Should passengers be allowed to wear what they like in airport lounges?

By B.R.

IN THE halcyon days of flying, passengers would dress in their Sunday best to board a plane. Air travel was glamorous; glad rags were expected. No longer. Only three types of people now wear a suit on a plane: those on business who don’t want to crumple their work attire, those who forlornly cling to the old idea that wearing a tie might result in an upgrade, and those flying the aircraft. Given what a cramped, miserable experience flying has become, you can hardly blame the masses if they turn up in tracksuits and flip-flops.

That much is true even of first-class cabins. But not, it seems, of first-class lounges. Yesterday, Qantas barred Kevin Pietersen (pictured), an England cricketer, from entering one of its lounges as he flew from South Africa to Australia. Mr Pietersen, who, it is fair to say, is untroubled by thoughts of his own fallibility, was not best pleased, tweeting to Qantas: “I suggest you tell Platinum, First Class fliers that they not allowed in your lounges with flip-flops before they fly, Muppets!”

In fact, Qantas decided back in April to police the smartness of passengers using its ground facilities. According to its website, it wants to ensure that attire is “smart casual”. As such it bans “thongs [flip-flops] and bare feet, head to toe gym wear, beachwear (including board shorts), sleepwear (including UGG boots and slippers), clothing featuring offensive images or slogans [and] revealing, unclean or torn clothing” from its club and business lounges.

Gulliver is in two minds about this. On the one hand, Mr Pietersen is right: as a customer he pays tens-of-thousands of dollars to sit at the front of Qantas’s planes, and that should entitle him to do pretty much anything he likes, beyond endangering safety and upsetting fellow passengers. But on balance, the Australian carrier has more of a right to impose its own standards. One wouldn’t expect to be allowed to wear a tracksuit for tea at the Ritz because the hotel wishes to portray a certain sophistication; its brand, and thus business, would suffer if its standards slipped. If Qantas believes that allowing flip-flops and surfing shorts in its lounges cheapens the first-class experience, then that is its prerogative. Sadly, it is a prerogative Gulliver himself never gets to test.