By Sasha Richie
Breaking business reporter
The Dallas Morning News
Budget carrier Spirit Airlines quietly updated its contract of carriage Wednesday to include a more thorough dress code — which caught at least some unsuspecting travelers unawares.
The new section says that flyers will not be allowed to board or may be removed from an aircraft if they are, “barefoot or inadequately clothed,” and includes a list of examples of what could be deemed inappropriate.
The list includes see-through clothing, being inadequately covered, and exposed breasts, buttocks, or other private parts. It suggests the “no shoes, no shirt, no service” clothing policies often found at restaurants are increasingly being applied on planes, too.
The dress code also includes those, “whose clothing or article, including body art, is lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature.”
A previous version of Spirit’s contract of carriage, updated in Nov. 2022, simply referenced a person who, “is barefoot or inadequately clothed, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature.”
The update comes a week after a passenger told The San Antonio Express-News he was removed from a Spirit flight to San Antonio for wearing a hoodie emblazoned with a variation of the “F”-word.
Flight attendants reportedly asked him to take it off as it displayed “obscene language,” before removing him from the plane.
Do all carriers have dress codes?
Every airline has a contract of carriage, a legally binding document that flyers agree to abide by while doing business with the airline.
These contracts contain language addressing passenger dress, though some are vague ― and very few travelers actually take the time to read them.
Dalles-based Southwest’s, for example, says it can refuse passengers who are, “Engaging in lewd, obscene, or patently offensive behavior, including wearing clothes that are lewd, obscene, or patently offensive.”
It also contains a provision against being barefoot.Related:5 times travelers got dress coded on airplanes and took to social media
The vagueness of the language used by many airlines has led to viral incidents similar to last week’s on Spirit.
Dress code infractions have happened to a number of women, wearing everything from athleisure sets to bralettes. It’s prompted critics to decry these codes’ disproportionate effect on women.
Bringing a jacket or an extra T-shirt or clothing item — and complying with flight attendant instructions — can help ensure flyers make it to their destination, without provocative clothing getting in the way.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
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