be blown from the belt or from the cart." Why Standing Up Early After Landing in Turkey Could Cost You $67 "It actually makes perfect sense. The bags get thrown around, piled on etc. Your lightweight half-empty bag would have been smushed like a pancake. The only checkable bags are tightly packed ones that wouldn't get damaged in usual handling. Sometimes it's possible to have things boxed so they can be checked," proposed a fourth. A fifth mocked: " You checking helium balloons?" "Weight itself definitely isn't an issue. I've checked a small item under 1lb and had no issues," proclaimed another. Most airlines list the maximum weight of a checked bag on their website, but they do not state whether there is a minimum weight limit. Delta's website lists its price for the first and second "standard checked bag under 50 lbs." "I would've just checked my carry on and taken souvenirs with me," another user encouraged. While Delta's maximum checked bag weight is on their website, there is no minimum weight limit stated - nor items listed too light to carry. The website points to a "standard checked bag under 50lbs." 2
Metro
5 days ago
- Metro
Little country surrounded by Italy has no airport and just 34,000 residents
Europe is full of wonder. From the continent's highest capital, only accessible through France or Spain, to an airport that drops you in three countries at once, it's also home to the world's best beach and its most walkable city. Tried-and-tested destinations like Paris and Barcelona are popular for good reason. But Europe still has plenty of untapped gems left to explore. One of these is San Marino, which, like Andorra, you can only reach by travelling through another country first. This time, Italy. Nestled comfortably on the calf of the country's famous boot, the tiny mountainous microstate is surrounded by north-central Italy from every angle. It has no airport. There's not even a train station. At just 61 km², it's so small that you could fit approximately 3,994 San Marinos into the UK. And, with around 34,000 permanent residents, London's population is more than 250 times larger. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in history, culture, architecture, and natural beauty. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. Travellers describe San Marino as incredible, and many recommend tacking it onto an itinerary if you're travelling through Italy. On Reddit, one person called it the 'coolest place' they've been, ever, while another described it as one of the quaintest places in Europe. From the UK, the journey to San Marino is a little circuitous. The closest major airport is Rimini Federico Fellini International Airport (RMI) in Rimini, Italy, around 11 miles away. Other nearby airports include Florence, Bologna, and Venice. Getting to Rimini won't break the bank. A one-way Ryanair flight from London Stansted on June 25 is £13, and takes around 2 hours 15 minutes. From the airport to San Marino, you have multiple options depending on your budget. The quickest route is a taxi, which you can book in advance. The journey into central San Marino takes around half an hour, and based on one person with luggage costs approximately €95 (£80). Like any taxi directly from the airport (taking into consideration which part of the country you're travelling to, the taxi company, and extra fees like night rates or pickup charges), prices can vary. The cheaper option is a combination of trains and buses. First, you'll need to take a train from Rimini Airport to Rimini Central Station. This takes around 8 minutes and costs between €1 and €4 (84p-£3.38). Then, walk over the road from the station to the bus stop. There should be a kiosk near Burger King, where you can purchase tickets to San Marino Bus Station. There are two main bus services, operated by Bonelli Bus or Benedettini, both of which take around 45 to 50 minutes. Tickets start from €7 (£5.91). As the fifth-smallest country in the world, San Marino makes for a perfect day trip destination from Italy. But while you can whiz through the sights in 24 hours, many recommend sticking around for at least a couple of days to get a feel of the place. San Marino is an excellent choice for history lovers. It's the oldest republic in the world, founded over 17 centuries ago. Though it claims to have been an independent state since 301, the Holy See (the universal government of the Catholic Church) confirmed its independence in 1631. With age comes some pretty spectacular architecture. For example, the Basilica di San Marino: the country's most sacred building is not only dedicated to Saint Marino, the founder of the Republic, it also preserves the relics of the patron. The church is open for daily worship and visitors can marvel at the neoclassical building, mosaic floor, and elaborate statues for free. There's also the Three Towers of San Marino, located on the three peaks of the capital's Monte Titano, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The oldest and most famous is Guaita, which served briefly as a prison in the 11th century. The second, Cesta, is home to a museum in honour of Saint Marinus, where you'll find Medieval Arms. The third tower, Montale, was constructed in the 14th century, but is not open to the public. A San Marino Musei Pass allows access to multiple museums, including the Cesta Tower, and costs €11 (£9.28). Even if you're not into history, the short hike to the top of the towers offers panoramic views of the surrounding Italian countryside and coastline. @two_travelling_teachers_ Things we recommend doing on your trip to San Marino: 1. Walk up to the main city from the Borgo Maggiore car park (where the cable car starts), a lovely shaded walk and good for getting the heart rate up! 2. Visit the 3 towers! 2 of these 3 defensive towers are open to the public and entrance for them together is €6pp. The walk between these towers is particularly scenic, as well as the views from the towers themselves – this was a highlight of the visit 3. Public palace + Piazza Liberta, snap a pic and enjoy a moment at this important government building and enjoy the views from the piazza! 