In the early days of commercial aviation, passengers generally dressed up for the occasion. In subsequent decades, travel attire became more casual. Spirit Airlines has decided it’s gotten a little too casual.
In the latest update of its Contract of Carriage, Spirit has tightened its dress code. Among the new requirements, passengers must wear shoes – they cannot be barefoot. They must be adequately clothed.
Examples of unacceptable clothing include “see-through clothing; not adequately covered; exposed breasts, buttocks, or other private parts.” Passengers “whose clothing or article of clothing, including body art,” is deemed to be lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature” will be removed from the aircraft, or denied boarding.
Under the revised rules, a passenger with a tattoo can be denied boarding if a Spirit employee decides it violated the spirit of the non-offensive rule. Some industry analysts suggest Spirit may be tightening its requirements – and spelling them out – to avoid viral videos like the one below:
The airline is also making it clear that there are penalties for running afoul of the dress code. The Contract of Carriage warns that If a passenger is not permitted to board and/or required to leave an aircraft for safety and/or regulatory reasons, there will be no refund.