A conservative commentator touted it as a "bombshell" report this week after he captured Robert F. Kennedy Jr. walking around a plane barefoot, TMZ posted Sunday.
Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, appears unconcerned about germs that permeate the plane bathroom floors and spread onto the cabin surfaces.
"So RFK Jr. gets up and walks to the bathroom," said Justin Haskins. "And as he's walking to the bathroom, I realize the guy has no shoes on, and no socks. And the floor is covered with food, and, like, disgusting food! He's walking to the restroom with no shoes and no socks on. He goes into the restroom, sockless, something I've literally never seen in my entire life, out of all of the times I've been on planes, and I've never seen this happen before. And I thought, OK, right? And I'm thinking this guy is a presidential candidate! He doesn't wear shoes and socks in a plane in first class? What is this?"
He goes on to call Jr. a "psychopath" as he shows the photo of the incident.
The presidential candidate who switched from running as a Democrat to an independent was flying on American Airlines from Portland to Dallas for something political when he was captured walking about barefoot.
A study revealed in 2015, cited by Forbes in 2019, explained that bathrooms are actually not the worst places to find germs.
"A microbiologist collected samples from four flights to calculate the total number of bacteria per square inch. Though the airplane bathroom flush button had 265 bacteria colony forming units (CFU) per square inch, there are two places on the plane the study confirmed to have more bacteria than the flush button," said the report.
They cited seatback trays, overhead air vents, seat belt buckles, aisle seat headrests, and unsealed airplane blankets as being among the most infectious.
After COVID, that is likely to have evolved a little. In October 2023, The Washington Post did its own test, showing that floors now make the list.
Stacey Rose, an associate professor of infectious diseases and internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, pointed to a number of airplane-related outbreaks, including tuberculosis, SARS, flu, norovirus, measles and coronavirus, the Washington Post wrote.
“Infectious particles can be spread on an airplane in several ways, such as through inhalation of infectious particles or direct contact with contaminated fluids or surfaces,” she said. “The risk of infection depends on things like how contagious the organism is; the type of exposure, including how close the traveler was to the source of infection; and the ventilation of the aircraft cabin.”
"Surely, this won't surprise you, but the floor of the airplane is teeming with germs," said lifestyle site Best Life.
"Just think of hundreds of pairs of feet walking up and down per flight—hundreds of flights per year," said The Travel Tart Anthony Bianco. "I also had one of my friends tell me about a flight he took overseas where the toilet failed, and the toilet water started gushing down the aisle. No further explanation needed!"
Even flight attendants know — never touch the floors.
"Parents should never let their kids crawl on the floor because it's absolutely disgusting," one flight attendant told The Sun in the UK. "It's rare that the floors are cleaned properly and, while it's good to expose your kids to some germs, that many is almost certainly a bad idea. I also wouldn't advise walking around barefoot, or even just with socks on while flying."
