Some airlines do have their “appropriate attire policy” and if not followed, the crew can make the flyers deboarded even ! Recently Thomas Cook Airlines of England urged a passenger to either cover up or to get off their flight that was heading towards Canary Islands from Birmingham.
The incident happened when a 21-year-old Emily O’Connor, hailing from Birmingham, was taking a flight from her hometown to Tenerife, Spain on March 12. But before take off, Emily’s black crop top with spaghetti straps and high-waisted orange pants was considered “inappropriate” and she was asked by the crew to cover up or deboard.
She had been told that her attire was inappropriate and was causing offence to her fellow passengers. Shocked by such response, Emily shared the entire incident on Twitter.
Ms. O’Connor said, ‘On March 12, flying from Birmingham to Tenerife, Thomas Cook told me that they were going to deboard me from the flight if I didn’t cover up as I was inappropriately dressed and was causing offence. There were 4 flight staff around me to grab my luggage to take me off the plane.’
With the same outfit Emily passed the security check and nobody said a word. She also asked all the boarded passengers if her attire was offending anyone. Nobody raised a problem, except of a man who abused her and asked her to put a jacket on.
The staffs around said nothing to him.
However, Emily’s cousin, sitting at the front of the plane, finally came to her rescue and gave her a jacket to wear.
Being upset about the whole issue, she wrote, “It was the worst experience of my life. I was physically shaking, and they could see that, yet they continued to sexualise and ridicule me.”
On the other side of the picture, the airline issued a statement which read, “It’s clear that we could have handled the situation better. We are sorry that we upset Ms Emily O’Connor. Like most of other airlines, we have an appropriate attire policy which is applicable equally to men and women of all ages without discrimination. Implementation of the policy is a difficult task for our crews and things do not go right always.”
The whole incident received a mixed response on Twitter. There were many who support Emily and her attire; while many others, went with the airline and said that they were right in doing what they did.
