A fitness influencer says she was stopped from boarding a Lufthansa Group flight because her outfit was deemed too revealing. I live in Los Angeles, so perhaps I have simply become immune to skimpy clothing, but the only problem I see is one of hygiene.
Lufthansa Told Passenger She Was “Naked” And Made Her Cover Up To Board
A fitness influencer says she was stopped at the gate before boarding a Lufthansa Group flight from Berlin to Austria because staff deemed her outfit inappropriate (she calls it a Lufthansa flight, but LH doesn’t fly to Austria from Berlin, only Eurowings and Austrian).
Edda Elisa was wearing a sports bra-style crop top and cycling shorts while trying to board. She says a gate agent told her she could not board because she was “naked” and “not wearing normal clothes.” She then put on a hoodie from her carry-on, zipped it up, and was allowed to proceed.
Lufthansa Group reportedly said passengers are expected to wear clothing “appropriate to the nature of public travel,” though it also said the “naked” phrasing attributed to the employee does not meet its standards.
That seems right. Whatever one thinks of the outfit, calling a passenger “naked” when she is plainly not naked is not helpful.
I Do Not Find This Outfit Offensive
I realize this is subjective, and perhaps my view is shaped by living in Los Angeles, where women dressed like this are not exactly uncommon. Walk through many parts of the city and this outfit would not turn a head.
But looking at the outfit, I do not find it obscene, lewd, or so revealing that it should trigger a boarding dispute. It is athletic wear. It is indeed form-fitting and it not what I would choose for a flight (those seats aren’t washed between flights). But that is different from saying it is inappropriate enough to deny boarding.
Airlines certainly have some right to maintain standards of dress and conduct onboard. No one wants a cabin environment that becomes uncomfortable for other passengers, and there are outfits that can cross a line. But that line should be clear and applied consistently. Here, the problem (as it usually is) is that the standard sounds vague. “Appropriate to the nature of public travel” leaves a lot of discretion to whoever happens to be working the gate that day. One agent may see athletic wear. Another may see indecency. That is not a great way to run a policy.
Airlines Need Clearer Rules If They Want To Police Clothing
My concern is not that airlines can never say no to a passenger’s attire, but over arbitrary enforcement.
If clothing contains obscene language, hateful symbols, or exposes parts of the body that cannot be exposed in public, fine. That is an easy call. But sports bras, crop tops, leggings, and cycling shorts are now common public attire. You may dislike that, but social norms have changed.
Airlines cannot pretend otherwise.
There is also a gender issue here, whether airlines want to admit it or not. Dress-code disputes seem to fall disproportionately on women, often because of body shape, athletic clothing, or subjective discomfort from someone else. That does not mean every complaint is invalid, but it does mean airlines should be careful before turning gate agents into the dress code police.
A tactful approach would have been simple. If the employee believed the outfit violated policy, she could have explained the policy calmly and specifically. “You are naked” is not that. It is inflammatory and unnecessary.
CONCLUSION
A Lufthansa Group passenger says she was made to cover up before boarding because her sports bra-style top and cycling shorts were deemed inappropriate.
I do not see it. The outfit may not be everyone’s taste, but it does not strike me as obscene or so revealing that boarding should have been denied. Airlines can have dress codes, but those rules should be clear, knowable, and consistently applied. Otherwise, enforcement becomes little more than the personal judgment of a gate agent.
And in this case, that judgment seems too harsh to me.
image: @edda.elisa/Instagram // hat tip: View From The Wing
Germany – the land of nudity in public parks and the St. Pauli district (remember the old St. Pauli beer slogan “You never forget your first girl”?) – has a problem with that outfit in the sweltering summer? Not good optics.
She was dressed for the gym, or even the beach. Standards have slipped, and slipped badly. Put some bloody clothes on, you look like a cheap skank.
Oh, we’re sick of all this white trash from LA ; we know you can get a good price on
breast implants in the LA area; we know they’re there.
