Southwest Airlines Veers Into Fashion Controversy—Again

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  09.07.07 | 3:54 PM ET

imageThe airline that once booted a passenger off a flight for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words Meet the Fockers—it had pictures of George W. Bush,  Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice— is making travel fashion headlines once again. Southwest Airlines apparently didn’t care for the skirt and top that 23-year-old college student and Hooters waitress Kyla Ebbert wore aboard a flight two months ago from San Diego to Tucson. Reported the San Diego Union-Tribune this week, Ebbert “had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon in Tucson, where temperatures had topped 106 all week. She arrived at Lindbergh Field [in San Diego] wearing a white denim miniskirt, high-heel sandals, and a turquoise summer sweater over a tank top over a bra.” The U-T has a photo of said outfit.

After she boarded, a customer service representative ordered her off the plane and asked her to change clothes. She didn’t have luggage, complained and was allowed to return to the plane after adjusting the outfit.

Then she “took her seat and spread a blanket over her lap,” and “kept her composure until the plane landed, when she called her mother and broke down,” the paper reported.

In a letter to Ebbert’s mother, the airline said it could remove any passenger “whose clothing is lewd, obscene or patently offensive.”

Related on World Hum:
* Southwest Airlines Boots Passenger for ‘Fockers’ Shirt
* Update: Lorrie Heasley, ‘The Fockers’ and the United States Constitution
* Ecuadorian Airlines Unveils In-Flight Lingerie Show

Photo by Ack Ook via Flickr, (Creative Commons).



26 Comments for Southwest Airlines Veers Into Fashion Controversy—Again

TambourineMan 09.07.07 | 6:56 PM ET

An outrage. I’ve been looking for an excuse to boycott this joke airline. And here it is.

denitria 09.07.07 | 8:17 PM ET

what’s funny is i’ve been on a flight that notorious porn star/producer ron jeremy has been on wearing a shirt that said “hump day” - people were shaking his hand on the way out… it’s not like southwest is the classiest airline.

k white 09.07.07 | 9:41 PM ET

this “joke airline” is the only profitable airline there is. go down with the falling airlines.

kjs 09.08.07 | 1:05 PM ET

Cool!!!  I was wondering when we’d find a company that is willing to take on the really important issues.  Maybe Southwest can lecture overweight folks on the merits of diet and exercise.  How about too many tattoos and how horrible they will look in the years to come—and saggy skin?  Maybe a make-up artist can go down the lines outside the gates and give tips?  If folks don’t adjust their make-up, then remove them from the plane or at least the Group 1 line!!!  Why would any company allow themselves to have such public controversy?

TambourineMan 09.08.07 | 4:01 PM ET

k white wrote: “go down with the falling airlines.”

If they allow my “Dubya is a Clueless D*ck” t-shirt and the lovely Ms. Ebbert aboard their flights, I will gladly do so.

JMarten 09.09.07 | 12:48 AM ET

Hey, with airline budgets as tight as Miss Ebbert’s top, I’m guessing their CFO said it’s time for some cheap publicity.  And with tolerance obviously as short as her skirt, this seems like a logical move to me.  Instead of sueing them, perhaps she should estimate how much free advertising they got out of her humiliation and send them an invoice.

Rand 09.09.07 | 8:05 AM ET

Way to go Southwest. Few things on a flight are more annoying than being trapped for hours and hours with someone showing too much skin. Flights should be safe to take your kids on too.

Eva Holland 09.09.07 | 9:45 AM ET

This is outrageous… The outfit’s not even especially scandalous! Sure the skirt’s a little short but her top half is fully covered. Rand - “too much skin”?? On her leg? Mustn’t let our children see any nasty leg skin…

JA 09.09.07 | 3:37 PM ET

I say good for Southwest!  We live in a society where women have been allowed to walk the streets half naked for a long time.  Women go to work in tank tops that expose their breasts and miniskirts that barely cover their rear ends. Can a man wear a tank top or sleeveless shirt…or even shorts to work? 

Men can’t even bear too much leg without having the police called on them.  Can you imagine that a man would be allowed to fly in short shorts or without a shirt?  It would never happen and the fact that a man was forced off a plane for wearing inappropriate clothing wouldn’t even make the news.

People need to stop crying about this incident and accept the fact that there are rules regarding clothing worn in public.  Stop playing the feminist card ...women have had free reign in the realm of revealing clothing for a long time.

Barbara Benham 09.09.07 | 5:57 PM ET

Southwest stewardesses used to wear hot pants. Check out this TV ad from the early 1970s. I wonder if someone dressed like this be allowed to fly on one of their flights today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR7JApjgIGw

Michael Yessis 09.10.07 | 10:19 AM ET

I wonder, too, Barbara. The outfit in that ad doesn’t seem far from the one worn by Kyla Ebbert.

T H 09.10.07 | 9:33 PM ET

k white, Southwest was only profitable with their gas hedge.  American has been profitable for years now and Continental has been profitable for over a year now.

