"Don't board wearing belly shirts" airline refuses passenger... Adds policy amid 'misogyny' controversy

Foreign media reports have emerged that airlines are tightening dress codes for passengers. The US low-cost carrier (LCC) Spirit Airlines is a representative example.

On the 25th (local time), US Fox News and others reported that Spirit Airlines recently announced new dress code regulations for passengers. Accordingly, passengers causing discomfort by being barefoot or wearing inappropriate clothing can be removed from the aircraft.

Inappropriate clothing includes ▲ see-through clothes ▲ excessively revealing outfits ▲ cases where the chest, buttocks, or other private body parts are exposed. Body decorations include tattoos.

Last year, Spirit Airlines forcibly removed two women from a flight at Los Angeles (LA) International Airport in California, bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, before takeoff. The reason was that they were wearing crop tops that exposed their midriffs. Although they wore thin cardigans over the crop tops, they removed the cardigans and wore only the crop tops inside the cabin just before takeoff.

Two female passengers who were asked to leave the Spirit Airlines flight just before departure for wearing crop tops deemed revealing last October
[Image source=Screenshot from Teresa Araujo's Instagram]

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The women who were expelled at the time claimed, "This is an act of prejudice, discrimination, and misogyny, and we agreed that legal action should be taken." Local netizens also debated, arguing that although their outfits were somewhat revealing, they were not inappropriate enough to justify refusal of boarding.

In response, Spirit Airlines appears to have created these new dress code regulations after accepting criticism that there was insufficient basis for the previous dress restrictions.

In January this year, a male passenger on a Spirit Airlines domestic flight had to disembark because he was wearing a hoodie with a phrase that could cause discomfort.

Other airlines are also known to have their own passenger dress codes. Most, like Spirit Airlines, have regulations stating that clothing must not be obscene or cause discomfort to others.

Hawaiian Airlines restricts passengers from boarding in swimwear. Shorts are allowed, but tight-fitting swim bottoms or bikinis are prohibited. Barefoot boarding is also not permitted. Delta Air Lines has regulations allowing refusal of boarding based on passenger behavior, clothing, hygiene, or body odor.

Qatar Airways is known to have different dress codes depending on the seat class. For example, business class passengers must wear a stricter "smart casual" attire compared to general passengers.

However, some argue that even if regulations are formalized like Spirit Airlines, it remains difficult to provide detailed judgment criteria, meaning that decisions still rely on the judgment of flight attendants.

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