4. Basilica deal Santo, an 18th century Catholic basilica dedicated to the patron Saint of San Marino. 5. The views around Cava dei Balestrieri, (an old quarry from the 1800's) where you can find today, some of the most lovely views with cafes and restaurants dotted along the viewpoint to soak up these views from. 6. Liburni garden, a small peaceful garden with with a large fountain at the centre. 7. Tax free shopping- if you didn't already know San Marino is famous amongst Italians as a destination for our led shopping due to its VAT free status! 8. The cable car is a great and scenic way to access the city from the bottom without hassle! Costs are €2.80 one way or €4.50 return per person! Enjoy your trip to San Marino! . . . . . . . . #sanmarino #sanmarino #daytrip #slowtravel #exploreitaly ♬ original sound – char 🇵🇸 After a day of sightseeing, head to Piazza della Libertà, San Marino's main square. It's the heartbeat of the Republic, and a popular meeting place for both tourists and locals. The standout here is the Statue of Liberty, a marble sculpture created by the Italian artist Stefano Galletti. It's a stunning addition to the many cafes and restaurants in the square, which offer al fresco dining in summer months. No trip to San Marino is complete without trying the famous Torta Tre Monti. Translating to 'Three Mountain Cake,' this traditional Sammarinese delicacy – which represents the three towers – is made from layers of thin waffled wafers, filled with chocolate or hazelnut crème. It's then covered in a chocolate fondant. (Sammarinese refers to the people, language, and culture of San Marino.) The dessert isn't hard to find. It's a staple of San Marino's food scene, with many bakeries and cafes selling the dish. Sammarinese cuisine is similar to Italian. After all, it's a landlocked country, meaning it shares ingredients and a strong culinary heritage with its neighbours. Key dishes that scream San Marino include Piadina, a thin flatbread often served as street food. It's folded and filled with meats like salami and prosciutto, plus cheeses like stracchino or mozzarella. Strozzapreti, an elongated hand-rolled pasta, is also popular here. So is polenta sul tagliere (meaning polenta on a cutting board), which is accompanied by sausage gravy and grated pecorino cheese. According to TripAdvisor, one of the best restaurants in San Marino is La Terrazza Ristorante, an Italian and Mediterranean eatery. With unspoiled landscapes of verdant countryside and medieval buildings, previous diners have labelled it as serving 'delicious and delicate dishes' with 'a priceless view.' And prices aren't astronomical. A main dish of Cappellacci filled with ricotta and spinach, tomato sauce, and basil oil costs €16 (£13.51), while Grilled beef, carrot cream, rosemary, baked shallots, and brown beef sauce costs €22 (£18.57). For something more rustic, try Il Piccolo, an underground restaurant carved into the rock. The establishment has been praised by previous diners for its impeccable service and high-quality food, all of which don't cost the earth. Ravioli stuffed with sea bass is only €12 (£10), and scampi, porcini mushrooms, and truffle is €15 (£12.66). Once you're done gorging on San Marino's delicious but affordable food, use some of the change for a shopping trip. The country is known for its lighter tax rates, meaning you can snap up luxury products from high-end boutiques, or local crafts and products for a cheaper price. San Marino enjoys a humid subtropical climate, meaning summers are warm and dry, and the winters are cool. More Trending From December on, expect light snowfall, which is typical for inland areas of the central Italian Peninsula. Temperatures average around 4°C during this time, but can drop to -4°C. During summer, temperatures rise to a comfortable 25°C, while spring and autumn can range between 13°C and 20°C. Whichever month you visit depends on your travel preferences. But one thing's for sure, rain, shine, or snowfall, you won't be disappointed by San Marino's beauty. MORE: Bugaboo launch the Butterfly 2 that makes family outings a breeze MORE: The best women's hiking clothes and accessories for successful summer hikes MORE: Antler launches new Summer Capsule collection just in time for summer
Times
6 days ago
- Times
Most airlines ignore economy — but these are the ones doing it well
Ah, the golden age of travel, said no one flying in economy. Don't mind us: we're too busy trying to fold up our limbs so we take up as few cubic inches as possible, reassert our extremities on armrests or find a space for the puny handbag that was all we were allowed to take for free. Perhaps the boss of Emirates has a point. This week Sir Tim Clark said that economy class has long been ignored in favour of premium seats and is stuck in the 1990s. While there has been huge innovation in the expensive seats, including bumper premium economy cabins (Virgin Atlantic), snazzy double beds in first (Singapore Airlines), customisable lighting (Cathay Pacific's new Aria Suite) and 'ultra-first-class' (Lufthansa's Allegris cabin), plain old economy has remained just that. There has been some innovation. On the big blue-sky thinking end there's Global Airlines, whose first transatlantic flight took off from Glasgow to New York last month. The entrepreneur James Asquith wanted to recover some of the magic of the 'golden age of travel' with his new venture, which involves posh amenity kits and even champagne in economy, but after two odd one-off charter flights there's no indication when it might fly again. At the bottom end there is talk of stand-up seats, or double-decker seats, which the planemaker Airbus is exploring with the Spanish firm Chaise Longue, to pack even more passengers in. Unfortunately economy class