Maybe TSA should offer disposable foot booties.
“Maybe TSA should offer disposable foot booties.”
that or stop the silly shoes off game.
They only do it because somebody actually tried to kill everybody with a shoe bomb.
If you think airport screening is invasive now, just wait till somebody tries to kill everyone with explosive breast implants.
Although I’m TSA pre, I always go prepared to remove my shoes. So I wear slip-ons with peds. I also always wear slippers or flip flops walking around hotels rooms if they’re carpeted.
Shoe stores provide peds for people to try on shoes. There is probably a reason for that, don’t you think?
Our beaches have used hypodermic needles since the ‘exchange’ program means come and get as many new ones as you want…no need to return the used ones…but I digress.
I’ve taken yoga for many years…and man oh man are there some revoltingly gross feet out there…I hate it when the instructors says to pair up according to height. I’d rather pair up according to foot health.
The issue with pedicures had to do with soaking in water which contained the bacteria. Soaking for a number of minutes. And even then your risk increased if you had fissures or recently shaved.
There are so many gross and contaminated surfaces we contact each and every day. Remember the test conducted on grocery carts - they are dirtier than bathroom floors (as far a fecal matter is concerned). Do yo put your purse into that cart?
How about those tubs into which TSA insists you put your stuff. Those probably cause more risk than the floor pads. Someone has sneezed, picked their nose, not washed their hands after using the facilities …or …get this…put their SHOES into the tub and now you put your sweater, bag of liquids, computer or kids stuffed animal (!!! Ugh Yikes!!!) into that same spot. Given this perspective, placing my feet on slimy scum seems rather low on the list of things to cause worry.
@greenwitch: On the bare foot on your armrest, I don’t know how you handled that without directly addressing that person. It would have been impossible for me to do so. Would have been funny if you’d taken out one of the sanitizing wipes dietz199 uses and wiped that nasty foot down, along with the armrest.
@zobroward : Thanks for the heads-up on the yucky photo.
“How about those tubs into which TSA insists you put your stuff. Those probably cause more risk than the floor pads. Someone has sneezed, picked their nose, not washed their hands after using the facilities …or …get this…put their SHOES into the tub and now you put your sweater, bag of liquids, computer or kids stuffed animal (!!! Ugh Yikes!!!) into that same spot. Given this perspective, placing my feet on slimy scum seems rather low on the list of things to cause worry.”
Now you’ve given them even more reason to worry. Good going 
How do some of you not just wrap yourselves in bubble wrap and spray clouds of Lysol everywhere you go? How do you all use public transportation in general?
Other than flying, who the heck here is using public transportation? I would be curious to know.
crosses off traveling from lists of things to do while I’m getting Immunosuppressant treatments
I’m kidding, of course, though this thread has made me think of some things I can do to protect myself when traveling.
(Prior to getting sick, I was never one to care about germs. Never crossed my mind to not walk barefoot through TSA or to think about what other things were going in the bins.)
Do you consider Uber or taxis public transportation? I use both.
I spent a fortune trying to get ride of toenail fungus naturally. Ended up taking the nasty drug everyone wants to avoid–fungus gone. As a result, I always wear socks or footlets when I am going to fly. No way will I stand on those mats barefoot. Just got the TSA-pre and the very first time I used it, there was a line in pre-check and this was in Columbus, Ohio! Anyway, didnt have to take off my shoes.
Interesting on Uber and taxis as public transportation. I think I would include those, now that you have brought it to mind, though I definitely do not visualize those modes of transportation right off when I think ‘public transportation.’ I always find that images of buses and trains come to mind. Only one of those types exist where I live, and then not within 5 miles.
“Other than flying, who the heck here is using public transportation? I would be curious to know.”
Sometimes when I have a need to go downtown, I take a train instead of driving and paying through the nose for parking. I might then take a bus or Uber / taxi to my final destination. I’d certainly take the El to go to an event at Wrigley Field.
The idea of commuting via train from suburb to city is hardly an obscure one - I bet hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people do so every day. I would imagine there are quite a few suburbanites on CC who use public transportation to commute to downtown offices.
If you live in the Northeast corridor and work in major cities like Boston, NYC, Philly, DC, tons of people use public transportation daily, regardless of whether they live in the city or outside, regardless of age and socioeconomic class. It’s just an efficient way to get where you need to go oftentimes.
I am quite familiar with that Northeast corridor, and don’t think commuting via train from suburb to city an obscure one, I just don’t get the feeling from discussions here that much of that happens. Could be wrong.
I hate it when passengers put their nasty shoes in the Xray bins. And then I’m supposed to put my cellphone and jacket in there?
Just put shoes directly on the conveyor belt!
“Other than flying, who the heck here is using public transportation? I would be curious to know.”
I do. I commute by public transportation exclusively. 5 days a week. However, I wear shoes, so there is zero risk for me of picking up foot fungus on the bus. I an not that worried about bacteria or viruses, unless there is a major contagious disease outbreak.
Re: shoes in bins. I got yelled at the airport security checkpoint in one foreign country because I put my shoes into a blue bin. Those are supposed to be for coats and cell phones etc. Bags went on the belt. Shoes were supposed to go into a brown bin. And we were given hospital-type footies to go through the magnet. Not kidding.
@BunsenBurner Curious as to what country that was? Because I don’t remember ever taking my shoes off except for at Airports in the USA. The majority of airports I have traveled through abroad have more rigorous security checks than TSA but routine shoe removal has never been part of it. Some family members have had a one-off type shoe check however including swabbing.
For Nth time, fungus and bacteria are different species. As a healthy individual with no open wounds on my skin, I am not worried about bacteria. There are still antibiotics that can kill most of the buggers even if I pick something up. Nail fungus… good luck curing that. A drug that requires monitoring your liver function is not something I would casually take. I’d rather spend a few moments putting footies on and taking them off.
Shoes in bins? Sure they are yucky. I put my cell phones etc. into my carryon and then send them through the Xray. However, the outsides of the shoes do not harbor nail fungus, the feet and the insides of the shoes do. And so do those disgusting TSA mats.
The outside of shoes may not harbor nail fungus, but they harbor all the stuff from the floor of the airport restroom.
I’m at an airport right now. No one, pre-check, or regular was asked to take off their shoes in either of our airports. I’ve flown to three places this year and haven’t been asked to take my shoes off at any of them. Maybe they did away with that- too many cranky people with stinky feet and no bombs in their shoes?