Fashion that doesn’t fly: The turbulent issue of airline dress code policies

It has happened to a model, a medical doctor and a hairstylist, along with many other airline passengers: being singled out or denied boarding on a flight for their fashion choices.

It has happened to a model, a medical doctor and a hairstylist, along with many other airline passengers: being singled out or denied boarding on a flight for their fashion choices.

The typical first move for passengers involved: airing their complaints on social media.

That’s what Aurora Culpo did when her sister Olivia Culpo, a model and former Miss Universe, had to cover up her black sports bra and biking shorts with a hoodie before boarding an American Airlines flight to Cabo San Lucas in 2022. Aurora, who was traveling with her sister, slammed American on social media.

Tisha Rowe, a Houston-based physician, also publicly criticized the Fort Worth-based carrier over a July 2019 incident in which she was asked to cover up her “too revealing” floral outfit with a blanket on a flight from Jamaica to Miami.

Another highly publicized incident occurred on Alaska Airlines in August 2021, when police escorted a passenger wearing black shorts and, initially, a crop top off a flight upon landing. The passenger, Ray Lin Howard, a self-described hairstylist and rapper who goes by Fat Trophy Wife online, posted a video on TikTok of herself being questioned by authorities after the flight, which she was allowed to remain on. The video has more than 1.5 million likes and has been shared more than 10,000 times.

Most recently, a passenger took her outrage a step further by retaining high-profile civil rights attorney Gloria Allred after an incident on Delta Air Lines in January 2024. On a flight from Salt Lake City to San Francisco, Lisa Archbold said she was “treated like a criminal” for not wearing a bra under her top. She says she was escorted off the plane by the gate agent and allowed to fly only after she put a shirt over her “revealing” outfit.

Allred held a news conference in late March, entitled “A woman passenger’s breast vs. Delta Air Lines,” sitting alongside Archbold against a backdrop of bras hanging from a clothing rack. Allred also wrote a letter to Delta urging the Atlanta-based carrier to change its policy and requesting a meeting with its president.