Fitness influncer Edda Elisa was stopped from boarding a Lufthansa Group flight from Berlin to Austria, because she was wearing a sports bra-style crop top and tight cycling shorts to stay cool in the heat. Remember – Europeans cannot afford air conditioning.
Media are reporting the story as being about a Lufthansa flight but this would either have been Austrian to Vienna or Eurowings to either Salzburg or Graz. This story is interesting, though, because you hear about passengers being called out for their attire much less often in Europe, the Mideast and Asia than you do in the United States. It’s usually American Airlines and Southwest Airlines where this happens.
At the boarding gate, as she went to scan her boarding pass, staff stopped her:
- She says the gate agent said “You cannot board.”
- “You have nothing on. You are naked.”
- “You’re not wearing normal clothes, you need to put something on.”
German fitness influencer claims Lufthansa blocked her from boarding over revealing outfit pic.twitter.com/Z1hoXUt7Qi
— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) June 30, 2026
Edda Elisa was pulled aside and told to cover up. She fetched a hoodie from her carry-on, zipped it up fully, and was then allowed to board. She later said staff blamed her for delaying the flight.
According to Lufthansa Group, they expect passengers to wear clothing “appropriate to the nature of public travel” that doesn’t impair others’ well-being, and use staff discretion. They stated the specific phrasing the employee reported used (“naked”) does not meet their standards.
The passenger took to Instagram to tell her story in German. Here is is in English:
It’s 2 p.m., it’s 30 degrees outside, and I just wanted to get on the plane. I’m wearing this sports set from Teveo. I’m standing there at the gate, and the woman who scanned — or was about to scan — my boarding pass looks at me and says, “You can’t get on like that.”
And I said, “Why can’t I get on?” She said, “You’re not wearing anything. You’re naked.”
I said, “This is a sports outfit. What am I supposed to wear? These are clothes.” She told me I wasn’t wearing normal clothes and that I had to put something over it. She said, “Step aside for now, and you can only go through once you have something on.”
So then I had to put on my jacket.
Then I stood there and tried to go through again. She said, “No, you have to close it.” I said, “Okay.” It was 30 degrees outside, but I zipped it up for her.
Then she said, “Because of you, we’re going to be delayed now. Because of you, the whole flight is delayed. You’re holding everyone up.”
I said, “Okay, but I only asked what the reason was. I’ve never heard of a dress code on a plane. Men get drunk and board planes coming back from Mallorca, and I have to—”
I don’t know what to say.
In fact, my joke about Europeans being too poor for air conditioning aside and while Europe is not as wealthy as the U.S., the problem is that Europeans have made air conditioning culturally, politically, and regulatorily challenged – even though it’s not a meaningful contributor to climate problems. Europe historically had milder summers, but that’s no excuse for the current lack of air conditioning which actually costs lives.
So we have this woman ‘trying to stay cool’ when it’s unseasonably warm, and general reactions seem to be split between:
- Germans should follow rules the airline has a right to enforce dress code, the outfit is inappropriate for flying.
- Quit body shaming stop being a prude, dress coding is subjective, and there’s inconsistent enforcement as best.
Airlines have rules but appropriate attire is highly subjective and vague, ad hoc morality-policing based on the views of a given gate agent is problematic. Rules should be clear, published, and knowable in advance. In the U.S., a passenger may be inappropriately dressed in Dallas while in Miami women checking in wearing swimsuits are no big deal.
Airlines usually use phrases like “dress appropriately,” “properly clothed,” “offensive,” “lewd,” “obscene,” and “patently offensive” which lead to arbitrary enforcement no matter what your Potter Stewart take on this woman’s particular dress choices. And it does happen that this falls disproportionately on women for their cleavage from crop tops, sports bras, and body shape.
Social norms have changed, people who fly come from varied backgrounds, and there’s no longer a clear simple set of expectations everyone shares. Passeners on leisure routes dress for comfort. Here, she’s dressing to fly in unseasonably hot Europe, like something out of Body Heat (1981).