Southwest Airlines is pure crap.  The first time I flew them, they refused to follow procedures and I caught them on it.  It was such a disservice to a passenger, that I was compensated 3 times the amount of my ticket.

GD 09.10.07 | 10:17 PM ET

I think it was good Southwest took a stand.  Disrespect is going down down down in this country. Crime is going up up up.  We need to start taking a stand on decency and respect.  These girls have no self respect for their bodies.  What do think there living, a porn show?The young guys wear pants hanging off their butts and talk some gibberish is making me ill.  Then everybody wants to sue, sue, sue. Our military is fighting for our rights to be free.  Not to be naked and cursing.

Mark 09.12.07 | 3:27 PM ET

It isn’t very difficult to find Southwest’s dress code information on their website.

An Airline has just as much right to determine they own passenger requirements for flying on one of their planes as a restaurant does for their clients in order to be seated.

Dress codes aren’t always readily posted at retaurants but they can still refuse to seat anyone based on their attire.

Airlines can do the same.

Here’s Southwest’s information listed within a larger PDF file available on their web site:

F. Comfort and Safety - Carrier may refuse to transport or remove from the aircraft at any
point any passenger in the following categories as may be necessary for the comfort or safety of such passenger or other passengers:

(1) Persons whose conduct is or has been known to be disorderly, abusive, offensive, threatening, intimidating, or violent, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive;

NOTE: Carrier will not refuse to provide transportation to a qualified individual with a disability solely because the individual’s disability results in appearance or involuntary behavior that may offend, annoy, or inconvenience crew members or other passengers.

(2) Persons who are barefoot and over five (5) years of age, unless caused or necessitated by a disability;

(3) Persons who are unable to occupy a seat with the seat belt fastened;

(4) Persons who are unwilling to comply with seating requirements under Carrier’s Customer of size policy as specified in Article 15.G;

NOTE: Carrier’s failure to enforce or willingness not to enforce its Customer of size policy for a passenger traveling on a given flight does not preclude Carrier from requiring such passenger to purchase two seats on a subsequent flight.

(5) Persons who appear to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs;

(6) Persons who are known to have a contagious disease;

(7) Persons who refuse to comply with instructions given by Carrier’s Employees or representatives prohibiting the solicitation of items for sale or purchase, including airline tickets, passes, or travel award certificates;

(8) Persons who have an offensive odor, except where such condition is the result of a disability.

Mark 09.12.07 | 3:40 PM ET

To those people comparing the 1972 stewardess outfits to those of Ebbert might consider paying attention to the actual outfits of both.

Ebbert, even in her interviews wearing the same outfit that she wore on the plane pulled the bottom of her skirt lower and her top together.  The result ending up exposing her panties from some angles on national TV. I’m sure that’s exactly what you want kids on the airplane to be exposed to on a regular basis when someone is too lazy to look into the dress code policies.

The 1972 stewardess outfit was tight but nother was exposed.  She was wearing hot pant not exposed panties and her top was fully closed not exposing portions of he breasts.

Rod 09.13.07 | 11:51 PM ET

I am disgusted that people are supporting the airline in this case.  It is amazing to me that people are so self absorbed and arrogant that they think their personal opinons apply to everyone else.  I found nothing offensive in her outfit whatsoever, society can not function at the lowest common denominator.. if you are offende by a short skirt or a little cleavage, consider that some are offended by women showing ANY skin at all, or by your spoken politial opinion.  It is not the worlds obligation to not offend YOU, show a little tolerance for other people, maybe just maybe they are a bit different from you…is that OK???.  Personally your opinion offends me, so if I overhear your conversation on an airline maybe I’ll request you be removed from the flight.

Barbara Benham 09.14.07 | 10:00 AM ET

Mark,

I wasn’t making a comparison. I was pointing out an irony. I flew a Southwest flight when the airline’s stewardesses wore these outfits. They were pure Texas moxie, hot pants that practically touched the stewardesses’ touches, strategically provocative and contrarian to boot. I thought my friend’s grandfather was going to have a heart attack, he was enjoying the scenery so much. In an aisle seat, of course.

Barbara

sludger 10.05.07 | 8:18 PM ET

ahhh…Southworst Airlines.
you get what you pay for.
period.

Lars 10.15.07 | 11:58 PM ET

I so agree with SW airlines and JA. Women wear too little and are allowed to get away with it, and it is mostly men saying “whatever goes” but have a male try and get on a plane or almost anywhere, other than a beach, in really short shorts, partial or bare chest, or pants that would show any “private parts” or butt, and everyone would object. Double standards have been in play too long, come on we need to grow up and respect, if a women is allowed to “bare” all, let men do the same!

