First-Class Dress Codes & Security Rules for Celebrities

Great day to fly By now, everyone is familiar with standard airport security procedures: shoes off, boarding pass out, water bottles empty and laptops in a separate bin. But do these strict and irritating rules apply to everyone equally … even celebrities?

And what about dress codes on airplanes? In the last couple of years we’ve heard media reports of women being kicked off planes for being dressed to provocatively, and just this week a man was denied his seat in first class for dressing too casually.

Is it fair to lose your seat because of the way you dress? Read on to learn how the rules of flight - or lack thereof - are sometimes inconsistently enforced.

We the common people tend to think celebrities have it easy. However, we often forget that pop icons can’t go anywhere without being swarmed by paparazzi.

Many of these encounters can be ugly and invasive, but one photographer caught an interesting moment at Los Angeles International Airport this week.

The paparazzo filmed Britney Spears passing through a security checkpoint carrying a Big Gulp. TSA officials surely wouldn’t let the hoi polloi get away with such an egregious security breach, but apparently for celebrities, exceptions can be made.

Perhaps the TSA agents recognized Spears and realized how silly it was to think that she had any malicious intentions with that Big Gulp—yet they routinely hound “suspicious” plebeians like you and me for trying to pass through with a water bottle.

Meanwhile, a United Airlines agent refused to let a man sit in first class this week because he deemed the man’s track suit too casual for the section.

Armando Alvarez, an executive for Best Buy, cashed in his miles for a first class upgrade on his flight from Washington Dulles to Connecticut. After his upgrade cleared, the gate agent told him he was not in appropriate first class attire.

For more, Travel Detective & Middle Seat Columnist Talk Upgrades & Downgrades. Or check out Strategies for Securing Airline Upgrades.

A United spokesperson has said that the airline does not have a dress code for passengers, aside from a general “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policy that requires passengers to cover their bodies and feet in some sort of garment.

The spokesperson said that the gate agent, who speaks English as a second language and was busy assisting another customer, mistook Alvarez for an airline employee, for whom a dress code would be required.

Alvarez reportedly felt humiliated by the incident and ended up spending the duration of his flight in coach.

What do you think? Should there be an airplane dress code? Has a passenger’s attire (or lack thereof) ever made you feel uncomfortable?

Is it fair to deny someone a seat based on the way he or she dresses? How do you feel about the apparent security double-standard for celebrities?

Leave some comments below and let us know what you think.

By Dan Bence for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related Links: Gadling, USA Today, Fox Atlanta

Peter Greenberg Links:

Share this story: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

« Vacations for Care-Givers Weekly International Travel News Roundup »

candi4082

I can't believe it. I better watch what I wear when I fly to South America in Jan. I fly business and first class when going to Europe etc. I wear nike sweat suits and my husband wears jeans and polo shirt. We want to be comfortable. I hope this gentleman gets free first class tickets for a year of travel. They owe him a big "Im sorry"

azim

Did he pay his baggage surcharge ?

smb123

Then I think United needs to hire people who speak English as a first language.
What a lame excuse!!

kathleenstachnik

As concerns celebrities, we should all be treated the same. No one know a celebrites motivations or the possibility that they could be blackmailed into doing something against the law.

While first class attire doesn't have to come from the pages of Vogue, we should all look neat and clean. I've flown first class in a sweat shirt and blue jeans on an 8 1/2 hour flight from Chicago to Honolulu. I was comfortable for the entire flight and even sported slippers after takeoff. I think dirty, torn clothing belongs on the Greyhound but I find nothing wrong with a neat and clean track suit.

rogerac

No there should not be a dress code on flights (I'm basically not fond of dress codes). Maybe no shirt no shoes no service (as much as I like shirtless men, if they're well built) but not beyond that. Coat&tie restaurants or hotels, clubs, employers etc.--I avoid them like the plague while I wonder why construction workers never strip down any more.

Derek

I don't sit in first class, but when I fly I wear my western wear (cowboy boots and hat, western shirt). I've never had a problem. Most of the time I get complimented for what I am wearing. On a Denver bound flight a few months ago a fellow passenger liked my hat, and at DIA security the TSA agent complimented on my belt buckle.

Stan

If the Britney security breach is true than all the agents at the gate at that time should be fired!!! Security is for the safety of us all and I generally agree with the policies but they need to be enforced in a nondiscrinent way to be effective.

The denial of the first class seat is unacceptable proceedure. I travel with frequent upgrades and wear any thing from a suit & tie to shorts & a T-shirt. As long as you are clean and do not stink, it should be your decision what you want people to see you wearing in public.

longtimetraveler

Dressing well while traveling will often get you better attention from airline and hotel personnel, including unsolicited upgrades. My wife and I try to look upscale when traveling and it has paid off over time.
Slovenly dressers, particularly torn/worn or dirty clothing is a turn off to most other travelers. Males over the age of ten who wear hats all the time, particularly backward ballcaps, need to be sent to the nursery. The acceptability of provocative female clothing depends on whether it looks good on the wearer, or not.

Tracy K.

Brittany can walk through with a Big Gulp, but this typical white, overweight middle class wife of a pilot got the third degree when an agent swore the metal logo on my carry on was a knife! Not only that, I've watched my husband damn near get strip searched while in uniform and on the way to the plane when the foil on his gum wrapper set the metal detector go off. He had to go through an extensive security background check through the national crime index computer, but Brittany breezes through security? Inconsistency with TSA seems to be the only consistency with them.

As far as the dress code, Delta finally relaxed it for non-revenue employee travel so that we could "blend in" with the average traveler. We still like to dress business casual.