Once again, American Airlines has found itself under scrutiny for policing women’s attire in ways that are subjective and seemingly arbitrary. This time, we go to Florida, where a former Playboy model was told to button up before stepping onboard her flight. Her crime? Being too buxom.

American Airlines Passenger Told To “Button Up” Over Athletic Top

A woman says an American Airlines flight attendant (probably a gate agent, since she claimed it happened before boarding) told her to “button up” before boarding her American Airlines flight from Tampa (TPA) to Charlotte (CLT), informing her that her athletic top violated dress standards. The passenger, Sara Blake Cheek, posted about the incident and shared photos of her outfit, claiming others in similar attire were not flagged.

“I was unaware that American Airlines had a dress code that said you can’t wear athletic attire if you have big boobs.”

She added that the instruction came after a day of irregular operations (a cancellation, multiple rebookings, and a delay), and that another woman in the “same outfit” but a different skin color wasn’t told to change.

Cheek later posted a full-length view of the outfit she says prompted the request.

American’s contract of carriage doesn’t publish a precise dress code beyond “appropriate” attire and the usual prohibitions (offensive clothing, bare feet).

“Dress appropriately; bare feet or offensive clothing aren’t allowed.”

Interestingly, this incident occurred even after the airline tightened internal procedures last year so AA employees would not unilaterally remove passengers for clothing unless there was a safety issue. Per AA policy:

• Any non-safety or non-security related concerns should originate from customers only, not from team members.
• Should non-safety or non-security concerns be raised by a customer, our shared objective is to avoid customer removal. That means groups across the operation work together toward a resolution that both addresses the customer concern and keeps all customer travel intact.

While Cheek was not denied boarding, it does seem that this new policy was not followed because the gate agent took it upon herself to police Cheek’s attire.

My Take

I’ve written about these “inappropriate clothing” flare-ups for years, and the common thread is inconsistency. One agent says “cover up,” another waves the same outfit through…sometimes on the same flight. That’s a recipe for conflict.

I’m not here to police what people wear, and I don’t think American’s frontline employees should have that job either. If an airline wants to enforce standards beyond the obvious (no nudity, no offensive language), then publish clear, objective rules and train to them. “Appropriate” is in the eye of the beholder; that’s the problem…the policy is deliberately vague for a reason and the internal policy instructs employees to err on the side of deference. On a day already marred by delays and rebookings, adding a subjective clothing call is necessary.

Notice these incidents almost always happen on American Airlines? It just seems to be woven into the carrier’s culture. If American believes sports bras or midriff tops aren’t acceptable, say so plainly on the website and at check-in. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when passengers feel singled out and the story goes viral…

Finally, I think One Mile At A Time makes a very good point that this woman has a self-interest in making this story go viral…it furthers her brand and name. I’m not saying that she made it up, but she may well have provoked the incident in the first place, dressing the way she did specifically to try to get scolded, which she could turn into self-promotion.

Whether that’s true or not does not matter from my perspective: the AA gate agent should never have taken the bait and even if her boobs are fake, her choice of attire did not strike me as particularly noteworthy.

CONCLUSION

This wasn’t a denial of boarding, but it was another inconsistent, subjective enforcement moment that puts crews or ground staff in a no-win position and leaves customers confused. As I always say with these AA incidents, either make the standard crystal clear…or stop trying to enforce it on the fly.

Did AA handle this incident correctly?

image: @sarahcheeky1 / X // hat tip: View From The Wing