is a topic I'm extraordinarily well qualified to talk about. You might think travel editors turn left but I find myself in seat 54K far more often than I'd like to admit. Over the past 15 years of doing this job I've flown on hundreds of flights in what feels like a billion different seats, from short hops on Ireland's Aer Lingus to long-haul travel on Air New Zealand. I have seen the state of decay across different brands in everything from 'lite' fares that only involve hand baggage and no food, all while paying hundreds of pounds for the privilege. Of course the state of economy varies hugely depending on the airline you're flying with, the aircraft itself and how old it is. Seat 26F on a knackered old Boeing 747 is not the same as seat 26F on a top-of-the-range Airbus A350. I'll take the cheap seats on an Airbus A380 — the world's largest passenger aircraft — where window seats in economy come with handy storage bins. But some airlines do a much better job than others. The Middle Eastern 'Gulfies', for example, are actually pretty good, although naturally bombastic products such as Qatar Airways' Qsuites — spacious cubicles for up to four sheikhs only, given the exorbitant cost — munch all the column inches. I flew from Heathrow via Dubai to Sri Lanka and back in an Emirates middle seat a few months ago; if you forgive the sensible beige-and-red colour scheme, plus its old-fashioned swirly carpet-like seats, you'll find hundreds of box-office films, yummy meals and some natty storage for your phone and glasses. (My only complaint is that due to Emirati taste each film had the language sanitised, so Bridget Jones's memorable line about the Iraqi dictator came out as: 'I'd rather have a job washing Saddam Hussein's cars.' But then that's not economy's fault.) Same for Qatar Airways, with 13.3in TVs and amenity kits that now clog up my bathroom. It helps that its Doha hub, with its indoor waterfall and garden, is one of the most gorgeous airports there is. • Dear hotels, baths belong in bathrooms. The clue is in the name Air New Zealand and Qantas deserve a mention for their plush economy cabins — because the distances that they fly are so great, they have to be state-of-the-art. Qantas, which is planning nonstop London-to-Sydney flights, has a 'wellbeing zone' for mid-flight yoga and stretching on its Airbus A350 aircraft; Air New Zealand has the SkyCouch, where passengers can lounge across three seats as if they're in business. Somewhere in the middle is our very own British Airways. Although it did away with its free short-haul meals years ago and now you're lucky to get a bottle of water and a bag of ludicrously small pretzels, last year it announced an overhaul of its economy seats on short-haul aircraft, with snazzy quilted leather seats and various fast-charging USB plugs. On its transatlantic cousin in the Oneworld group of airlines, American Airlines, economy passengers do at least get a big can of Diet Coke to go with the free nuts. On the topic of food, I've always had a soft spot for Air France, which serves free champagne in economy; Swiss, which gives passengers a little bar of milk chocolate; and Virgin Atlantic with its free pots of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. It's the little things! Give me any of this over the Chinese airlines' 'vegetarian' options that actually mean chicken. Space is the main gripe of those who fly regularly down the back. The average pitch — the space between the back of one seat and the one in front — in economy is about 29 inches. A Which? report from April this year found that Aer Lingus and Air Canada had the most generous seat pitch in economy for a long-haul airline (31 inches), although the American airline JetBlue beats the lot of them with its ultra-wide seats, among the industry's best at 18 inches. • The best business class, first class and premium economy cabins You don't need to cross the pond to find this, though. The Scottish regional airline Loganair has a 30in seat pitch, the most generous among the short-haul carriers; as well as space you'll also get a lovely Harris Tweed tartan headrest cover, a proper brew and a Tunnock's caramel wafer. But presumably not on its shortest flight, which lasts just 53 seconds, from Westray to Papa Westray in Scotland's Orkney Islands. In this very scientific analysis it feels mean to target budget airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz. They all get you from A to B safely with no faff; you'll have to bring your own martini glasses and caviar, as two TikTokkers did on an economy flight from New York to Miami. • Hand luggage: Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways policies explained That said, Wizz has started to fly medium-haul flights from London to Saudi Arabia — sevenish hours — with no free food, just one small handbag and no opportunity to recline the seat. You might need more than a martini to deal with that. If you are flying in economy, here's how to behave 1. Don't hog the armrests, especially if you have a window or an aisle seat. If you're stuck in the middle seat, this is your real estate to annex. Elbow others out of the way as appropriate.2. Respect the overhead bin space. If all you've got is an anorak and a tiny handbag, don't throw them up there with the Samsonites, which passengers have no doubt paid through the nose for. Put them under your seat and move them up there only when everyone else has boarded.3. Don't put your feet on the seats. In 2025 this shouldn't need saying but I've lost count of the number of passengers who disrobe and then put their icky feet everywhere — including poking through the gaps in the seats in front. Quite the mid-flight sharpener.4. If you're in a window or middle seat, control your liquid intake and don't tap passengers on the shoulder constantly asking to get up. This is particularly important on a night flight. What do you think airlines could do to improve their economy offering?
