Fitness Influencer Claims Lufthansa Employee Called Her 'Naked' Over Athletic Outfit

Fitness influencer Edda Elisa Pilz, who has over 500,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, claims she was prevented from boarding a Lufthansa flight from Berlin to Austria because of her athletic outfit. Pilz, 24, alleged that a Lufthansa employee repeatedly told her she was "naked" before she was allowed to board.

Pilz shared her experience in a video that circulated widely on social media, detailing the incident during a summer heatwave. She stated that while waiting to have her boarding pass scanned, an employee stopped her and said, "You cannot board like that." According to Pilz, the employee then insisted she was "naked" despite her wearing a matching athletic top and shorts, which she considered appropriate in the 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) weather.

"What am I supposed to put on?" Pilz questioned in her video. "What should I wear? It is clothing."

The employee reportedly told Pilz she was not wearing "normal clothes" and instructed her to put something over her outfit. Pilz complied by putting on a jacket, but was then told she had to zip it completely before boarding. She claimed the employee subsequently blamed her for delaying the flight.

"Because of you, we are now delayed. Because of you, the whole flight is delayed, because you are holding up all the traffic here," Pilz recounted the employee saying. She responded by asking for an explanation, stating she had never encountered an airline dress code.

Pilz also alleged that male passengers wearing shorts were allowed to board the same flight without incident. She emphasized that the issue was less about a potential dress code and more about the manner in which she felt she was treated.

"I can accept rules," Pilz said, "But the attitude was unacceptable."

She concluded her video by directly asking Lufthansa if the airline condones such customer service and stated she was awaiting an official response.

Lufthansa's General Conditions of Carriage do not appear to specify a dress code for passengers. The airline's policy allows for refusal of transportation in certain situations, such as when a passenger's conduct could impact the "safety and security, the health or wellbeing of other passengers," or for operational or security reasons. However, the policy does not specifically address athletic clothing.