If any of you are fortunate enough to be flying somewhere this summer, you might be interested in knowing that airlines have the right to refuse to board passengers who are deemed to be dressed inappropriately. By purchasing a ticket, you automatically consent to abide by the rules and conditions outlined in a legal contract known as the “conditions of carriage.”
United Airlines has the right to refuse to board passengers if they are “barefoot, not properly clothed, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene or offensive.” Similarly, American Airlines has a section in its conditions of carriage that instructs passengers to “Dress appropriately; bare feet or offensive clothing aren’t allowed.” Delta Airlines can refuse to transport passengers whose “conduct, attire, hygiene or odor” may create an unreasonable risk of offending or annoying other passengers. Their conditions of carriage also ban bare feet. And the list goes on.
While comfort and safety take precedence over appearance, there are several reasons why passenger dress codes exist and why some frequent flyers suggest that they need to go beyond the minimum and somewhat vague standards mentioned above. Clothing that exposes too much skin or with offensive language on it can make other passengers feel uncomfortable, but what one person considers offensive might be perfectly acceptable to another. Keeping the peace is important when hundreds of people are packed into an aircraft, often for several hours.
According to the International Air Transport Association, the number of unruly passenger incidents worldwide increased by a shocking 37% in 2022 from the previous year. The organization reported one unruly incident for every 568 flights last year, up from one in every 835 flights in 2021. Psychologists believe that people tend to behave more respectfully when they’re dressed up. “When people dress better, they tend to behave better,” said Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. “A dress code might help.”
So how should you dress for a flight? Think classy but comfortable. Choose clothing made of breathable fabric and items that allow for ease of movement. As always, I recommend dressing in layers. Planes are often chilly, so a scarf or a wrap can be a good addition to your travel wardrobe. Although I’ve never worn them myself, compression stockings are often recommended for long flights as they reduce the risk of developing blood clots when sitting for long periods of time. You’ll probably want to wear your bulkiest footwear, especially if you’re traveling carry-on only, but it’s important to ensure that your shoes are also comfortable. Hopefully, it never comes to this, but it’s also wise to choose clothing and footwear that would allow for smooth evacuation in the event of an emergency.
Once you reach your destination, there might also be dress codes that you should be aware of, so we’ll look at what to wear when you travel the world next Friday. Some of the rules are quite unusual!
After reading Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, a 713 page novel about life in India in the 1970s and 80s, and then Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, I was looking for something light to read! Something frivolous and entertaining.
We are a wasteful society, but it hasn’t always been that way. There was a time when women especially were so much more resourceful than we are today. They had no choice. As a young widow in the latter years of the Great Depression, my grandmother raised two teenage daughters on a shoestring. She learned to reuse and repurpose out of necessity. Clothing that was outgrown or worn out didn’t go to waste. As a child, I remember hand braided rag rugs on the floors throughout her tiny house and I loved examining the multicoloured squares that made up the quilts on the beds in her spare room.
When we were visiting last weekend, our daughter had some things to drop off at a thrift store. Of course, that also meant stopping to shop! After all, she is her mother’s daughter and she knows the value and fun of second-hand shopping.
Following Augustine 