A woman claims she was kicked off a Delta Airlines plane after she was told her clothes were too revealing. The passenger, Lisa Archbold, says the incident took place on a flight from Salt Lake City to San Francisco on January 22.
According to the New Zealand flier, the airline’s gate agent gave her a “super weird” welcome, but she thought nothing of it until a few moments later when she boarded the plane.
Highlights
- A woman claims she was removed from a Delta flight for not wearing a bra
- The incident occurred en route from Salt Lake City to San Francisco
- Delta reserves the right to refuse or deplane fliers when “the passenger’s conduct, attire, hygiene, or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers.”
After Archbold was seated, she was approached by Delta staff. “I’m thinking: someone has died, or they found something weird in my bag,” the traveler told the New Zealand Herald.
Image credits: Chris / Flickr (not the actual photo)
Image credits: DJettekiwi
“This woman from the ground crew comes to me and loudly says in front of the whole plane, ‘I need to speak to you in private. Follow me,’” said Archbold.
Her first reaction was to link the unexpected call to the contents of her checked luggage. As a publicist, she had attended the Sundance Film Festival to promote an actor’s liquor brand, which is why her bag was full of vodka bottles.
However, she later realized that the issue wasn’t related to the liquor she carried inside her luggage but to the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
The Kiwi woman, named Lisa Archbold, says the incident took place on a flight from Salt Lake City to San Francisco on January 22
Image credits: DJettekiwi
Archbold says the airline’s gate agent gave her a “super weird” welcome, but she thought nothing of it until she boarded the plane
Image credits: djette_kiwi
“It is Delta’s policy to remove anyone in revealing clothes from the aircraft,” Archbold, who identifies as queer, claims to have been told.
The Delta Airlines staff warned: “I will allow you to stay on the plane if you put your jacket on.”
The Delta Airlines staff warned: “I will allow you to stay on the plane if you put your jacket on.”
Then, the former judo champion was reportedly summoned to the front of the aircraft.
Image credits: djette_kiwi
“I was dressed like a little boy in baggy pants and shirt. I had no idea what she was talking about,” said Archbold, sharing a photo of her casual outfit.
The Kiwi expatriate maintains she was being targeted because she was wearing “men’s clothes” and was unfairly treated based on her appearance. Additionally, she said that her choice not to wear a bra should have been immaterial.
Once on board, Archbold was approached by a Delta employee, who told her they needed to speak in private
Image credits: djette_kiwi
Image credits: djette_kiwi
“Neither were the men on that flight and lots have bigger breasts than me,” the publicist, who goes by “DJette Kiwi,” said.
Delta does not have an official dress code for travelers.
Under its domestic contract of carriage, however, the airline reserves the right to refuse or deplane fliers when “the passenger’s conduct, attire, hygiene, or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers.”
"I will allow you to stay on the plane if you put your jacket on," Archbold claims to have been told before she was summoned to the front of the aircraft
Image credits: djette_kiwi
The woman believes she adhered to the dress code, arguing the airline employee “weaponized Delta’s policy to humiliate and abuse a woman [who] she didn’t think was being a woman in the right way.”
The passenger filed an official complaint with the airline and is waiting to hear back, according to The Herald.
The passenger filed an official complaint with the airline and is waiting to hear back
Image credits: djette_kiwi
Archbold is based in New York and travels regularly for work. She said that she had never experienced similar issues in her four years of living in the United States.
Many people agreed with Delta Airline's decision to remove the woman from the plane
