Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts
Get Simon Calder’s Travel email
Delta Airlines has recently gained attention for its alleged treatment of women for what they showed up wearing on one of their flights.
In the last two months there have been instances in which women were almost removed from planes because they were not wearing a bra. Here is what the airline’s rules state and whether or not a person can actually be removed for what they are wearing.
Delta has recently updated its Contract of Carriage, as of 12 March 2024, which is essentially their list of rules for passengers flying with them. Rule seven specifies its refusal to transport policies.
Various methods that Delta states will allow them to remove any passenger from its aircraft at any time include: government request, refusal to allow themselves or their property to be searched, refusal to produce appropriate identification, failure to comply with Delta’s rules or Contract of Carriage, and the passenger’s conduct or condition.
Under that section, the rule explains that a passenger may not be removed from a Delta flight for having a disability. “Delta will not refuse to provide transportation based upon race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or ancestry,” the rule reads.
In terms of a dress code, the airline does require that the passengers wear shoes and says they may be removed for being barefoot. The rule also states a passenger may be refused transportation, when “conduct, attire, hygiene or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers”.
According to this rule the airline can make the decision to remove a passenger for not wearing a bra.
Last week, a woman said that Delta Airlines targeted her for not wearing a bra. During a news press conference on Thursday, 28 March, 38-year-old DJ Lisa Archbold held a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, claiming that when she showed up to board her Delta Airlines flight at Salt Lake City Airport in January, she was singled out by airline staff. Archbold told the press: “I was targeted and humiliated.”
“It felt like a scarlet letter was being attached to me,” Archbold recalled of being escorted off the plane in baggy jeans and a loose white T-shirt with no bra. “I felt it was a spectacle aimed at punishing me for not being a woman in the way she thought I should be a woman as she scolded me outside of the plane.”
Once the entire plane was seated, a flight attendant came to Archbold’s seat. She asked her to speak in private and escorted her off the plane. Allred noted that Archbold suspected her braless outfit was the cause. The attorney said, “The gate agent told her that when passengers are wearing offensive or revealing clothing, Delta’s official policy is to remove them from the flight.”
Archbold was reportedly only allowed to fly under one condition: that she must wear another shirt on top of the one she was wearing. At the time, the head flight attendant reportedly informed her that “women must cover up” according to Delta’s official policy. She had been flying from conservative Salt Lake City, Utah, to the much more liberal San Francisco, California.
“Male passengers are not required to cover up their T-shirts with a shirt or a jacket,” Allred argued. “They also do not have to wear a bra to board or remain on a plane and women should not have to wear one either.”
Her attorney noted at the time that according to US federal rules, airlines can only remove passengers who present a clear safety or security risk to the plane or its passengers. Archbold, however, was neither.
Although there are no plans to go forward with a lawsuit, Allred said that she and her client want a sit-down meeting with the president of Delta Airlines to ensure that their policies will be updated to reflect 21st-century values and standards.
The Independent has contacted Delta for comment.
