Bare feet on the tray table, topless, and even pantless travellers are just some of the worst offenders on a website dedicating to shaming airplane passengers into better behaviour.  

The Passenger Shaming Facebook and Instagram pages are seeing a spike in popularity, with an average of 50 photo submissions a day. Shawn Kathleen, the former flight attendant behind the website, says she believes the fear of being shamed on social media is actually resulting in fewer cringe-worthy moments during flights.

Kathleen pointed to a recent LA Times report that showed the incidents of "unruly passengers" reported to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in 2015 fell to 82 from 145 in 2014.  

Despite having witnessed poor airplane etiquette first-hand during her seven years as a flight attendant, Kathleen says she still finds a number acts captured in the photos submitted to her websites "unbelievable."

"It was almost as if people didn't believe what I was experiencing until I had photographic evidence," Kathleen told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

Among the most common offences were airline passengers using their tray tables as foot rests, while others thought it was appropriate to use the precious aisle space for a quick, mid-flight outfit change.

 

So what do you if you're stuck beside one of these unruly passengers?

Etiquette expert Julie Blais Comeau has nine tips on how to keep calm while flying.

She said a "gradual escalation" approach typically works best.

"Sometimes just looking over at the person, trying to make eye contact, looking at the behaviour and then looking back, sometimes that's all you need," Blais Comeau said.

But if a more subtle approach doesn't seem to work, Blais Comeau suggested trying to politely address the issue with the passenger yourself, or asking the flight attendant to address the problem.