In a recent Jan. 22, 2025 update to their Contract of Carriage, Spirit Airlines now has an official stricter dress code for passengers, an issue that has caused some passengers to be grounded from their flights in the past.
Back on Oct. 4, 2024, TikToker Tara (@catcusqueen2) shared a story of how she and her friend were kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight, calling it discrimination against women.
“Storytime on how my friend and I just got kicked off of this Spirit Airlines flight for wearing crop tops,” the TikToker said, both of them giving the camera peace signs. “So we literally just got kicked off for crop tops. I posted a bunch of videos, so please blow it up and Spirit Airlines, what the heck? This is discrimination. We literally got kicked off, and the woman in front of us, for wearing crop tops. Since when is this, like, disturbing anyone?”
“I just had to pay $1000 for flights to rebook with another airline because Spirit refused to rebook or refund us, just because we were wearing crop tops and one flight attendant, one single male flight attendant, had a problem.”
@catcusqueen2 @Spirit Airlines ♬ original sound – Tara
Unequal enforcement of airline dress code policy
She went on to clarify that no other Spirit Airlines employees brought up this issue, and it wasn’t until the two women sat down in their seats on their airplane that an airline employee complained about their cropped shirts.
“Nobody else said anyone—anything. Nobody at the check-in, nobody on the plane, until we sat down and one male flight attendant told us that he had a problem with what we were wearing,” she said. “The supervisor even stated she did not have a problem with what we were wearing, but since he did, we would have to cover up. It is 2024 and women are still being discriminated against. There were men on the flight, even, saying, ‘What the heck? […] I’ve seen shirtless men on Spirit Airlines.’ Everybody was defending us and had our backs, but still we got kicked off, no refunds, nothing. Do better, Spirit. What the heck.”
A fellow TikToker, Meenu (@_minakumari_) was on the flight that Tara and her friend were on and shared her point of view of what happened.
@_minakumari_ Never thought I would witness something like this 👀 Originally stitched this video from @Tara but had to reupload because of audio issues. #spiritairlines #spirit #storytime @Spirit Airlines ♬ original sound – Meenu
The vast majority of folks in the comments of Tara’s TikTok video agreed that the Spirit Airlines dress coding needed to update their policies to account for modern fashion, as they or people they knew had similar experiences with the airline.
Changes to the Spirit Airlines dress code
The updated Contract of Carriage reads, “A guest shall not be permitted to board the aircraft or may be required to leave an aircraft if that guest: is barefoot or inadequately clothed (i.e., see-through clothing; not adequately covered; exposed breasts, buttocks, or other private parts), or whose clothing or article, including body art, is lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature.”
This rule does not specify what is considered “lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature,” and could be considered subjective from employee to employee, as Tara claimed happened to her and her friend in the TikTok storytime video she posted.
Airlines all have their own dress codes that can vary greatly, but passengers being removed for seemingly offensive clothing isn’t a recent occurrence, as evidenced by a number of stories that have circulated over the years. While fashion continues to evolve, airline rules typically do not.
@catcusqueen2 did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via RedNote direct message. Spirit Airlines did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
