Air Travelers in Asia Have Turned This Smelly, Barefoot Flyer Into a Cause Célèbre
Jeff Edwards June 29, 2017
The HK Express passenger who took to social media to complain about a fellow air traveler, appears to have had good reason to be outraged, but now media outlets and the flying public are taking up the unidentified passenger’s tale of woe at 35,000 feet and sharing her grief. It seems that the saga of the awful passenger who proudly put her bare feet above her head and demanded other passengers make way to accommodate her bizarre behavior has certainly struck a nerve.
The more-than-unpleasant onboard experience has garnered headlines from a number of publications in China, including The Apple Daily and animated news site on.cc. The strange story is even being celebrated as far away as the UK, where the Daily Mail explored the legend of “the passenger from hell.”
It’s hard to believe that the affair started with a single Facebook post about a nightmare flight. Of course, the candid photographs of the barefoot flyer smugly enjoying her extra legroom also really helped to set the tone.
“She and two of her children hit my chair and asked me to show them my boarding pass,” the now famous post from the aggrieved flyer read. “Later a flight attendant came and said the mother wanted to have more leg room. The flight attendant suggested I move to another seat as she (the flight attendant) worried that the bad smell (from the passenger’s feet) might effect [sic] my flight experience.”
The passenger says that she agreed to change seats, partially to take refuge from the unwelcome foot odor and partially to help the flight attendant to “settle the dispute.” Thankfully, she also managed to take a quick moment to capture images of the somewhat oblivious and completely shoeless passenger before relocating.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
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Shades of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. John Candy's "My dogs are barking." hahahaha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd5dYQHoZS0
She was the lucky one. She could relocate. Years ago, I was on a United flight in domestic first class when a woman took off her shoes and slathered her feet with Ben Gay. She was directly behind me and proceeded to put both feet through the hole between my seat and my partner's and rest them on our snack tray. The odor was so strong it went down the economy aisle as well. The FA would not do a thing about it despite multiple complaints from passengers in first who could all smell it. The woman was from India and I suppose someone was afraid of being politically incorrect but, had she been an American woman, I suspect United might have been braver. No compensation for any of us. Flying in first was a special treat for my grandson. Really, I was outraged.
Oh the agony of defeat!