Hygiene: Can I request not to take my shoes off?
 

The thought of walking over that filthy floor in my socks is horrible. Plus, I have a plantar wart on the bottom of one of my feet, although it'd be covered by the socks.

While we're on the subject, is there any way to avoid putting my expensive suit jacket into that disgusting, never-cleaned gray box which everyone's shoes have been in?

I too find the shoe take off thing disgusting. I haven't raised much of a fuss about it, though I do mumble how gross it is while waiting for them to come out of the x ray.

I tend to take them off at the very last second, I don't take them off well far back in the line like the sheeple.

Also, if the xray is far from the wtmd, I do sometimes mention this is disgusting to the TSO, in a nice way. The more they get the message, the more the slight possibility this unsanitary practice will end.

The TSO's are just sheep too. We should make KH take off his shoes and walk around in the filth he calls airport security.

Last time I brought paper towels to put on the bottom of the bin. Or you could bring a large plastic bag to protect it.

If you ask Spiff, Kippie is filth. He'd make the airport floor even worse.

Good idea.

Will the screeners allow little blue paper booties for the feet - like the ones you sometimes see at 'Open-houses' or at hospitals? Maybe that would satisfy OPs footwear issue.

DD

They are provided in the security line at Little Rock.

I buy them on e-bay. Kinda funny since I sell Medical equipment :p Usually get them in lots of 24-50, and carry at least 4 pairs in my backpack on every trip. I refuse to walk thru airports barefoot. I get a few strange looks, but then I hear quite a few "why didn't we think of that?"

Sure enough, one of the TSA would tell you it's not allowed since it's over 1 qt.....:td:

Safe travels
Tim

The "temple socks" I used in SE Asia are now my "(in)security socks." Just can't do summer/sandal weather without them. If you see someone dancing around on one foot putting on socks as she approaches the belt, that would likely be me.

I always remind the passenger that they're about to spend several hours in a tin can with several hundred other people breathing in recirculated oxygen... ;)

It's really only 50% recirculated. ;)

I've brought those, too. Just be careful taking them off after they have touched that foul floor.

Providing that you are wearing a substantial pair of shoes and not loafers or flip-flops, just tell them you have orthopedic shoes and can't take them off. You'll have to get them swabbed but they can't force you to remove them NOR require you to explain the reason for wearing "orthopedic" shoes. Works for me.

A big DITTO here.

I've seen people use the shower caps from hotels (the plastic ones with elastic) to cover their feet.

Ok, we can figure this out... pinch the bootie between your first two toes; then, grab the bootie from the achilles heal area and pull them off inside out! Throw them into a baggie for disposal... All those with OCD, raise your hand (^)

Btw, Dr. Wanderlust, using hotel shower caps is a great idea since they almost never get used for their intended purpose :cool:

DD

MSY provides disposeable booties for people like me who can't stand the thought of walking barefoot on the gross airport floor.

The TSA agent was wondering why I was standing there with my feet all scrunched up and sideways.

She told me they have booties.

I don't know if all airports have them.

I am a diabetic and frequently have foot ulcers that can take several months to heal. After the Ricard Reid incident, the TSA started "requesting" people to take off their shoes (even though X-rays don't detect explosives). I usually complied as I just wanted to get through the harassment lines that try to pass for security. While coming from someplace in Canada through DTW on my way home, the TSA lady barker told me to take off my shoes. I complied and walked through the WTMD. The barker then asked me what that red stuff was I just tracked through the WTMD. Blood had soaked through my bandage and socks and got tracked on the floor. This shut down that security lane until they could get it cleaned up. The barker then got mad at me for causing this shutdown (although her supervisor apologized to me and sent her off to another line).

I told my doctor about the incident at my next appointment and was chastised for taking my shoes off in the first place (I haven't removed them going through security since then). Having a blood-soaked bandage isn't the normal rule unless I have been traveling all day and haven't had a chance to change things out. However, the risk of infection is there. Considering how long it takes for those woulds to heal and the fact that I spent a week in the hospital taking care on one ulcer back in March, I just refuse to remove them (after explaining why). Ofttimes I get a retaliatory secondary or an ignorant screener who thinks he has to do a complete booty pat down, but I just take their name and file a report with the airport FSD.

I have a few pair of no-slip socks that I carry with me, the type they give out to patients in the hospital. They are substantial enough to protect my feet when walking through and not as slippery as the disposable ones provided by some airports. I bring baggies with me to hold them after they get used and then wash them at home between trips. It's yet another pain point added to what travel is today, on top of the stupid baggie and increased cost of toiletries like toothpaste for traveling.

GeorgiaRebel - your doctor was totally right. As a diabetic, you should not go barefoot in any public place. My mother has similar issues with her feet that has me fairly paranoid for myself at this point, her infections were finally stopped but actions beyond medicine were being discussed at one point.

All TSA employees should work w/o shoes on to demonstrate that it's safe to do this. Do a study to see how much their rate of foot infections, warts, etc. increases.

Of course that would probably be illegal under workplace safety regulations. :mad:

you have two options and in both cases you should not be taking your shoes off.

1. tell the screener that you are diabetic and have foot ulcers and taking your shoes off poses a health risk to you.
   
