A passenger on a recent Jetstar Australia flight was forced to cover up, even though she wasn’t violating the carrier’s dress code
Woman told to cover up on Jetstar flight
OnlyFans performer Isabelle Eleanore was flying with Jetstar on Sunday from Gold Coast to Melbourne, and ran into some issues during boarding. The woman was wearing a high-cut top that covered perhaps a bit more than your average bikini (below is a picture of what she was wearing).
During boarding, a Jetstar employee asked Eleanore if she had a jumper she could wear on top of that. When she stated she didn’t have any other clothes with her, she was informed that she couldn’t fly with what she was wearing, because “you can’t wear a bikini.”
Eleanore pointed out she wasn’t wearing a bikini, but the Jetstar employees insisted she still needed to wear something to cover up a bit more. At that point airline staff presented her with a high visibility safety vest to wear on top of her outfit if she wanted to take that flight.
She wore that, and notes that she felt humiliated, degraded, and discriminated against, as everyone was looking as she walked down the aisle with that.
What is Jetstar’s dress code?
Jetstar’s website explicitly notes that you “don’t have to dress to impress” when you fly with the airline, and states that the following are the minimum dress requirements:
- Footwear is required for the safety of all passengers during boarding and disembarking
- Offensive clothing is prohibited, which includes clothing items that display words, images, symbols, or slogans, that may reasonably be deemed offensive; the example is given of a shirt with slurs or swear words on it
For its part, Jetstar has apologized for the “misunderstanding,” and will be reminding employees of actual dress requirements:
“We’ve contacted Isabelle about her recent experience and have apologised for the way the situation was handled. There was a misunderstanding of what our policy was, and we have reminded our crew of our dress requirements. While we do have basic dress requirements on our flights (ie. shoes), we do not have any policy regarding crop tops.”
Airlines need to be more explicit with dress codes
We see stories along these lines rather often, and the root cause is almost always the same — airline employees are either overzealous, or airline policies simply aren’t clear. In this case the airline employees crossed the line with their enforcement.
Let me be clear — I think it’s totally fair if airlines have a stricter dress code. The issue is that they can’t enforce a policy that isn’t there. Jetstar requires footwear and doesn’t allow clothing with offensive words or slogans in it. She wasn’t violating either of those rules.
I couldn’t imagine dressing in such a revealing way on a flight, but I’m also a person who wears a hoodie and close-toed shoes to the beach, so I’m probably not the person to ask. Still, if a passenger dresses in a way that doesn’t violate a company’s policy, then it’s absolutely someone’s prerogative to dress that way, in my opinion.
Other airlines have policies that more generically ban “offensive” clothing, and some people would argue that clothes like this is offensive because there are kids around. I don’t follow that logic, personally. Are you uncomfortable taking kids to the beach when there are people wearing bikinis there? If it’s about what’s offensive to kids, then it shouldn’t matter whether you’re at a beach or on a plane.
Personally I’m a huge fan of athleisure, and I wear that just about everywhere. Some people think that makes me way underdressed in some settings, like when flying in international premium cabins. They’re entitled to that belief, but if it doesn’t violate a carrier’s policy, then too bad…
Bottom line
A woman was forced to cover up on a Jetstar Australia flight this past weekend, because of the top she was wearing. In this case it seems like the airline was out of line, since Jetstar’s only policy is regarding footwear and not having clothing with offensive images and words.
Just because you or I might not dress a certain way on a plane doesn’t mean another person can’t, assuming it’s within the rules.
What’s your take on this situation?
(Tip of the hat to Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
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