Southwest Airlines 'Dress Code' Services

In the last couple of months, Southwest Airlines has forced two of their passengers to change their clothing or get off the plane. First, a young college student boarding a Southwest flight in a denim miniskirt and sweater was asked to 'cover up' or get off the plane before it departed. A man from Largo, Florida was the next person to be forced to change his clothing. He boarded the Southwest flight wearing a fictional fishing shop t-shirt that read 'Master Baiter', but was told to either take it off, turn it inside out or get off the plane. Both passengers in each incident altered their clothing to keep from losing their seats, but should they have been forced to do so.

Southwest Airlines was in the right by enforcing their policy. The company has to keep other passengers comfortable and satisfied. The only problem is Southwest Airlines does not have a 'dress code' according to Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz even though 'dress code' rules have been enforced. If a passenger wanted to know what 'dress code' rules were being enforced they could go to the www.Southwest.com. Once on the website it is not too easy to find anything about a 'dress code' because there is nothing directly saying 'dress code'. If someone who had the time to research the website and went under the 'Contract of Carriage' selection they would find what seems to be a hint of a 'dress code'. The contract states, "Persons whose conduct is or has been known to be disorderly, abusive, offensive, threatening, intimidating, or violent, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive" will be denied transport by the carrier (http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/coc.pdf, pg 10).

Not only is the 'dress code' uneasy to find on their website and there are no specifications on what is considered to be lewd and patently offensive, but also the airlines have their employees make the judgment calls on basically what they feel is lewd and patently offensive and not the company. This is not necessarily fair because every person has a different perspective on different subjects; so what one person may feel is offensive, another may not. The best solution is to come up with a 'dress code' to be enforced on every passenger. In the 'dress code' there should be specifications on what is considered lewd and patently offensive. For instance, instead of being written as "lewd, obscene, or patently offensive" the contract should list things such as exposure of different specified parts of the body, racial slurs, curse words, and sexual references as unacceptable clothing terms. This would help employees know what type of critical decisions to make about turning people away because of their clothing. If discrimination was an issue, then a well written and explanatory 'dress code' will ensure that passengers are really being denied service because of their clothing and nothing else. Also, passengers need to start realizing although we have freedom of speech, but there is a time and place for everything.

When it comes down to it, the main issue is respect. Southwest Airlines wants their passengers to have a safe and comfortable flight and are willing to do everything in their power to provide this type of customer service. So for future reference, just follow the rules and remember that you are not the only passenger on that flight if you wish to keep your seat.

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