Poor girl, we all feel her pain. Too bad this didn’t happen in America, or she could have filed a lawsuit, with a real chance of success. At least she got some clicks out of this ordeal.
Srsly now, had she been allowed to wear just her sports bra the skin on her back, possibly sweaty, would have been in touch with her seat. The fact that she’s young and good looking doesn’t make that any less unhygienic than if she was an obese gal from Florida, who used to fly Spirit Airlines. This was totally inappropriate and I think Lufthansa was right to ask her to put something on.
Pro tip: darling, don’t even think about trying to pull this stunt anywhere in the Middle East.
“The fact that she’s young and good looking”
That. That’s really all that needed to be said.
(I know, I know… beauty is subjective, but…)
Fitness Influencer makes a mountain out a molehill. The remedy was zipping up the top, which didn’t come close to a big deal. Next….
I find this story highly unlikely to be true, apart from anything else who needs another ‘influencer’ looking for attention.
Germany has one of the most relaxed attitudes in the world to nudity where both sexes mingle in changing rooms, showers and saunas very often naked together.
Equally in LH F I’ve seen usually men strip naked before sleeping and no one takes any interest whatever.
I have two comments about this story. If a man wore bike shorts and a cropped shirt, he would have been told to cover up too. Why is it always seem to be a woman airline employee that makes an issue of how a woman is dressed?
If a man wore bike shorts and a cropped tee, I’d pay for his upgrade to First Class so he could sit next to me!
She should just go to Seattle, the gay parade was filled with naked men, women and those confused, walking around in front of kids, junk hanging everywhere.
And to think people complain about porn for ADULTS.
Step out of the closet Kyle. You’ll be happier.
Kyle, you’re becoming a one-trick-pony on here. Is the joke always just ‘gay porn’ with you? *wink*
No doubt Kyle’s deep and abiding knowledge of very adult aspects of the rainbow coalition are simply for research.
I thoroughly enjoy your stirring the pot here, Kyle. You have the magic touch of know exactly how to say something to elicit the strongest reaction. Please don’t go away and come back woke or something. It wouldn’t suit you. Happy 250th.
“But that line should be clear and applied consistently.” Matthew, I bet you can’t find or cite any dress code that isn’t subject to some degree of interpretation.
Looking at the photo, it seems this woman has a minimalist view of appropriate clothing in public. Although not obscene, if instead she were an older 300-pound man or woman, everyone would be trying to cover/protect their eyes. While “naked” was not an accurate term, the gate agent made a good call to have her add some extra clothing.
Agree with your second paragraph, re: had it been someone else.
Thank you, Matthew, for properly cropping that thumbnail… If you see Gary’s version, he went with just the face, which is alright, but not the area at-issue. Just saying, you are indeed a man of culture…
LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME. Pathetic attention [garden tool] who then gets offended when some ‘creepy’ guy dares focus on her bits. Shameless.
Let them fly naked. Serve lots of booze. What could go wrong?
So she got a hoodie out of her carry-on bag and all was well. Except this zero of a story is now buzzing around the world. Nice job, honey. Mission accomplished. Especially since Matthew quickly discovered LH doesn’t fly the route you claimed to be taking. Should have spiked this one, Matthew.
“It is indeed form-fitting…”
Indeed!
As a practical matter, wearing these kinds of clothes makes you less protected should there be an emergency, such as an emergency evacuation. If she or anyone else had to go down the slide, they risk the world’s worst carpet burn. I get it that its hot and flying is its own special hell but a little thought to protective clothing and footwear is not a bad idea. Mathew is right that the instances usually involve women, with respect to their clothing choice. Men seem to get called out of wearing clothing with obscene writing or symbols. I bet that if she wore this same outfit to board a metro bus in Paris, while it is 38C, no bus driver would kick her out. But she would be denied entry into Notre Dame – Paris, even when 38 C.
Take a cold shower boys.