Man denied first-class seat on United for wearing track suit

None of my airlines have a dress code for fare paying passengers. Staff and upgrades have to look the part (in theory, if I’m oversold and rushing to upgrade as we’re boarding I don’t really care)

However, my theory is the handling agents dropped the ball and oversold business. They used this as an excuse rather than admit their mistake, I’ve seen similar tactics used before. :dev2:

As long as it wasnt a man utd top i cant see a problem :D….

Another one for the list…… :diablo:

As long as it wasnt a man utd top i cant see a problem 😀
Joking aside as long as your dressed sensibly and repectfully there should be no reason to object to anyone’s clothes.

This was at their head office and meeting their Vice President Ground Operations (I think her title was).

:p

Imagine, if you will, a meeting with Southwest Airlines at Love Field on a Friday morning where I have flown across the Atlantic to see them (and a bunch of other airlines and airports)…

Me – in business suit and tie
Them – in t-shirts and shorts

Me – I wondered if it was dress down Friday
Them – Brian, every day in Southwest Airlines is a dress down Friday

Hey, Southwest is all third class. You get what you pay for. At least they have upbeat attendants most of the time and a good safety/service record. If you ever go to headquarters, for the most part they have an awesome attitude.

Ryan

There are folks I know that look good in nicer clothes, who’s position and situation certainly would warrant a little better outfit. Some of these guys intentionally show up to meetings and events in shorts and a t-shirt, and it’s just annoying. I know they’re in the position, and I respect the position, but in a certain sense it’s dishonoring to their clients and associates who do dress professionally. Oh, and those shorts and t-shirts may be comfortable, but it doesn’t do anything for your appearance.

Ryan

Imagine, if you will, a meeting with Southwest Airlines at Love Field on a Friday morning where I have flown across the Atlantic to see them (and a bunch of other airlines and airports)…

Me – in business suit and tie
Them – in t-shirts and shorts

Me – I wondered if it was dress down Friday
Them – Brian, every day in Southwest Airlines is a dress down Friday

Generally don’t mind what the person next to me is wearing as long as they are clean & don’t smell too offensive.

It used to amuse me when I regularly traveled on an aircraft for work that when I went out at the beginning of the week in a shirt & tie the attitude of the cabin crew was perceptibly different to when I came back dressed casually (chinos & short sleeved shirt smartish casual) on a Friday.

Maybe they just worked Mon-Fri & were fed up by Fri ….;)

What I do sometimes struggle with is knowing exactly what to wear if I’m leaving a cold climate for a hot one. I usually can’t be a***d to change while in transit.

Jeans and a T-Shirt generally do me wherever I am, but then again I’m one of the people Moggy C would say definitely shouldn’t wear a tracksuit so I probably don’t feel a shift in temperature as much as some others! Not that I’d wear a tracksuit anyway, of course…

Paul

Hey, I agree that if there’s no standard, then if you pay for it you should be able to do what you like. Certainly that’s true of your own transportation, and I can see situations where it would perhaps be even a necessity, perhaps for a stranded tourist or athlete.
That said, I just find that there seems to be an attitude of intentional sloppiness that is just unbecoming. There are folks I know that look good in nicer clothes, who’s position and situation certainly would warrant a little better outfit. Some of these guys intentionally show up to meetings and events in shorts and a t-shirt, and it’s just annoying. I know they’re in the position, and I respect the position, but in a certain sense it’s dishonoring to their clients and associates who do dress professionally. Oh, and those shorts and t-shirts may be comfortable, but it doesn’t do anything for your appearance.

Ryan

I was thinking something similar! Some of the replies here referring to ‘lowering the tone’ really could be straight out of the 1940’s and 50’s!

Paul

I’m not at all old-fashioned, I promise.
What I do sometimes struggle with is knowing exactly what to wear if I’m leaving a cold climate for a hot one. I usually can’t be a***d to change while in transit.

I am always amused by the obviously less than ‘fit’ types who think wearing a track suit somehow implies that they are finely-honed athletes when all visual appearance betrays the fact they are actually fat-slob couch potatoes.

