Can you take off your shoes on a plane? First-come, first-served for armrests? A must-know etiquette survey for flying

▲ Who should use the central armrest between plane seats? Or is it first-come, first-served? (Photo / Reporter Cai Wenjun)

By Rita

As the tourism industry continues to thrive, a global survey asked travelers about common issues they face, such as “Who does the armrest belong to?”, “Is it okay to take off your shoes on a plane?”, and “I need to use the restroom—how do I wake up my neighbor?” The article also invited etiquette experts to offer advice, so passengers don’t feel at a loss.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, the survey asked travelers from five continents about some very common travel questions.

Is it okay to take off your shoes on a plane?
In this study, 59% of people thought it was okay, but whether it’s okay to take off socks made people hesitate—with 87% believing taking off socks is going too far. Etiquette expert Willim Hanson believes that taking off your shoes on a plane is acceptable as long as there’s no odor and you do it carefully. Passengers can go to the restroom to take off their shoes and then put on the in-flight socks provided.

▲ Is it okay to take off your shoes on a plane? (Illustration / Reporter Lin Shiwen)

First-come, first-served for armrests?
67% of people believe one armrest is for personal use, while the other should be left for the neighbor. Etiquette experts say that, in fact, the armrests are designed to serve separate seats. If you want to rest your arm, just rest your elbow—there’s actually no problem with your elbow and your neighbor’s elbow sharing the same armrest.

Should you interact with your seatmate?
Hanson believes that when chatting on a plane, you should keep your voice to a minimum, especially on long-haul flights. It’s fine to greet your seatmate when you sit down—don’t completely ignore them—but saying “hi” is enough. Going beyond that is disturbing.

Can you wake up your neighbor if you need to use the restroom?
Since flights are long, most people end up sleeping. So if you need to get up to use the restroom, should you wake up your neighbor? The survey found that 80% of people think it’s acceptable to wake up a sleeping neighbor, but only 40% think it’s okay to wake someone up more than twice on a long-haul flight. In other words, most people think you should limit waking your neighbor for restroom breaks to once.

On this point, you can actually discuss it with your neighbor before the flight takes off—if you need to get up to use the restroom, would they prefer you just climb over them or would they rather be woken up?