Spirit Airlines is often the butt of jokes when it comes to the quality of its clientele, but it appears the embattled ultra-low-cost carrier has tired of the ‘eye-opening’ and sometimes inappropriate behavior of some of its passengers.
A recent update to the Florida-based airline’s contract of carriage is making waves after it detailed the kind of behavior and clothing that could have you kicked off a Spirit flight from now on.
Alongside some fairly standard rules regarding passenger behavior, the airline has also listed some pretty specific examples of what is no longer acceptable, including passengers trying to board the plane barefoot or having their breasts, buttocks or other ‘intimate’ body parts on show.
The airline is also no longer willing to fly passengers who are wearing see-through clothing or who have questionable tattoos on display, which could be considered “lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature.”
Passengers will also need to ensure they’ve had a shower and applied some deodorant before attempting to fly with Spirit in the future, as the carrier is also banning anyone with an “offensive odor” – unless they have proof of a ‘qualified’ disability.
The rules on lewd and obscene messages also apply to clothing, which came up last week when a passenger was kicked off a Spirt Airlines flight from Los Angeles to San Antonio because they were wearing a sweatshirt with the word “f**k” emblazoned across it.
The word had swapped out the U for V, but the meaning was still very much apparent, and flight attendants were quick to enforce the updated conditions of carriage.
In response to a video of the incident going viral, a spokesperson for Spirit Airlines said: “We want all our guests to feel welcome and have a great experience while traveling with us.”
Other major US airlines also have similar requirements written into their conditions of carriage, including American Airlines, which bars barefoot passengers, as well as “offensive clothing” – the airline does not, though, provide any further information on what could be considered offensive.
That lack of clarity has given rise to some concerning incidents between passengers and flight attendants that have ended up with American Airlines making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Late last year, things came to a head when American Airlines decided that flight attendants should no longer have the power to have passengers removed from a flight for a non-safety or security-related reason.
In most circumstances, American Airlines will now try to find ways for passengers to fly, even if they might not be dressed appropriately or smell of body odor.
The change was implemented after flight attendants removed an unrelated group of Black men who didn’t know each other from a flight at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport last January because of a false report of bad body odor. The airline eventually reached an out-of-court settlement with some of the victims involved in the incident.