No particular view on this issue. I try and dress smartly for all flights, either because I’m travelling in one of the upper classes and think it is appropriate, or I’m travelling cattle and hope for an upgrade.

On one-class flights it doesn’t matter, but not actually owning a track suit I wouldn’t go out and buy one to travel in.

Moggy

Didn’t some of the expressed philosophies disappear with BOAC?

I was thinking something similar! Some of the replies here referring to ‘lowering the tone’ really could be straight out of the 1940’s and 50’s!

Paul

Wow, we have some old people on this forum don’t we!!

Didn’t some of the expressed philosophies disappear with BOAC? Some of you will be telling us next you always make sure you have a scarf because the open air passenger cockpit can get “darned drafty” at times.

I don’t ‘dress’ for flying, I dress for occasion. That is to say, I dress based on where I’m going from/to and for what purpose, regardless of travel class. For work that therefore means I’ll be in a suit, probably even if I’m not going straight to a meeting on landing. For leisure, it’s usually a pair of smart jeans and a t-shirt or shirt depending on my mood.

I think the bigger issue here is that someone chose to wear a tracksuit (and who wasn’t an Olympic gold medallist)! :dev2:

I think it is reasonable to require all people in aircraft to dress smartly, irrespective of which class they are in. I wear a shirt and smart, casual jacket, hopefully to look good and be comfortable at the same time.
Other people wearing sloppy tracksuits doesn’t affect me at all, but it does lower the tone.

If I’m flying to Japan, Australia, or any other long-haul flight, I will dress in comfortable casual clothes, because I’m going to have to sleep in them. I’ve never worn a tracksuit to fly, but I regard it as eminently sensible dress for the occasion.

It’s no different from travelling by bus or train.

Must admit I’m really torn on this one… Clearly the agent was wrong – the airline DOES have a dress code, but it doesn’t preclude people in tracksuits from travelling in any cabin

You’ve paid extra for it. Why should you be subject to stricter rules? :confused:

Actually, this is where I am torn… The guy upgraded – effectively, he was getting into a better cabin than he’d paid money for. OK, so he “paid” for the upgrade with miles (which under accounting rules are not valueless) but IMHO he was getting more service than he actually paid for. Under such circumstances, I do believe that the airline (any airline) has a right to dictate standards when it gives away such upgrades. Clearly in this case the gate agent was wrong and the guy should have been allowed the upgrade because United doesn’t have such rules, but in principal I have no problem with airlines applying rules associated with upgrades (as opposed to people buying original tickets for a specific cabin).

Andy

PS: As someone who is flying to the USA next week, with United and on an already upgraded ticket (upgraded using one of the electronic vouchers I get as one of their frequent flyers), I will NOT by travelling in a tracksuit 😀 If fact, I wouldn’t want to be seen dead in an airport wearing such attire! 😉

…. I once had an upgrade from Business to First on AF and was wearing shorts and a tee-shirt at the time 😀

Other people wearing sloppy tracksuits doesn’t affect me at all, but it does lower the tone.

Just try telling that to these ‘homies’…:D

I once flew business class on Alitalia when I was going to the Routes conference in Rome. I was dressed fairly casually and was carrying a briefcase and a pilot’s case (which had my laptop and conference papers in it) which were in the limits then of what I could carry on.

An Alitalia person wandering round the departure lounge saw me and started haranguing me that I should have checked one of the bags in and that I couldn’t take it into the cabin, obviously thinking I was cattle class fodder.

His face dropped when he saw my business class boarding card and it was interesting to see him desperately back-tracking.

I have to say that the only ‘well dressed’ people I ever saw in business and first class were airline staff travelling on staff ID90/00 tickets.

Set the tone?? Afraid you’re 50 years late.

What about wearing a muumuu in first? 😀

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/56418012_348253aae9.jpg

I think it is reasonable to require all people in aircraft to dress smartly, irrespective of which class they are in. I wear a shirt and smart, casual jacket, hopefully to look good and be comfortable at the same time.
Other people wearing sloppy tracksuits doesn’t affect me at all, but it does lower the tone.