Mark Sevier 01.21.08 | 1:09 AM ET

I sincerely wish that I could blow this off as a tempest in a teapot, but I can’t.  I’ve seen the pictures of the outfit in question, and I can’t see how it would offend anyone. If a girl showing her kneecaps is offensive, what about my semi-bald head? Or my snow-white beard? By taking her money, Southwest entered into a contract with her as a passenger, to provide transportation to a designated location. The airline is neither her mother nor her priest.

SHAME! SHAME! ETERNAL BURNING SHAME! on Southwest Air. I hereby call for a boycott upon them, to endure until those Puritan Nazis have been bankrupted.

SeonDesign 02.07.08 | 7:15 AM ET

Fashion ...hmmm people use to change their look every day and everyone want to be look like funky…:P

John J. Tormey III, Esq. 03.12.08 | 7:20 AM ET

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
March 12, 2008

Contact:
John J. Tormey III, Esq.: ‘jtormey@optonline.net’, 1-212-410-4142
Tom Sullivan, “Quiet Rockland”: 1-845-480-1088

“QUIET ROCKLAND” CALLS FOR NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT OF SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

Rockland County, NY – March 12, 2008: 

Aero-activist group Quiet Rockland of Rockland County, New York, enraged over “callous criminal disregard for safety and human life” demonstrated by Southwest Airlines (NYSE: “LUV”) and the FAA, today called for: (1) a nationwide traveler and consumer boycott of Southwest, and (2) a federal criminal investigation of Southwest and “failed regulator” FAA to be spear-headed by the United States Attorney General and a special prosecutor.

Said John J. Tormey III, Esq., attorney and Quiet Rockland co-founder: “The persons that should be flying Southwest at this point, should be only those referred by Doctor Kevorkian. Although the depraved Southwest spin-machine audaciously ‘assures’ us Southwest’s six (6) cracked-fuselage aircraft were “never a safety problem”, Southwest should tell that to the victims of the 1988 Aloha Airlines disaster. There, metal fatigue on an aging Boeing 737 caused 18 feet of fuselage to be ripped off the plane causing grievous injuries and loss of life. House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar in his press conference Saturday, posted on “www.cspan.org”, presented detailed evidence incriminating Southwest and “Bobby” Sturgell’s failed FAA. The incriminating events occurred while “Bobby” Sturgell was Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the FAA. On Saturday, Representative Oberstar thereupon rightfully excoriated the aero-perps for their long-standing “tombstone mentality”. Although criminal and morally reprehensible, and now apparent after a many-month detailed Congressional investigation, Southwest and FAA are clearly in the insalubrious business of making those tombstones happen, in addition to simply reacting to those tombstones post facto.

“As recently as last year, Southwest Airlines, with the complicity of supposed federal regulator FAA, on at least 47 of Southwest’s Boeing 737 aircraft, on between 1,451 and 60,000 flights, over a period of two-and-one-half years, deliberately put approximately 200,000 or more unsuspecting travelers in harm’s way - making them fly in un-inspected, non-compliant, aged, and in some cases fuselage-cracked commercial aircraft. Southwest knew the names and faces of their potential victims. Southwest gladly took their money, and for that matter at this point Southwest owes each of them at least a rebate in full of their ticket prices. This was not mere negligence. Irrespective of what forensic lesser charge might technically ultimately apply once further Congressional investigation concludes, the acts and omissions of Southwest and collaborator FAA were tantamount to attempted murder, on a massive scale.

“This WILL not stand.

“Quiet Rockland asks and encourages those Southwest employees tired of subscribing to their company’s tombstone culture, to leave their sinking airship now to find other and better employ at a responsible airline that actually acknowledges the dignity of the individual human traveler. We further ask every American consumer to now act in solidarity - cancel all flights and other business with Southwest – boycott the airline which we today re-name “Air Kevorkian” - and just say “No” to Southwest, to FAA, and to the greed of the aeromercantile complex that continually and habitually puts profits over people’s lives. And, as to Southwest stockholders? Vote your conscience”.#

poetryman69 03.16.08 | 2:29 PM ET

“Triggering the Grand Irrationality?”


Cowering in an obscure corner of the food pyramid

somewhere between the tofu and the unflavored yogurt

contemplating the juxtaposition of intangibles for all you are worth…..

—klqtzz

people pc online 04.21.08 | 2:39 PM ET

If a woman decides to go out almost naked it’s her choice. If she decides to get into a plain dressed like that and let people gossip it’s her choice again. The airline shouldn’t discriminate anyone based on how they are dressed. I myself hate these emo kids wearing very colorful clothing, bracelets, badges and chains. This doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop them from shopping in my store and lose my business.

Kelly 07.26.08 | 6:06 PM ET

It may go far with such rules; e.g for smb. one clothes is normal, for others not. I’m also against discrimination!

Pocono Getaway 09.09.08 | 11:20 PM ET

Just what the world needs, airlines deciding what type of outfits are ok.  People should be able to wear what they want in public as long as it cant hurt others.  Naked shin never hurt anyone.

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