What Happened to Looking Nice on the Plane?

13.07.2024 - 11:51 / cntraveler.com / Charlie Hobbs / Megan Spurrell / Matt Ortile / Hannah Towey

Beyoncé background dancer Honey Balenciaga recently told us that she always dresses well when traveling. “I don’t know where that culture died,” she lamented in a recent interview. It’s something that editors at Traveler have long had feelings about—the way we show up to the airport, where parents once forced some of us to don blazers and loafers in order to look presentable. Comfortable clothing has, understandably, proliferated on the scene, in tandem with the tanking of the flying experience’s dignity, and in the past decade the situation has devolved to the point where pajama bottoms, flip flops, and t-shirts with sagging necklines are at least as common as a button-down.

To unpack the respectability politics at play here—will dressing nicely make gate staff more likely to upgrade you? To whom do you owe a good look when the flight you’ve just paid so much to take is likely to be unpleasant?—a veritable gaggle of Traveler editors convened for a summit on all things airplane attire. Below, associate articles director Megan Spurrell, associate visuals director Pallavi Mohan Kumar, associate editors Matt Ortile, Hannah Towey, and Charlie Hobbs, and editorial assistant Jessica Chapel convene to discuss.

Charlie Hobbs: This is going to be an open-ended discussion, so I just wanted to start by asking how you feel you should present at the airport?

Megan Spurrell: Not a direct answer to your question, but something that I aspire to: once I was on a 1-hour flight from Rome to Sicily, and the woman next to me got on with a tiny little purse and nothing else. No book, nothing. She put the little bag under the seat and just sat there, chilling.

CH: And what was she wearing?

MS: She was wearing a miniskirt and a tank top!

Matt Ortile: That’s almost performance art. But it’s interesting, because a short-haul flight is one thing—leave everything in your checked, travel light. But when you’re going from San Francisco to Tokyo, you’re going to experience it a little differently. Are you going to prioritize comfort and your ability to sleep on the plane, or are you going to serve for your country?

I historically have always dressed up for the plane—I’m of the opinion that a good, well-cut suit in a good fabric is basically adult pajamas. But lately I’ve been prioritizing comfort first, and I definitely don’t exude the same sort of glamor—loose pants, a zip-down cashmere hoodie, sneakers, and a neck pillow that is very helpful but so dowdy.

JC: I was recently doing a bit of backpacking from London to Berlin, and I couldn’t fit my white go-go boots in my carry-on but I needed them for Berlin. So I wore them to the airport, and I felt a little wobbly lugging my overstuffed suitcase. I was in a big blue sweater and a