Saudia, which flies from the kingdom to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America, asks travellers to refrain from wearing anything that could “cause discomfort or offense to other passengers”, adding that a failure to comply could mean customers are refused boarding or asked to leave the plane.

According to StepFeed, the dress code applies to passengers boarding Saudia flights from outside the kingdom, with some female travelers telling Makkah Newspaper they had been forced to buy new clothes at international airports before getting on a plane back to Saudi.

According to Saudi law, all females in the conservative kingdom must wear loose-fittings abayas in public, with many Muslim women also wearing a hijab or niqab.

Visiting foreigners and non-Muslim women are, however, not required by law to don a headscarf.

Saudi’s former head of the tourism and health sector, Ali Al Ghamdi, told Makkah that the dress code wasn’t exclusive to Saudia, with many airlines across the world imposing similar restrictions.

SAUDIA’S DRESS CODE

SAUDIA is requesting from their guests to abide by a dress code where by they are not clothed in a manner that would cause discomfort or offense to other passengers.

For example*:

• Women exposing legs or arms; or wearing too thin; or too tight clothes.
• Men wearing shorts exposing legs.

Note: SAUDIA may refuse to transport passengers, or may remove passengers from the flight at any point for not complying with its dress code.

Neither Emirates nor Etihad has dress codes stated on their websites, however, US carrier United Airlines made headlines earlier this year after refusing to let two teen girls wearing leggings board their plane.

The airline said the girls were “not in compliance with our dress code policy for company benefit travel”, as they were traveling free or on a discounted fare as dependents of a United employee.

courtesy : Emirates Woman