Radio host Nikki Osborne told to 'cover up' in Qantas lounge drama

Nikki Osborne still intends to fly Qantas despite the “cover yourself” scandal, but won’t be taking fashion advice from the airline anytime soon.

Now normally in this column I’d be sharing some humorous insights on what I’d noticed was trending in society during the week. Most of my pieces are written from the outside looking in, my own personal feelings being once removed. That’s what a normal week for me looks like.

However, I have not had a normal week. Instead, I found myself in the headlines, being bandied about as click bait fodder, simply for commenting on a negative experience I’d had at an airport. So let me tell my story.

Recently I travelled with my radio show to the Whitsundays as part of a promotion.

I’d packed my bag with my favourite resort ensembles and I dressed myself ready for my arrival at the tropics. I was in holiday mode.

Now I’m a frequent flyer. Over the past 8 years I’ve travelled interstate at least once a fortnight to do comedy shows. Aside from the odd flight cancellation or security hold up, I’ve had a pretty good run … until now!

As I entered the Qantas lounge with a colleague, I had a staff member hurry up to me. She grabbed me by the arm and said: ‘firstly, I’m a long time fan of yours, but I’ll need you to button your cardigan up to cover yourself to protect the other cultures in the lounge’.

Other cultures I thought? All I saw in the lounge were a few FIFO workers and a mum! She was very polite about it. I however was suddenly shaken with a combination of shock, embarrassment, humiliation, anger and frustration.

Nikki Osborne opens up about a recent incident in the Qantas lounge. Picture: Peter Wallis

It was actually hard to process that I’d been made to feel like a tart in my hometown, in front of my male colleague too.

It felt degrading to not only have him see me being depicted like that, but the most distressing part was I found myself questioning my own integrity, and for who … Queenslanders? The relaxed centre of the world where getting dressed up involves putting some skimpy shorts over a bikini or washing your best white singlet and putting on your going out thongs!

Now, I’m a born and bred Queenslander but I’ve always made an effort to dress well and be taken seriously in my profession as a radio host, writer and stand up comedian. I’m also a mother. To have a woman suggest that my choice of dress is inappropriate really hit hard.

Now I know there are far greater injustices in the world right now and this is quite the first world problem … but given the amount of press attention it got after I casually mentioned it on radio the next morning, perhaps it has actually picked at the scab of a bigger problem.

I said on radio that women with cleavage face more scrutiny with their outfit choices than their smaller busted counterparts.

I was wearing tailored white shorts, a pink bodysuit with a knitted white cardigan over the top, which I had worn at work earlier that day. Do I have cleavage? Yes. Had I covered the top of it? Yes. Was that enough? Apparently not!

Qantas customer service was quick to get on the phone to make sure this would “never happen again”. It did however, turn into a phone call questioning each item of my outfit and it actually made me feel worse. I’m like hey, I’m upset that you scrutinised my outfit yet here we are again justifying why you scrutinised my outfit by shaming me again!

Nikki Osborne’s shares a recent incident where she was told to ‘cover yourself’. Picture: Adam Head

Then I did the dumbest thing and went and read the comments on one of the frenzy whipping articles written about me and so many people, without hesitation or any knowledge of what I was wearing, were lumping on about keeping trash out of the lounge. I’m trash now? How did this happen?!

Now this is not a Qantas beat up by any means, I have happily flown with them for years and my next flight was the antithesis of this experience.

Again, it was an air steward who knew my work and as I boarded the plane he said ’welcome aboard Bush Barbie‘ and then continued to treat me really well.

When I got off my flight I called my husband and he remarked how chipper I sounded and my response was ’well the air steward made me feel good about myself again and honestly, he salvaged my week’.

In summary, I still intend to fly Qantas for years to come but I’ll continue to choose what is appropriate clothing to wear and steer clear of the high moral ground of the Lounge!

Originally published as Radio host Nikki Osborne told to 'cover up' in Qantas lounge drama