Sophie Brame was on a four-hour flight from Manchester to Fuerteventura when she became aware of a very unpleasant smell coming from under her seat – and decided to take action
Plane travel isn’t always plain sailing. Whether it’s crying babies, loud groups, or people who’ve had one drink too many, fellow fliers can certainly take the shine off the experience.
And one woman decided to take action after finding herself in a less-than-ideal situation onboard a recent flight. She has spoken out to shame a ‘smelly’ Ryanair passenger who put his ‘cheesy’ feet under her seat – forcing her to stand on them to get him to move.
Sophie Brame was flying from Manchester to Fuerteventura when she became aware of an unpleasant smell an hour into her flight. When she looked down, she was disgusted to see the passenger behind was poking his feet through into her footwell – and he had no shoes on.
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The 27-year-old resorted to standing on the man’s feet in a desperate attempt to get him to move them further back. She also shared video footage on TikTok showing the man’s foot in a white sock, poking through into her footwell.
According to Sophie, she was subjected to the bad smell for half of the four-hour flight. And she believes that the man must have known how bad his feet smelt and was pushing them under her seat to get away from the stench himself.
The charity worker further said that while she doesn’t have an issue with people taking their shoes off on a flight – she even admits doing it herself previously – she believes people should at least ‘make sure they’re clean’.
Sophie, from Manchester, said: “About an hour into the flight I could smell something and the smell kept getting worse. I knew it wasn’t me because I didn’t have my shoes off and my feet don’t smell like that. The girl next to me clocked it at some point as well and we were like ‘where is it coming from’?
“I looked under my chair and I could see his feet on my part of the chair. When the smell was strongest was when his feet were on my part of the chair [poking through the footwell]. He’d extended his legs under the chair and the smell would go when he moved his feet back.
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“It smelt unclean, like cheese. Like at the gym, when you’re sweating. I don’t really know how to explain it – just like when someone has got dirty feet, like a cheesy smell.”
Sophie said she felt too ‘awkward’ to turn around and confront the man about his cheesy feet, adding: “I started standing on his feet to get him to move his feet back instead of waiting for him to move them himself. He did do that [move his feet] when I stood on them.
“About half an hour later he would move his feet and do it again so I would stand on them again. I didn’t say anything because it was a bit awkward. I didn’t know what to say but also I didn’t want to smell it for the whole flight.
“It made parts of it [the flight] uncomfortable and it was just annoying. If they were constantly under my seat and it was a continuous smell the whole flight then it would have ruined it.”
Since sharing the video on TikTok, Sophie’s clip has racked up more than 2,300 views, likes, shares and comments. One user wrote: “That is gross! People are so unaware sometimes.”
Another said: “Sorry but that should be a criminal offence.” And a third commented: “I’d stand on the smelly thing.”
