Why Delta Airlines Face Backlash Over Its Memo on Flight Attendants' Undergarments?

Airlines all over the world have been extremely conscious and given extreme attention to the detailing and representation of flight attendants. The uniform plays and essential role in this. However, recently, Delta Airlines has added a statement in its Memo on Flight Attendants and faced backlash. 

“Delta Flight Attendants spend the most time with our customers and are the face of our airline. They must be passionate about enhancing each customer’s experience while embodying the Delta brand. A Delta Flight Attendant is expected to deliver a Welcoming, Elevated and Caring experience while creating moments that matter to our customers. The customer service experience begins the moment a Flight Attendant puts on their uniform. The Delta uniform represents always putting safety first, pride in the Delta culture and demonstrates a genuine graciousness that will be remembered by our customers,” the memo started with this paragraph. 

The memo, which is grabbing attention from all over the world, has all the wrong reasons to be popular. The statement 'Wear proper undergarments' was highlighted, and the airline received an immense negative response. The memo, which is titled “Flight attendant hiring appearance requirements,” is basically a fashion handbook for flight attendants and everyone connected with Delta Airlines staff.

The main concern of the airline stated that attendants should wear proper undergarments and they need to make sure that they are not visible. The memo has proper instructions and guidelines regarding the fashion, style, and clothing the attendants have to follow when being with the airline. The clear instructions in the memo was to “wear undergarments” and ensure they “aren’t visible”.

The instructions do not end here; the airline has a long list of things that related to grooming, such as “grooming, hair, jewellery, and clothing,” these instructions are not provided just by Delta Airlines, as other airlines also prioritize the grooming of their attendants as they represents the airline's face and performance. 

This mark on the dressing by the airline was criticized not just by the staff, attendants, and interviewers but by the passengers as well. The concern was why the airline made it extremely obvious, the spokesperson said they were trying to be "more specific."

For the interview, they have some other guidelines, such as not allowing the attendees to chew gum, profanity, and use earbuds and phones on the day of the interview. 

The airline has given instructions on the style and clothing of the attendees, and some of them are listed below. The airline asked all the attendants to follow all the instructions mentioned carefully: 

• You must prefer no additional coloring and styles to your hair, it should be naturally colored, without bold highlights or artificial shades.
• It would be best if you prefer eyelashes that look natural.
• Please prefer nails that are simple and subtle. You should actively multi-color, glitter, or hand-painted designs over your nails.
• You should actively avoid tattoos and piercings. However, you can prefer only single nose piercing and only silver, gold, white pearl, or clear diamond/diamond-like studs.
• Also, make sure that the dresses and skirts are not above knee length.