But it is ignored. Which is sad, people could really get hurt.
Your right though the fact as many people comply as they do is kind of incredible given how people act in other situations.
You’re right. What I said above used to be true. That seems to have been questioned in the 90s and in 2000 the FAA finalized a rule changing it.
The current recommendation (https://www.faa.gov/travelers/fly_safe/information) say you can keep your shoes on but to remove high heels, as you said.
A bit of googling says it was changed because of passengers injuring their feet on the terrain/debris after crashes. Additionally modern slides are much tougher than they used to be and won’t tear from shoes and probably even high heels.
But I bet high heels are probably not a smart thing to be wearing on possibly uneven debris covered terrain in an emergency when you need to move fast and safely.
Learn something new every day.
* shoes | boots with sharp objects embedded in soles (glass, bent nails)
* extra spikey high heels,
* work boots with hard edged metal hooks for laces,
(etc) causing damage to both inflatable slipways and to other passengers.
How often has a passenger going down an emergancy slide caused a rip that deflated that slide?
Not very often .. and aircrew are taught to issue instructions that make that as an unlikely occurence as possible.