A Russian airline banned chewing gum because passengers are gross

(Image credit: Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

last updated 8 July 2015

Take off your shoes, remove your laptop, and... open wide?

If you're flying on the Russian airline Pobeda, a quick mouth scan could become a reality of airport security after the budget carrier banned chewing gum on its flights due to the cost of removing it, the state-run Tass news agency reports. Scraping off each masticated glob left behind by a passenger costs the airline roughly 100,000 rubles, Pobeda's CEO Andrei Kalmykov said, which amounts to about $1,700.

"We have imposed a ban on chewing gum since the middle of June due to losses sustained by the airline," a Pobeda spokeswoman said. So stop sticking your sticky saliva slabs everywhere, people. This is why we can't have nice things.