Airport Idiocy

I’ve discussed before the situation on flying barefoot. Short summary: all airlines have a “contract of carriage” that specify their rules. Almost all have a line that says that they may (not necessarily will) remove barefoot passengers. However, very rarely do they care, and when they do care, it’s pretty much only at boarding.

But what about airports?

It turns out that there is the occasional airport that says that shoes are required.

Here is the enabling ordinance at the Minneapolis-St. Paul. This is what it says about bare feet:

Section 5f: Upon properties owned by or under the supervision and control of the Commission no person shall:

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Enter or remain within any airport terminal building while not wearing shoes. “Shoes” are defined as a covering for the feet which have firm soles.

Huh? Moccasins are not allowed? Just what problem are they trying to solve?

We can get a feel for why it exists by looking at the date it was enacted: January 31, 1983. It is obviously just one of the spate of secondary “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” type regulations that were spawned to keep out hippies.

I call it “secondary” since the original signs were put up by businesses to keep out hippies in the 1960s and early 1970s, but governments did not get involved back then, for they knew they were supposed to serve everybody. However, by the 1980s and 1990s, everybody had forgotten why those signs had been put up, so people started to assume that they were for health reasons (not rank discrimination), and governments started thinking that they needed them, too. The 1980s is when libraries also started enacting their barefoot regulations.

Obviously, this airport ordinance predates 9/11. It specifically prohibits what the TSA requires. It might be amusing to, when going through security at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, tell the TSA agent that you are prohibited from removing your shoes. Of course, by “amusing”, here I mean they won’t let you through, might subject you to extra screening procedures, and might even arrest you.

But this is not the only airport I know about. In fact, I flew in to another airport that had the rule, and the way it occurred points out even more so how idiotic such a rule is.

A few years back (post-9/11) I flew in to the Sarasota-Bradenton airport, barefoot of course. Did the whole airport thing, retrieving baggage, etc.. Then, as I went out the door I saw a sign on it, for those going in, requiring shoes. That’s a little late, don’t you think? And in Florida? Flori-duh!

I imagine that they just never considered the possibility that somebody might fly in barefoot. It would be a real hoot, though, if they made sure that they had such a sign at each incoming terminal. That would look positively obsessive-compulsive.

The most idiotic part is that they have the rule on-line, here, as a “travel tip”. [Hey, don’t lie to me. That’s not a travel “tip”, that’s a &#*@!-ing rule.] It says:

Public Health laws require that shirts and shoes be worn in the terminal at all times.

They’re not just idiots, they’re morons.

Even ignoring the fact that, again, you cannot go through security if you wear shoes “at all times”, as we all know, there are no public health laws that require that shirts and shoes be worn in public buildings. These morons are just repeating a myth.

You’d think that such a statement would be checked before being put out there by an official governmental body. Well, you’d be wrong. It really makes one wonder about competence.