Are flight passengers dressing with respect? I went to Heathrow to find out

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Plane Talk: ‘People are going on holiday and want to feel casual – but there are limits’

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“Are you dressing with respect?” That is the question posed by Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary. This week, he launched a new “civility campaign” for airline passengers, named “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You”.

While few people mistake me for a fashion icon these days, I donned a slightly jaded navy Hugo Boss jacket and pale blue, mid-market Next shirt and set off for Heathrow to assess the dress standards of the travelling public. I chose Terminal 3 arrivals: inbound flights from Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles provided a wide range of origins and, I imagined, an equally broad spectrum of dress. Though, to be fair, no one is going to look their best after a 10-hour flight.

The fashion choices emerging from customs through the arrivals were narrow: more often than not, a loose top, leggings and trainers for women; for men, a fleece or hoodie, jeans and trainers. In some cases, people appeared to care more about the appearance of their luggage than themselves – I saw a lot of Louis Vuitton in mint condition.

In the olden days, to which Sean Duffy would apparently like us to return, flying was either a once-in-a-lifetime experience for which you saved for years or your employer was paying. Either way, you dressed up. Now, thankfully, flying has been thoroughly democratised. Flights have got much longer, too, which is why you will find few folk wearing a jacket and tie throughout the 18-hour trip between Perth in Western Australia and Heathrow.

On Tuesday afternoon at Heathrow, I waited in vain for an hour to identify any passengers wearing a jacket and a tie. In the immediate vicinity of arrivals, the only smart people were chauffeurs waiting for their passengers.

So I went across to departures and sought out the most finely dressed man I could. He was dressed from top to toe, or so it seemed, in the best that Jermyn Street could offer – greeting passengers at the entrance to the Virgin Atlantic premium economy check-in.

Were travellers letting themselves down, I wondered?

“People are going on holiday, so it’s fine they want to feel casual,” he said. But there are limits: while singlets, ripped jeans and flip-flops may be de rigueur on Australian domestic flights, they are inappropriate on international flights to and from the UK. Fellow passengers may find themselves in uncomfortable proximity to the underdressed guest, or having to take the same malodorous seat an hour after a poorly clad traveller has vacated it.

The next clothing conundrum: pyjamas. Many airlines supply business and first-class passengers with these nocturnal garments – though by all accounts changing into them within the confines of an in-flight loo is not a dignified experience, and changing out of them into civilian clothes the next morning can cause some long queues.

But one Australian passenger I met said: “If I can wear pyjamas on the plane, why can’t I wear them at Bangkok airport while I’m connecting between flights?” I gained the impression that she had indeed toured the terminal in nightwear.

So where will you find smartly dressed fellow passengers? My research suggests that they will mainly be in premium economy, which perhaps explains the sartorial splendour of my Virgin Atlantic friend.

The thesis is that economy passengers are in the cheap seats and frankly don’t care how the world (or at least fellow travellers and crew) see them. In the business and first class cabins, you know you have made it and need not try to impress anyone. But in premium economy, you are upwardly mobile and consider yourself sartorially special.

There is one extra category of elegance on board planes: the family and friends of the flight crew. They are the only people in business and first who must conform to a “business casual” dress code. In return for free or heavily discounted flights, they must dress for the occasion.

Next time you plod through business on the way to the back of the plane, see if you can spot the men wearing ill-fitting blazers and women with elegant frocks; the chances are they are “non-rev” passengers who are obliged to dress more formally than everyone else in the posh seats.

A golden age of the kind Sean Duffy envisages demands stylish people. But these days, passengers dress to de-stress rather than impress.

Read more Plane and Train Talk from Simon Calder

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