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Plane Dress
ChrisCrossings · July 29, 1999

Q: What is your opinion on proper dress for airplane travel? I don't know about you, but I find it quite repulsive to be seated next to someone who is wearing about as much clothing as one would wear to the beach or the gym, whether or not their personal hygiene is up to par. As a child my mother always insisted that we dress up for air travel. Maybe this was because relatives were picking us up at the airport, but she has always maintained that it is rude to dress like a total slob while traveling.

-- Kate Larson

A: Asking me for fashion advice is a little like getting directions from a blind guy. Remember, journalists are awful dressers. So much so that we privately celebrate our profoundly mismatched apparel. I refer to the creative clash, a counterfashion all its own that I was introduced to as a freelance writer for the Newport Beach Daily Pilot in Newport Beach, Calif., more than a decade ago. It went something like this: the reporter whose clothes don’t match the best, wins. I took the prize a time or two for pitting argyle socks against khaki pants and a striped tie with a severely wrinkled dress shirt, sleeves rolled up, and sunglasses. The leather boat-shoes were a given.

It’s also worth noting that airlines do have a dress code. I became aware of it as an editor for the travel trade magazine Travel Weekly, when I was dispatched on assignment to Britain on a freebie British Airways ticket. Trade journalists -- well, they’re not really journalists so much as they are underpaid public relations workers for the travel industry -- insist on upgrades with their free tickets and more often than not, they get the good seats. Keep the editors happy, the theory goes, and they’ll never write a negative word about you.

Anyway, there I was holding a comped ticket to London, when I noticed the requirement that I dress appropriately -- meaning that I board the plane wearing a jacket and slacks, as the fine print spelled out. I thought it was a joke. I asked our airline reporter to clarify, and she confirmed that this was no laughing matter. No suit, no service. Or at the very least, I’d get tossed out of Club World. What an uncivilized way to be treated by the world’s favorite airline.

I complied, naturally. Didn’t want to forfeit the big seat, the unlimited refills on Merlot (I was well on my way to becoming an alcoholic by then, courtesy of my happy career as a trade reporter) and the obsequious service that upgraded passengers get. But I do recall that no matter how fast my head was spinning on the trip, or how much gourmet food they dished into the china on my traytable, it couldn’t alleviate the discomfort of having to wear those rather tight wool pants.

There are those who argue that making travelers dress up for a trip as they did in the glory days of airline travel before deregulation would entice passengers to behave better. While that may be true, I think the benefits of dressing comfortably outstrip the negative effects of wearing casual clothes on a plane. I’ve interviewed doctors who confirm that long flights in tight attire can make for a miserable flight at best, and cause serious health problems at worst.

Nonetheless, the fly casual attitude can be taken too far. Traveling comfortably doesn’t mean you should let yourself go. I’m as ticked-off as the next guy about passengers who neglect to bathe or brush their teeth. But how do you regulate something like that? Is it time to create a bad hygiene section on the plane for people who disdain deodorant and mouthwash? Fat chance.

People are behaving like animals on planes because they’re being treated like animals in the main cabin -- crammed into tiny seats, fed something they wouldn’t give their dog, and treated like part of the herd. Change that, and you might solve part of the problem.

Christopher Elliott can be reached at christopher@elliott.org. Or visit his home page at http://www.elliott.org.