So you’re about to leave for the airport and you run through your travel checklist.
Ticket in order? Check Passport ready? Check Showing too much cleavage? Huh?
As if air travel wasn’t complicated enough, now it seems that passengers might want to consider whether their clothing could be offensive to other travellers with the issue emerging the week before last after a highly publicized incident in which a Southwest Airlines agent, allegedly hearing complaints about a passenger’s miniskirt and tank top, asked the young woman to change her clothes.
Another episode surfaced Wednesday, when another Southwest passenger, Setara Qassim, said she was asked to cover herself with a blanket because of her outfit’s plunging neckline and short skirt.
The incidents have sparked a firestorm of debate in the travel industry and on the Web, with some consumers outraged that the airline would find the outfits offensive, while others praise Southwest for upholding standards of decency.
The case underscores the fact that airlines wield an enormous amount of power over customers, with the ability to deny service for conduct and offences to an extent that many consumers don’t realize.
Although most carriers say they don’t have a specific dress code, all have a “contract of carriage,” which specifies that passengers can be ordered off planes or denied boarding for behavior that includes wearing clothing deemed offensive, smelling bad, being barefoot or refusing to obey flight attendants.
A report by The Mole from The Seattle Times Company, 18 Sept 07 (more…)