I did find some non-U.S. examples of attire enforcement, though they’re far more rare. Saudia once refused boarding to a man wearing shorts (honestly, I wish more airlines refused boarding over flip flops). Years ago a woman was booted off easyJet for being too sexy although the idea that there are any standards at all on British holiday flights to Spain strikes me as bizarre. And here’s another British package tourist whose attire apparently went too far. But that’s about it over the years.
Looks like Only Fans is trying to board.
Lufthansa does a very poor job of training its personnel to mind their own business. This reminds me of the Hasidic Jews who were all denied boarding by a gate agent, and backed up by the Captain, a few years ago.
Another ignorant comment from an American, “Europeans cannot afford air conditioning.”
It’s not money, it is a matter of will. No one really wants it. It is rarely hot enough for it, it makes you sick, saps electricity, and it’s really not available because there is no demand.
When compared to the Wal-Mart wages most Americans earn, and aside the Trump collaborators and members of that jester’s royal court, Europeans certainly have the money for it. Don’t forget: all of us are a $400-emergency bill away from the poor house.
Influencer. Clicks. Mission accomplished.
She’s quite welcome to board my aircraft.
Air Conditioning is IN FACT the leader in CO2 emissions around the world. Building energy consumption accounts for 70% of the world emissions which includes AC…..
I’m all-for this monthly ‘look at them tatas’ stories at VFTW. Last June 5’s Carolina story was great, too. More photos, next time, Gary. More.
@stogieguy7 — Mine, too.
@George Nathan Romey — One can dream; did you verify?
‘No one really wants it’ is stupid, people in Europe are literally dying without it.
And Mississippi’s per capita gdp is higher than France’s, much higher than Spain’s.
Bimbos like her make me have a better opinion of the burqa.
@Derek No one wants air conditioning in Europe? Speak for yourself… We live in Switzerland and every year it is getting hotter here.
Our town has strict AC rules and they’re not only suffocating us but suffocating businesses (as people avoid hotels because of the lack of AC).
Thousands of people are loosing their lives in Europe to heat related illness as we all discuss this on our computers attached to servers on the internet — all running on copious amounts of electricity, including those complaining about the energy consumption of air conditioning — and these deaths would be avoided in every other place in the developed world that takes advantage of air conditioning as a simple modern convenience.
I don’t want to put too fine a point on this, but if you are able to justify these avoidable deaths to honor mother nature and vague conceptions of environmental propriety, you are under the influence of an apocalyptic and anti-human religious cult . . . and Europeans sadly seem to be particularly susceptible to these throughout history.
“Influencer”…nah…TRASH. Narcissistic trash. ME ME ME…kinda like MEgan “Marclueless”. Hooray for Lufthansa.
Gary, perhaps you could include the actual carriage conditions for Lufthansa – after all, Germans love rules 🙂
Here it is in English (perhaps it’s different for flights within the EU): https://www.lufthansa.com/content/dam/lh/documents/pdf-americas/2026_02_ABB_US.pdf
I’m not seeing anything about clothing or a dress code, other than possibly:
Right to refuse carriage
[snip]
7.1.1. this measure is necessary for reasons of safety and security or public order, or to prevent any violation of applicable laws or statutory requirements of any state to or from which a flight arrives, departs or flies over; or
7.1.2. your carriage may adversely affect the safety and security, the health or wellbeing of other passengers to a significant degree; or
It sounds like an open & shut case to me, but IANAL.
@Mak — *losing (also, holy conspiracy theories, Batman!) Got any comments on the girlie?
Some of the lack of AC in Paris is because if you want to put in AC, often you need a unanimous vote from all the other residents. They can protest that it destroys the architecture or is too noisy.
“Air Conditioning is IN FACT the leader in CO2 emissions around the world.”
I thought it was cows farting? Well anyway, from my cool air conditioned basement, thank you Europeans for saving the planet, so that I can crank up the AC and fire up my outdoor grill this weekend.
@Gary
Purchasing Power Parity is not included in your calc
This why I can’t do Celsius. 30 degrees just sounds cold to me.
This babe wants attention. She looks like an ‘influencer’ and wanted to post people’s reactions as she tried to board in her underwear.
