Is it Time for Airlines to Institute Explicit Dress Codes?

We wrote yesterday about yet another airline passenger whose outfit was deemed inappropriate for travel.

This is the second such incident within a month (and from Australia, no less. What’s going on down there? Or, rather, Down Under?).

Airlines dress codes seem arbitrary and based on personal tastes and preferences. Class and acceptance are in the eyes of the beholders. 

Imagine if Fran Lebowitz were a gate agent or flight attendant. She declared:

• “Yoga pants are ruining women”
• “This most recent revival of platform shoes embodies everything that’s wrong with young people”
• “Men in shorts are disgusting”

Ouch!

I know I would’ve been kicked off her flights if she were an airline employee — for wearing a polo shirt and cargo shorts. (I’m a dad. Cargo shorts are part of the uniform.)

While that’s perhaps a bit of a reach, do you see my point? There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what’s allowed and what’s not.

Huffington Post’s David Koening wrote:

It’s not always clear what’s appropriate. Airlines don’t publish dress codes. There are no rules that spell out the highest hemline or the lowest neckline allowed. That can leave passengers guessing how far to push fashion boundaries. Every once in a while the airline says: Not that far.

And that’s the problem.

Jetstar Airways — the airline involved in this past Monday’s incident — says this on their website:

You don’t have to dress to impress when you fly with Jetstar, but there are minimum dress requirements …

✘ Offensive clothing

Please refrain from wearing any clothing or carrying personal items that display words, images, symbols or slogans that may reasonably be deemed offensive (e.g. a t-shirt with slurs or swear words on it).

Where this occurs, our crew will ask you to cover up the offensive material.

I didn’t see anything about bikini tops or crop tops, which sparked the whole thing in the first place).

So is it time for airlines to dictate exactly what’s allowed and what isn’t? (Lawyers in the group: I’d love your input on this.) Perhaps something along the lines of what this school issues on its website?

For example, should carriers tell people something like sleeveless shirts are permissible — but only such garments that cover everything else on the torso? Or no top may reveal more than one-half-inch of intermammary cleft? Maybe short pants are permissible for any gender — provided the hem is not more than six inches from the bend of the knee? (Sorry, Fran.)

Some of those would’ve solved the Southwest complaint from last year and the Virgin Australia incident a few weeks ago.

Applying common sense and not being so offended by everything would go a long way toward avoiding these (and most) problems altogether. (That goes for everyone involved in the “Who Wore Less?” situation above.)

But I don’t see either of those happening anytime soon.

So tell us — what do you think? Should airlines issue dress codes that explicitly tell us what’s allowed? Please share your thoughts in the below Comments section!

Featured image: ©iStock.com/michaeljung