A joke policy struck a nerve—and revealed something surprising about airline rules.
For a few hours, airline passengers thought one carrier had finally done it—they’d banned bare feet on planes.
Turns out, it was just an April Fools’ joke.
The surprising part? A lot of travelers weren’t laughing—they were agreeing.
The airline behind it was WestJet, which published what looked like a very real policy banning passengers from going barefoot onboard.
The announcement even included official-looking language and a statement from the airline, making it easy to believe it was legit, at least at first glance.
Social media quickly filled with comments from travelers who weren’t amused it was a joke. Many said the same thing: this shouldn’t be an April Fools’ stunt—it should be an actual policy.
Comments ranged from mildly annoyed to outright disgusted, with many travelers pointing out they’ve encountered barefoot passengers on flights—and didn’t enjoy the experience. A few even questioned why something like this isn’t already standard, especially given how cramped cabins and shared spaces can be.
“Have you ever been to an airplane lavatory? No one should be barefoot on a plane,” one person wrote.
Another added, “This should be policy on every airline.”
Turns out, many airlines already have this rule
While WestJet’s barefoot “ban” was just a joke, similar rules already exist across much of the airline industry—at least on paper.
In the U.S., major carriers, including American, Delta, United, Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, and Frontier, all have policies that allow them to deny boarding to passengers who are barefoot or not properly clothed. Hawaiian Airlines has similar language in its contract of carriage.
And it’s not just U.S. airlines. International carriers, including Air Canada, British Airways, Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines, all have similar “properly clothed” requirements in their conditions of carriage—meaning barefoot passengers could be denied boarding there, too.
In other words, the rule many travelers thought was being introduced already exists in some form at most airlines. The difference is that enforcement tends to stop at the boarding door—once you’re on the plane, shoes often come off, and flight attendants rarely intervene unless it becomes a bigger issue.
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