Shorts. High heels. Cologne.
Even if you’re just an occasional air traveler, you probably know better than to wear any of those on board. Heavy perfumes can fog up the cramped aircraft interior, sickening your cabin-mates. High heels? Uncomfortable on longer flights and unusable on those inflatable emergency slides. As for shorts, once the cabin door is closed and the air conditioning is cranked all the way up, you’ll be sorry.
What to wear on a plane — or more to the point, what not to wear on a plane — is a hot topic today for a number of reasons. Not only are we heading into the warm summer months, when air travelers commit a majority of these sartorial slip-ups, but the gap between what we should wear on a commercial flight, and what we do wear, appears to be widening.
Take Kyla Ebbert, for example. She was almost tossed off a Southwest Airlines flight last summer because attendants claimed she was “dressed inappropriately.” What was wrong with her outfit? Watch the video and decide for yourself. Since then, there have been a string of too-skimpy-to-fly incidents, including one in Burbank, Calif. and another in Tampa, Fla.
Curiously, all of these run-ins with the fashion cops have involved Southwest Airlines crewmembers. The carrier insists it doesn’t discriminate against beautiful young women.
Before the airline industry was tragically deregulated, everyone knew what to wear on a plane. People dressed in their Sunday best. Coats and ties for the men. Modest dresses for the women. And kids, who were seen but not heard, were dressed like porcelain dolls.
Now anything goes.
Oh, where is Mr. Blackwell when we need him? Here, in the meantime, are five tips on what you shouldn’t wear on a plane:
Uncomfortable or dangerous shoes
Doug Lynch has a thing for high heels. He doesn’t like to see them on a plane. In his opinion, pumps are problematic — from the discomfort they cause on long flights to the potential trouble they can create in the cabin interior. “Not to mention you shouldn’t wear them going down a slide,” says Lynch, who works for a defense contractor in Melbourne, Fla. I second that. I’m partial to multipurpose, comfortable shoes like the pair of Ecco Xpedition shoes I recently tested. (Another bonus: they’re easy to slip out of at a Transportation Security Administration screening area.)
Light colors
Darker clothes travel better, for a number of reasons, including the simple fact that a spill or stain is less likely to be noticed on a dark garment. And given the airlines’ dismal record on lost luggage, you should assume you’ll have to wear the same clothes tomorrow — and maybe even the day after that. The no-lights rule is especially important for longer trips. “White and lighter colors do not work when traveling unless you can do your own laundry or trust the hotel to do it and have that sort of budget,” says John Shore, who owns a public relations company in Dallas and travels frequently.
Tight-fitting pants — or anything else that’s too form-fitting
If Southwest’s flight attendants were looking for a reason to stop Ebbert and all of the other pretty girls from boarding, then maybe they should have invoked their well-being. Tight clothes can be uncomfortable, and even hazardous to your health (ever heard of Deep Vein Thrombosis, also known as Economy Class Syndrome?) Kate Tyminski, a home inspector from Bluffton, S.C., says tight clothes are a no-no for her plane trips. “I wear loose clothing,” she says. “If you are going to sit awhile on a long flight, you don’t want to have anything on that is binding. The seats are already uncomfortable. Why make it worse?” Why, indeed.
Synthetic fabrics
“Nylon underwear?” says Veronica St. Claire, the chief executive of a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles. “Very bad choice. Steamed tamale time.” Natural fibers like cotton are better choice. Except for wool, maybe. I try to avoid it if at all possible, except during the winter.
Anything with a strong odor
If you wear a powerful-smelling deodorant or cologne, you might consider abstaining before boarding. You may not have any reservations about slathering the aftershave on, but the passengers sitting next to you almost certainly will. If enough of your cabin-mates complain, they may compel you to move — possibly off the plane. “People shouldn’t wear perfume or other strong fragrances,” reader Meredith Weiss told me. I agree. In public places like the cabin of an aircraft, where air is recirculated, giving yourself a pre-trip fumigation may be even more offensive than dressing immodestly.
I know what you’re thinking. What am I, the fashion police? And besides, what’s left to wear, now that I’ve ruled out most of your wardrobe, and especially the fun attire.
Answer: I’m an amateur fashion cop, at best. (As a stay-at-home dad, I spend most of my day in pajamas, so I’m in no danger of making the cover of GQ.) But there’s still lots you can wear on a plane.
Think comfortable and elegant. You want something relaxed and natural that you could spend a few hours or days in without losing the circulation to your limbs. At the same time, you want to look as if you belong in first class. Because crewmembers do judge their passengers by the way they dress — just ask Ebbert and the other young women who were shown the door on their flights — and a blazer or a nice dress can mean the difference between a pleasant flight and no flight at all.
Jim Penrose, a computer specialist from Los Angeles, says he applies the “dress for success” rule on his flights, particularly to international destinations. “It never hurts to dress nicely,” he told me. “People in other countries may have a much higher sense of what is respectable and respectful, in terms of clothing.”
