Woman forced to cover up on plane speaks out

As 21-year-old Emily O’Connor was boarding a flight to Tenerife, she was stopped by airline staff and told she would need to ‘cover up’. She was wearing a croqueted crop top and high-waisted trousers at the time and urged to put on a jacket.

Mortified by the experience, Emily took to Twitter with a post that has since gone viral, and recently appeared on UK breakfast show This Morning, to speak out.

“For me as a woman, or a man, any gender, any sex, you should be able to show your body in any way you deem appropriate,” she said.

“Anything that you can wear socially, into supermarkets or shopping centres, you should be able to wear on an aeroplane.”

She went on to say there was a man standing behind her dressed in a vest top and shorts, who wasn’t asked to cover up.

Emily says she was told to put on a jacket because she was “causing offence” and told Yahoo, “It was so mortifying.”

“I was so upset and they could clearly see that yet they continued to note how inappropriate and offensive I was. I was really close to crying,” she said.

The airline, Thomas Cook, told Yahoo they are “sorry” for how the situation was handled.

“We are sorry that we upset Ms O’Connor. It’s clear we could have handled the situation better. In common with most airlines we have an appropriate attire policy,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“This applies equally to men and women of all ages without discrimination.

“Our crews have the difficult task of implementing that policy and don’t always get it right.”

However, wearing the same outfit for her appearance on This Morning, etiquette expert Liz Brewer agreed that Emily was in breach of dress policies.

“Let’s get a few facts straight. That is not a crop top. That is a bra,” she said.

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