An American Airlines passenger went online to blast the carrier, “They made me cover my butt because my shorts were too short!”

She says she was told by the gate agent that the flight crew saw her outfit and “said that [she] needed to change” in order to “cover my butt.” The passenger points out that she’s about to ‘sit on her butt’ on the plane, so what does it matter what’s wearing on it?

Her language here is not safe for work, and not safe even for work from home:

I made the mistake of looking at this woman’s Twitter account. She appears to post herself engaged in porn. And I found that she shared another video of herself walking around the airport. She should probably be kicked out of the airport, not just refused boarding from the flight (made harder, of course, because nearly all airports in the U.S. are government-owned and operated).

In fact, American changed its policy back in November and concerns that aren’t related to safety or security need to originate with another passenger, not with crew.

The airline expresses its goal to “welcome all customers unless there is a risk to the safety or security of the flight” so they shouldn’t be kicking passengers off over what they are wearing – especially if other passengers do not express concerns. So while the gate agent may have enforced a dress code that no longer appears backed by American’s internal rules.

This change was made after eight black men were removed from an aircraft over a reported body odor issue (the men did not know each other and were not traveling together, and the NAACP threatened to reinstate its travel warning against flying American as a result).

Here’s women in swimsuits checking in for an American Airlines flight while the carrier’s agents reacted as though it is ‘no big deal.’ This is an airline with a hub in Miami, after all! Rules in Dallas are very different than in Miami!

Well, this seems like a fun flight ✈️ pic.twitter.com/brFDpHXzdo

— Saianel (@saianel) April 12, 2022

Yet at the same time, American told a curvaceous woman to wear a blanket in order to fly and refused boarding to a Turkish fitness model. They even told a former Miss Universe that her athleisure wear wouldn’t fly when she was more modestly dressed than another passenger on the same flight.

@yahooentertainment #AmericanAirlines told #OliviaCulpo to “cover up” her #sportsbra and #bikeshorts or else she wouldn’t be able to fly to #Cabo ♬ original sound – Yahoo Entertainment

Leaving things like behavior and attire standards up to the airline’s customers, rather than asking a flight attendant to guess at what is offensive, and asking more than one employee to be involved in the decision seem like reasonable steps to address ambiguity. And when immediate safety isn’t a concern, bringing in the company’s perspective seems like the better move here.

And yet… surely asking this attention-seeking woman in this outfit to cover up seems like the right choice in the old Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart sense that it’s difficult to draw clear lines but you still know it when you see it.