mustkill

Hey guys,

Flying tomorrow again, wondering if it's a good/bad idea to wear thongs / flipflops / slippers? (there are many names for this footwear ==" )

Flying Long-ish haul, ~10hrs, and I feel rather comfortable in thongs but wondering if there are any big disadvantages? I have never tried this and have always worn runners or proper shoes.

Cheers

zigzagg900

Whatever you choose to wear I'd include socks. You wouldn't want to walk through security in your bare feet. God know what's on those floors.

mustkill

Australia isn't that tight on security that we have to take off shoes.. last time I went through. ^

Bralo20

If you want to where thongs I would certainly hope that you are either a very good looking girl or otherwise wear some pants or skirt above it

Otherwise just follow zigzagg900's advise, wear socks.

53flyer

You might as well wear your pajamas or bathrobe as well since they are more comfortable than normal clothes...

mustkill

Should totally try that on the way back

slawecki

just came back from europe(to iad). wore the same sweat suit top and bottom, that i sleep in. when i got on the plane, i took off my airport sprint shoes and put on house slippers. since there were no photographers on board, and the general riff raff was held in the bacd of the plane, i did not feel the bit uncomfortable in that attire. i was embarrassed to wear my custom logo, autographed washington wizzard/redskin attire.

i do not like open toe footwear. too easy to damage a toe in unfamiliar circumstances.

rbwpi

In the case of an emergency evacuation I think one would be much better off wearing shoes as opposed to thongs/flip flops/slippers.

vmsea

Flipflops are gold.. only I bring thick socks so if it gets cold, my feet don't freeze

Thongs - yes.. you better be a hot chick.. otherwise no.

PJ/Bathrobe.. bathrobe no, too thick. PJ.. awesome. i wear this some times.. more like tracksuit but same idea..

It's a flight, i never understand people who wear suits on it when they're going on vacation.. (i get it if u go straight to meeting etc).

fiveninerzero

Wear whatever you want that makes you feel good or comfortable. I used to wear those all the times in the years past. I see others wearing them all the time. Even in January in the northern hemisphere.

boboqui

or someone tripping their rolling suitcase over your toes - ouch ouch !!!

dcpatti

Seconding this suggestion. Wear closed toe, comfortable, sturdy shoes and change into your slippers/flip-flops/whatever once you're up in the air, then back into street shoes before landing. Crashes are unlikely but if I am ever in one, the last thing I would want to happen would be to survive the crash but get tetanus or some nasty injury running in flip-flops over the debris feild.

Many survivors of Eastern Air 401, which went down in the Everglades, got some nasty infections from having open cuts exposed to the Everglades water. I think it was Legionnaire's Disease but whatever it was, some had to be treated in hyperbaric chambers, I think one had an arm amputated due to the infection, and etc. While it's likely that you'll get other cuts in a crash, given the type of debris (ragged metal, jet fuel, things burning, etc) I'd want to have all odds in my favor. You will have your feet in the debris and you want to protect them!

By all means, be comfortable for your flight, but protect yourself on the way up and back down. Hopefully you'll never have to use that info!

WIRunner

Always wear shoes and no synthetics for flights. After things get up in the air change into something more comfortable at that time.

If you really want to stand out, blaze orange crocs would work best. I hear they're comfortable.

Science Goy

If you actually think of the costs and benefits, weighted by likelihoods, the prospect of a crash is totally irrelevant.

Benefit of wearing flip-flops: 100% chance of being more comfortable (if that's your thing).

Cost of wearing flip-flops: 0.00001% chance of being in a crash and getting cuts on your feet.

dcpatti

Agreed that a crash is unlikely but the potential additional injury is substantial. One must decide for themselves if they'd rather have 20 extra minutes of flip-flop comfort (which is a fairly insignificant amount of time on a longhaul flight) or potentially save themselves a lot more than 20 minutes extra discomfort, should the unlikely crash happen. For me, the extreme pain of a gash on the foot is more significant than the additional comfort of flip-flops; in other words, 20 minutes of a cut foot brings a quantity of hurt that is much higher than the comfort that 20 minutes of flip-flips delivers. Given that the cut foot will hurt much longer than 20 minutes, I personally think it's a good trade-off to wear proper shoes, at least for takeoff and landing.