A dress code to fly

In a recent incident, Thomas Cook Airlines told Emily O’Connor, a 21-year-old passenger, to either cover up or to get off their flight that was travelling from Birmingham to the Canary Islands. She was dressed in a black crop top with spaghetti straps and high-waist pants. The flight crew told her that her outfit was inappropriate and was causing offence to other passengers.

A shocked Emily soon shared the incident on her Twitter account. She stated in one of her tweets that she wore the same attire while going through the security checks and there was no issue. As soon as she boarded the flight, the greeting staff asked her to cover up, and the flight manager and four other staff said she would be removed unless she put a jacket on. She also mentioned that she asked all the passengers in the flight whether her attire was offending anyone. Everybody happened to be okay with it, but one man abused her and asked her to put a jacket on and the crew was silent.

She was then was given a jacket by her cousin sitting at the front of the plane and they did not leave her until she wore it. “I was physically shaking, and they could see that, yet they continued to sexualise and ridicule me. It was the worst experience of my life,” wrote Emily on her Twitter. The airline also issued a statement. “We are sorry that we upset Ms O’Connor. It’s clear we could have handled the situation better. In common with most airlines, we have an appropriate attire policy. This applies equally to men and women of all ages without discrimination. Our crews have the difficult task of implementing that policy and don’t always get it right,” they said. Many Twitter users came in support of Emily while a lot of others backed the airline.

And many such incidents have been reported lately. Do airlines have any such policy regarding the outfit of passengers? If there isn’t, why were the flight officials making issues with Emily’s dressing? Everyone pays a good amount of money to fly in economy and business classes, so the airlines are bound to offer the best service to passengers. Aren’t such incidents a breach of people’s right? In Emily’s case, the staff didn’t respond when a man abused her. Could they have handled the situation better? Also, do the airlines have the right to deboard a passenger, unless he/she is causing trouble to them?

It’s a personal choice

Harish chandran, it professional

Is a person’s attire how they want to present themselves to the world? Not all the time! It is a personal choice based on the level of confidence and comfort. There may be millions of other reasons behind the choice of a particular outfit. If the airline is so particular about that, maybe they need to reconsider their ticket booking technique and add a slot for capturing data on "What do you intend to wear?" from the passengers, in which way their business will suffer adversely and hence, they won’t even think about it. The intention of deboarding a passenger just because they had a feeling that she was not in an appropriate outfit is not justifiable. Such incidents should be condemned and strict action should be taken against those who get involved in the private choices of a person’s life. Emily is nowhere at fault. Borders and rules make life more miserable. Let’s at least ensure that we do not build more of them!

This is Sexist approach

Preeti Mahajan, postgraduate
student

The behaviour of the flight attendant towards O'Connor is unpardonable. Yes sure, clothing regulations are effective in professional spaces such as your workplace, schools, or institutions that require identifiable uniforms. However, to ask someone to “cover up” is and will always be a sexist approach. Regardless of what the length of the crop top was, if flights do not have dress codes and regulations, one cannot ask a flier to “put a jacket on” if it doesn’t suit their personal sensibilities. In cases that violate laws against public indecency, measures can be taken. But a revealing crop top hardly measures up to ‘public indecency’.

Does not make sense

Arthi, Model

I am shocked to know this. It is absolutely ridiculous. I know these things happen in countries like Saudi, but here we are talking about the UK. I don’t think women should be told what to wear and what not to. If they are comfortable in a particular garment, so be it. Every woman has the right to wear what they want because it’s her body, her mind and what she feels her best in. I know there are co-passengers who will be staring, but nothing gives someone the right to go up to the person and ask them to deboard the flight because of what they’re wearing. We are living in an age of women empowerment and with everything that’s going on around the world recently, this is absolutely unbelievable. Certain workplace or government offices do require formal attires but in a flight, especially in this day and age, this does not make sense.

Women must take care

Emerald Aernet Bhaskar, youngster

If women’s clothing is provocative, for her own good, it’s best to cover up. I think that today’s generation never thinks from the other person’s perspective. We have heard sexual molesters and rapists blaming the attire of the victim for the crime they committed. We need to develop a just society where individuals are obedient to the norms and moral laws of society. Yes, you can be yourself and enjoy, but be careful. I would like to quote A.W. Pink here, “If lustful looking be so grievous a sin, then those who dress and expose themselves with desires to be looked at and lusted after... are not less, but even more guilty. In this matter it is only too often the case that men sin, but women tempt them so to do. How great, then, must be the guilt of the great majority of the modern misses who deliberately seek to arouse the sexual passions of our young men.”

Why bother about attires?

Pooja Trehan Dhamecha, avid
traveller

What dress is appropriate while travelling can be a very subjective discussion. Passengers have been asked to cover legs or hide strings showing lingerie, while some have been troubled to remove hijab and turban. Some highlight it as maligning one’s religion or hitting out at their personal space, but there is just no substantiate rule in the book stating what one can wear or not. Even if it exists, the same is pretty ambiguous. I wonder how a garment can bother anyone, when the ticket prices are paid. It feels like in the future, airlines will be simply stating clear diktat on what is allowed and what is banned. I think, maybe once the grey area is pulled away, airline crew may stop the constant hits at personal space.

Got out of hand

Vesna Pericevic Jacob, social thinker

No one deserves to be ill-treated, regardless of the circumstances, and there is always a way to handle things in a pleasant and a discreet manner. Having said that, many times it’s the passengers who act in a very rude manner and refuse to follow the rules, feeling entitled to do so since they paid the ticket. I do not know what exactly happened here. Obviously, the passenger didn’t think she was dressed inappropriately. She felt she was discriminated as there was a man, who was also very sparsely dressed, but the crew didn’t ask him to cover up and things got out of control there. I have not seen the pictures of the girl, or the person she was referring to. So I cannot say with certainty whether the outfit was inappropriate in the first place, but the fact is that the crew failed to contain the situation and maintain professionalism and impartiality, which is absolutely unacceptable.