With a little planning, we can too.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Southwest is right, they do not discriminate against ‘beautiful young women’ since none of the girls or women allegedly discriminated against rose above the level of skanky; they certainly did not fall into the beautiful category. . . .
comfort, class and safety. . . .seems like a good idea.
Thanks for a good article that covers a lot of territory. I usually opt for black knit slacks and a nice knit shirt. I don’t wear dresses on planes because they wrinkle and I get off the flight looking like an unmade bed. I wear closed-toe flat shoes that slip off and on easily in the security line.
I remember flying out of HSV one morning, waiting on a woman to nearly undress to clear security. She wore a short jacket with a great deal of metal hardware, pointy-toed, high-heeled boots that required a looong time to remove, a gold chain belt that also had to be removed, along with enough jewelry to open her own store. Oh–and her cowboy hat with the chain hatband. I do not exaggerate. She was left in a pair of jeans that looked like they’d been painted on and a tank top that should have been left with it’s bathing suit bottom. To coin a fine old Southern expression, “Tacky.”
IMHO, unless you’re also wearing camouflage fatigues and a U.S. flag patch on your shoulder, you don’t wear boots when you’re flying. Of course, service members usually don’t have to take their boots off, anyway.
And muchas gracias for the perfume/cologne comments. Although those who would marinate in eau de Le Pew probably don’t read your column. I can put up with someone bringing their fast food on board much better than loud cologne. The food smell does eventually evaporate. Not so with cologne. I’m going to be even more blunt than you were, Chris. To all the ladies and gentlemen who think they simply must use their favorite fragrance before boarding: don’t. You stink. You give us a headache and no one wants to sit near you. Your odor is suffocating. It’s nasty, O.K.? I don’t care how much it cost or how much you like it. You smell like a refugee from a cheap bordello. Got it? Good.
Thanks for letting me vent. :)
I actually do not think it was a tragedy for the universe when deregulation hit. While certainly it was tragic for the airlines, and for customer service, the flying public has received stupendous benefit from deregulation.
Essentially, deregulation created an environment, where, for the last 30 years, the airline industry has been providing a product (air travel) for far below cost. Countless investors for three decades have generously subsidized my air travel by pouring countless billions into money-losing airlines. (Okay, with some govt. subsidies too… I wish those would stop.) This has been done with a safety record unequaled by any other form of transportation.
Sure, I personally would prefer better customer service, but would I pay what tickets cost prior to deregulation to get it? Nope. I might pay a little more, but not that much.
SirWired
Lots of jewelry (i.e. a huge ring on every finger, bracelets, necklaces, etc.) and metal belt buckles. It drives me nuts when people get up to the metal detector and forget that they are wearing a pirate’s treasure chest.
Ah, I feel much better now.
I was on a flight from Chicago to Madrid, Spain and the coach class was overbooked. I was bumped up to first class for the flight even though at the time I wasn’t an elite frequent flier or first in line. I was wearing a business casual outfit and I noticed that the flight attendants looked me up and down before they told me I was being bumped. Another great perk for dressing well!
Joe Farrel – you are clearly a misogynist. There was nothing “skanky” about Kyla Ebbert’s attire (micro-minis happen to be in fashion for the college set right now – no different from the 1960s!). Do all women a favor and talk to a therapist about your issues!
I read the article on CNN.com, and I found myself wondering one thing: When was the last time that Christopher Elliott flew? It certainly must not have been during the late-spring or summer season.
I was amused by his comment: “As for shorts, once the cabin door is closed and the air conditioning is cranked all the way up, you’ll be sorry.”
The many times I have flown during warm days I have never had to worry about “the air conditioning cranked all the way up”, while on the plane.
It was, actually, quite the opposite: the cabin temperature was such that many of us were glad that we were wearing shorts, while flying. One man once said to me that he makes it a point to wear shorts, whenever he flies at certain times of the year.
I agree with his comments, and, I, too, often wear shorts during spring and summer flights; same with early autumn travels. This has come from flying on TWA, Southwest, United, Air Canada, and American Airlines, on warm to hot days.
As for the possibility of feeling somewhat cold during the flight: that is why I usually carry on a sweater, and use the blanket provided to me, by the airline.
I disagree about wearing synthetics. I tend to wear nylon outfits. Not only are they comfortable, they tend not to wrinkle like natural fibers. That’s a plus when you’ve been flying for ten or twelve hours. I also like to wear prints. They tend to hide the stains. You know just as you’re taking a sip or bite of something that is the exact moment you hit rough air. Some companies are making detergent sticks in pen form that help eliminate stains. This has become standard travel fare for me and my family.
I just traveled from the UK to Dulles in Business class. There was I in my ’smart casual’ clothes, bundled into my comfortable seat ,roundly ignored by the many bored and alienated attendants.
Whereupon, a couple enters the cabin. Each is decked out in trendy, funky clothing with typical gel inforced windblown hair of many colors. I have no earthly clue who these people were, but suddenly the entire staff on the flight found a reason to approach them with chatter, smiles and offers of every available comfort.
Yup, you’re right, it does matter what you wear on the plane.
Carol,
Maybe those 2 funked up people were rock stars