Kicked off a flight for wearing a crop top: Why do airlines still have such conservative dress codes?

You’re off to catch a flight for your long-awaited beach holiday. You’ve paid for the hotel, bulk-bought the SPF and made an in-flight playlist to die for. The last thing you’re thinking about, I’d wager, is the modesty of your outfit.

Yet, in recent years there have been a spate of cases where airline staff have deemed a passenger’s clothing – usually a woman’s – “inappropriate”, resulting in them either being kicked off their flight or forced to cover up.

This week TikTok star Jacy slammed Southwest Airlines for “slut shaming” her by insisting she cover up her outfit on a flight. Not only is the airline accused of insisting she wear a jumper provided by flight attendants, but also of kicking another woman off the flight for standing up for Jacy during the disagreement about her outfit.

Jacy, who posts as @MaybeJacy, posted a video saying, “Bro I got dress coded on a flight? Are we in high school? Are you upset about my shoulders?” She included footage of her clothing, which was a coral corset-style top and khaki cargo pants or shorts.

“I was basically wearing a corset, I was more clothed than like half of the plane, cause it’s like 103 degrees out so everyone’s wearing shorts and tank tops,” she explained in the caption.

It’s not an isolated incident. In January a former Miss Universe, Olivia Culpo, said she was told to cover up by American Airlines staff, or risk being unable to board her flight to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.

The model was wearing a pair of skintight black shorts with a crop top, which showed her midriff, and a long black cardigan.

Ms Culpo’s sister Aurora posted a video to Instagram after the incident, explaining that her sister had been called up to the airline desk at the gate so staff could “tell her that she needs to put a blouse on otherwise she can’t get on the plane”.

“Tell me is that not so f**ked up?” marvelled Aurora Culpo.

And it’s not the first time this has happened. In September 2021 a US woman accused Alaska Airlines of harassment after she was removed from a flight for wearing an outfit the flight attendant deemed “inappropriate”.

Ray Lin Howard, a plus-size rapper and stylist from Fairbanks, Alaska who goes by the stage name Fat Trophy Wife, shared her experience in a TikTok video that has been viewed more than nine million times.

UK-based airlines aren’t off the hook, either. In March 2019 passenger Emily O’Connor tweeted a thread saying she’d been left “shaking and…