RESPECT girl–that’s what it’s called.
“Europe is not as wealthy as the U.S.” Hahahaha! You’re too funny Trump-Gary
SUYT. Common boat flag. Maybe hang one in planes,
This boils down to:
I want to show my body off to get more Instagram etc followers. Self centered and not worth anyone attention
BTW I wouldn’t want to have that much skin exposed to anything in an airplane
Every couple of months you trot out that old nag that Americans are richer than Europeans.
How many Americans have 5 weeks of paid vacation every year.
How many Americans have pensions and paid sick leave?
How many Americans have fully paid health care?
And when there is dispute with a manufacturer over a defect, Americans have to prove the mfg. Is at fault. In Europe manufacturers have to prove they are not at fault.
And when American airlines flights are cancelled or delayed, how man American airlines really compensate the passengers?
Gary, you keep on repeating the same old saw. It was wrong then and wrong now.
EU 261 FOR ALL!
For those of you who want to argue standards, when I was stationed in Germany, the hookers in the red light district in Frankfurt were more modestly dressed than this bimbette.
What makes this even worse on the optics for the airline is that Germany is very much not a prude society. They have legalized prostitution and nude zones in public parks.
@Gary – I have to admit that @AlanZ makes a good argument.
Gary is right. Clueless Europeans virtue-signaling for made up green scam lies, and dying by the tens of thousands because heat stroke. Okay Eurotrash, put your baby and elderly Mom/Dad into possible death just to score a fake political point that is NOT backed up by science. Thank God I am an American in the freest county on earth.
@Gary, median income (all in INT$) US $19306, Germany $16845, Norway $22684, Switzerland $21490, Austria, $18245, France $16372, Mississippi, $6775 (approx). Really not a whole lot of difference, other than Mississippi. Median wealth (USD), US $107739, Germany, $66735, Norway, $143887, Switzerland, $167353, Austria, $68492, France $133137, Mississippi, $7767. Big differences but not in any particular direction. GDP per capita is a ridiculous way of measuring the income of a country’s or state’s people when most of the GDP goes to a tiny portion of the population (like in the US).
@Davos Elites (and their far-left U.S. fanbase) are Worthy of Contempt
US not the freest country on earth
World Freedom Index
US 15th
10 of the 14 countries ahead of US are European (plus New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Taiwan)
If men wore bike shorts and a cropped shirt they would be told to cover up too. There is no discrimination here.
@Farnorthtrader And yet half the planet is trying to find a way into America, as opposed to Taiwan, etc. Heck, even people going to the Arctic wasteland above us are simply using Canada as a convenient stepping stone (legal and illegal immigrants) to get to their real destination, which is the United States. Plus, the war on free speech in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is absolutely stunning and 100% Orwellian. In all three instances, the far-left governments aggressively used COVID as the pretext to initiate ‘control measures’. Ironic, isn’t it? To ‘protect’ democracy, they implemented the means to crush it (free speech now labeled as hate speech, freedom of assembly was severely restricted, as churches and places of worship were forcibly closed. The list goes on and on.
Please stop using the term “Influencer”, this just buys into the nonsense. Nearly naked girl with a camera is more like it. Although can one really be nearly naked as you can’t just be a little bit pregnant…
ya lost me at “influencer” . anything about those folks is a waste of binary code.
@ Davos Elites…wow. you sound just like one of the voices in trumps empty skull space.. that badly misinformed , and proud of it.
@AlanZ — Well said. “Wealth” can be measured many ways. Bank accounts, stock portfolios, and income on-paper mean nothing when the US healthcare system (or lack thereof) can basically bankrupt us in one diagnosis. Likewise, the stress, manufactured outrage, and corporate dominance over everyday life over here, while the kids don’t have access to affordable education or housing, basically is leading them to a loss of hope. But, don’t worry, our glorious President says everything is great, again. (Anyway, ignore that and look at this girl with her skimpy outfit!)
I wish we lived in a world where she would learn from this encounter and share it as an amusing story with her friends (and not the internet).
@ Doug. And yet you could not refute any of my points. Work on your critical thinking skills, Doug.