Spirit Airlines won't let passenger board wearing short shorts

Spirit Airlines is widely known as one of the worst in America. The airline earns 2.5 out of 5 stars on Tripadvisor, with customers complaining about getting the wrong information about their gate, unexpected flight cancellations, astronomical fees, and a host of other issues.

Spirit was also the airline subject to the second-highest number of complaints made to the Department of Transportation, with only one airline, Frontier, faring worse. And while the airline is trying to rebrand somewhat with new upgraded seats, that didn’t go so well, as an early passenger in those seats posted pictures online of cockroaches crawling up the walls.

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All of this combines to suggest Spirit is not exactly providing a refined travel experience that caters to travelers looking for a top-notch luxury experience.

The airline does, however, apparently, have some pretty strict standards, although they are for other people. In fact, Spirit Airlines has recently demonstrated that it is going to be pretty strict about enforcing decorum when it comes to some new rules that the company set for passengers.

The new rules were put in place in January, but more widespread attention is being paid to them now, after a woman was denied boarding due to a clothing mishap that made the news.

Spirit Airlines put rules in place in January that passengers need to follow.

Image source: Shutterstock

Spirit Airlines says you can’t ride wearing that outfit

The recent Spirit clothing snafu happened at Miami International Airport, when a woman named Tanasia Grayer tried to board her flight to Chicago on July 16, 2025.

A Spirit employee told Grayer she would not be permitted to board the flight – and it was not because of a bomb threat or unruly behavior. Instead, Spirit said, it was because the woman’s shorts were simply too short.

“They treated me like a criminal in there,” Grayer said. “First of all, he told me I'm not getting on the flight at all. I said, ‘I don't have anything to change into.'”

The Spirit employee who called out the shorts was the front desk employee who told her she wouldn’t be allowed to get on the plane “like that.” This upset Grayer because she felt the shorts were just normal shorts.

She had already walked through the airport wearing them, and she had worn similar shorts on her flight from Chicago to Miami without incident.

Unfortunately, she had nothing to change into, and the confrontation eventually escalated to the point where her sister was arrested.

A picture does reveal that the shorts are on the short side, and the controversy highlights the fact that Spirit did change its dress code rules in January.

The shift in policy may cause other passengers to experience similar issues if they aren’t expecting these regulations to be in place.

Spirit doesn’t want you wearing certain clothes aboard

Spirit added its dress code policy to its Contract of Carriage in January, following several incidents where questions were raised about whether a passenger’s clothing was appropriate for the flight, including an incident where someone was removed for a crop top and another where someone was removed for wearing an outfit with explicit language.

The contract of carriage reads, “passengers will not be allowed to board if they are ‘barefoot' or are ‘inadequately clothed.'” Being inadequately clothed is defined as wearing “see-through clothing; not adequately covered; exposed breasts, buttocks, or other private parts;” or “whose clothing or article, including body art, is lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature or has an offensive odor unless caused by a qualified disability.”

While this seems reasonable, there are, of course, questions about what adequate coverage means, and that can be open to interpretation.

Clearly, the passenger here disagreed with Spirit regarding whether she was adequately clothed. In the end, everyone ended up losing, as Spirit got some bad publicity for an airport confrontation and the flyer did not get on her plane.

For those who don’t want the hassle, it may simply be best to leave the short shorts, crop tops, and other controversial clothing in the suitcase and be a little more conservative when flying so you can live up to Spirit’s expectations.

Of course, the airline could also stand to focus a little more on living up to passenger expectations, so perhaps there’s some work to do on both sides.