Traveler Details 'Nightmare' Airplane Encounter With Passenger's Bare Feet

At Travel + Leisure, we aim to make flying as comfortable as possible. Whether it's finding the best travel pillows, dishing on must-have carry-on items for a smooth ride, or picking out the plushest travel shoes to wear to the airport, comfort is the name of our game.

But some people just take it way too far.

Exhibit A: The “nightmare” that traveler Jessie Char, 30, encountered on a JetBlue flight from Long Beach, California, to San Francisco this week.

Char was having an especially pleasant flight when things went downhill fast. She tells it best:

“I was flying back home yesterday and was thrilled to discover that I was the only person seated in my row,” she told Travel + Leisure. “It's right up there with being upgraded to first class! I even left all the arm rests up so I could live it up on my private bench in the sky.”

“A few minutes in, one of the arm rests came crashing down. I looked over, figuring there was a loose hinge. A few moments later, a foot slowly emerged like a lizard hatching from an egg and seeing its first light of day. Just beyond that: another foot,” she told T+L.

Like any good user of the internet in 2017, Char's first reaction was to sit back in her seat and discreetly snap a photo. That's when things got even worse.

“As I logged onto the airplane wifi to post this monstrosity, I saw the foot reach over to open and shut the window,” she continued. “I leaned into the aisle and made eye contact with a flight attendant, but by the time she made her way to my seat the feet slowly retracted back into the abyss of row 6.”

Char said the “owner of the feet” didn't appear to be very tall, and also happened to be sitting in an extra legroom seat.

“I'm very tolerant on airplanes because I totally get that everyone is cramped and miserable. I can literally sleep in a middle seat next to a crying baby and be totally fine,” she said. “But I can't handle it when people have no respect for the people around them.”

Many of Char's Twitter followers agreed, including Brittany Prime and Mark De Angelis, who provided photos of similarly gross situations.

“Next time, dip your fingers in a cup of liquid, and flick towards the feet with a perfectly synchronised fake sneeze,” one Twitter user suggested.

We don't condone sneezing (or fake sneezing) on your fellow passengers, but please: Keep your feet to yourselves, and we won't even need to contemplate it.