Air France will start flying to Tehran, Iran on April 17 but they’re having a bit of a disagreement with their crew.

The airline has said that female Air France crew should wear a headscarf while in Iran but some crew members do not want to. If they don’t follow the rules, they could be in for some trouble…

According to Yahoo News, “Company chiefs had sent staff a memo informing that female staff would be required “to wear trousers during the flight with a loose fitting jacket and a scarf covering their hair on leaving he plane“.

The airline has hinted at penalties possibly being given out for those not following the dress code.

While I agree with the flight crew in standing up for their rights, I also see where the airline is coming from. Air France has mentioned that their crew, like other visitors, need to respect and follow the laws of the countries they are traveling to.

Yahoo brings up the fact that, “Iranian law requires that a veil covering the hair be worn in public places by all women on its territory“.

Air France has said that during the flight, the crew is not required to cover their hair. They’ve also said that the headscarf rule (when flying to certain destinations) is not new. It applied to flights to Tehran in the past and also applies to flights to Saudi Arabia.

Given the fact that in Iran woman must cover their hair, even if Air France said the crew didn’t have to, wouldn’t they face trouble in Iran if they didn’t follow along?

What are your thoughts on this headscarf dilemma?

Update: It turns out that Air France decided to now allow female cabin crew and pilots to opt-out of flying the Tehran route. Find out more from Reuters here.