Qantas may be the flying kangaroo but this has gotta be about as un-Australian as you can get.
The Human League singer Joanne Catherall has taken to Twitter to call out the airline for turfing her from the Qantas business class lounge at Melbourne airport on Thursday, apparently because she was wearing Ugg boots.
“Apparently Ugg (Australia) Boots are deemed sleepwear by the lady working there,” the synth-popper writes. “Although no problem in any of the other lounges so far. Helpfully she suggested I go to one of the shops & purchase some shoes.”
Catherall’s tweet sparked enough furore for Qantas to issue a statement on the ugg-ly debacle.
“We completely understand that no one likes being declined at the door but we’ve always had smart casual dress standards for our lounges, which are similar for those in place for most clubs and restaurants,” a spokesperson for the airline told The Evening Standard (via Fairfax).
“Over the past couple of years we have had clear feedback from lounge members that they wanted these existing guidelines to be applied more rigorously.”
Catherall wasn’t satisfied though, still taking issue with the fact that the furry boots in question were classed as sleepwear by Qantas:
Why would an @UGG boot I wear outdoors in all weathers be classed as sleepwear in @Qantas lounge but nowhere else that I have ever been on this earth ? pic.twitter.com/G04kWSN4c4
— Joanne Human League (@Lubycat) December 14, 2017
But we reckon this Twitter user raised the best point of the lot:
I think the bigger question is why was she flying to a 41 degree day in Sydney in uggs. https://t.co/pZsajx8glo
— Jack the Insider (@JacktheInsider) December 14, 2017
Why indeed. Thursday was a scorcher.
The Human League will wrap up their Aussie tour in Queensland this weekend.
Denied access @Qantas business class lounge in @Melair Melbourne Airport apparently Ugg (Australia) Boots are deemed sleepwear by the lady working there although no problem in any of the other lounges so far.Helpfully she suggested I go to one of the shops & purchase some shoes
— Joanne Human League (@Lubycat) December 14, 2017