2. have your doctor give you a letter on his/her letterhead explaing the above and show it to the screeners
3. carry a copy of this with you (http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/assets/pdf/sp...needs_memo.pdf). page 3 is where it's at and this may/may not get you by without the above but it has never failed me with my wearing orthotics (see below)

n.b. never let the letter or tsa memo out of your sight-if they start to walk off to show it someone else, stop them and politely ask that the other person come to you..

in either case, do not take your shoes off but willingly offer to have secondary on your shoes. that's what i do when i tell ths screeners "i am wearing orthotics and i'll need a secondary swab on my shoes". if they ask what happened, i simply say "ankle surgery" and that's it. if they ask "can you take your shoes off", i simply tell them "no and your poilicy forbids you from asking me that". this tact should aslo work for you as well.

Good for you!
 

Everybody with diabetes needs to refuse to remove their shoes. If that would happen, maybe the TSA would finally begin to get the message that it's unhealthy to be tramping over filthy floors sans shoes.

I recently was unable to take my shoes off due to foot surgery, and had a note stating that from my Dr. They took me over for the secondary, and said I had to remove my shoes because "they alarmed" and had to be put through the x-ray.

I will be flying again in two weeks. Do I have to remove the shoes if they alarm?

No!
 

No, you do not have to remove your shoes if you have a medical condition. AND they cannot ask you about your condition. If they try to push it, just ask if they have a medical degree and advise that they are coming close to violating medical privacy. Call for a supervisor.

They should only swab your shoes, but if you get a screener with attitude, you're likely to face a groping.

See goalie's post above and print out his link.

are you sure it was your shoes that alarmed? how did they alarm-during your walk thru the wtmd or with the hand wand? do you have any metal pins in your foot? if the hand wand, did it physically touch your shoes? if it did physically touch your shoes, that is a screener ploy as physical contact with the hand wand will cause an alarm. if that is the case, ask the screener to re-screen your shoes but a) get a new wand, b) have them turn it on in front of you and c) tell the screener not to touch your shoes with it as it WILL alarm due to physical contact. if no alarm, simply remind the screener that all that is required is an edt swab of your shoes (and perhaps your palms). if you have metal pins in your foot, tell the screener as that might be causing the alarm and if that is the case, then you definitely do not have to remove your shoes as that is a medical condtion but i would have your doctor's letter modified to reflect that.

as i posted above in post #22, you do not have to remove your shoes if you have a medical condition and/or are wearing some sort of othopedic device nor are the screeners allowed to a) ask what your condition is* or ask you/require you to remove your shoes.

*i wil volunteer that info but only basic info-i.e. i've had ankle surgery but that's all they get

I do wear orthotics. The last time I kept my shoes on I got the full molester pat down, not the "swab only" I should have gotten. I wasn't SSSSed and I didn't set off the WTMD. The WTMD screener asked "what are orthotics?" before he sent me for a full secondary. I tried to tell him I only needed a swab since I didn't alarm and got an arrogant "Oh really? Hmmmm..." answer.

Did you file a complaint? If not, you certainly should have done so.

I talked to the supervisor and got the necessary information (badge numbers and last names) and then misplaced the information before I got home. I was rather annoyed with myself for that. The supervisor was very polite and did acknowledge I was "mostly" right when I said that I understood the proper procedure was swab only when I didn't alarm the WTMD. Mr. Teeny-Peeny looked a bit uncomfortable when he was called over for me to get his badge # and name.

I was also annoyed with the female screener because she wouldn't listen to me either. She just kept saying to me "If you'll just be quiet we can get this over quickly" instead of answering my questions. I think she knew Mr. T-P was wrong but wouldn't say so to a passenger.

I wore my shoes through and did not alarm the WTMD. They proceeded to do a full body patdown and did a bag search. No one was able to explain to me why they needed to do that if the only problem was my shoes.

Mike

they were flat out wrong :mad: and i would have told them that tsa policy is that if there is no alarm with shoes on, it is a swab and that's it. the patdown is fine as i run about 50/50 with it but they need to have cause to look in your bag-either SSSS or something showed up on the x-ray machine (and they are required to tell you what they are looking at/for).

That's what I thought. I've looked on the TSA website and couldn't find anything on this topic. Do we have an idea of where I could find the official policy on this?

Thanks!
Mike

Done under the guise of "continuous screening?"

Excellent suggestion! Better yet, if everyone refused to go shoeless on a particular day, they'd really get the message. It could be called "National Shoe Day" or something like that. The TSA couldn't ground everybody for refusing to participate in their sick and disgusting ritual, which has absolutely nothing to do with security.

Out of "an abundance of caution," Kippie would probably ground all aircraft on that day. :mad:

This was exactly the excuse the supervisor gave me at MKE today when I was groped after not taking my shoes off and not setting off the magnetometer. :td:

And I told him what I thought of his "excuse"... :rolleyes:

Maybe he would. Of course, that would cause an enormous outpouring of protest from the airlines, not to mention the abundance of outrage from most pax. It would certainly help to make the public aware of just how useless and unsanitary the shoe carnival is.

Sick and disgusting? That's a wee bit harsh, eh? Considering what's happening in Afganastan, what you described is just a tip toe through the tulips. :p

The United States is a developed country. Here, people normally do not walk around in public buildings barefoot or in their stocking feet. As another poster mentioned, winter weather means sloppy conditions. Most airport restrooms have liquid of one sort or another on the floors, which liquid then gets tracked all over, including the floors at checkpoints. There is a reason why life expectancy has historically been lower in Afghanistan than it is here in the United States.

I think it's a great idea. Set a date 6 months in the future and start to organize a national day of civil disobedience at the airports.