I'm Too [Fill in the Blank] for the Plane
by Pam

Not again.

From World Hum (and a bunch of other sources) comes this ridiculous story of a young woman [oops, revise this: kicked off a plane] lectured by flight attendants for being, well, too freakin' hot. I guess.

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.




Jaunted posts the video of the scandalous Ms. Ebbert on the today show. And yeah,the outfit is kinda, well, Paris Hilton. But so what?

BlogHer's own Elena Centor takes the story apart here and provides some much needed context regarding dress codes and where they do and do not apply.

This was not the Vatican.This was Southwest Airlines -an airlines that in the past required flight attendants to wear very revealing outfits.

Speaking of revealing outfits, there's an amazing collection of Austin-Powers like pics of flight attendants on Dark Roasted Blend. I wonder if Southwest might escort the lovely lady in this photo off the plane, never mind that she's in an airline sanctioned outfit. Wow.

Let's review, shall we? Here's a list of things not to wear on airplanes:

Also, no speaking Arabic, praying, singing (okay, that one is annoying), breast feeding, saying 'buh-bye plane,'.... Tragically, I can go on and on. Google for "thrown of plane for" and you'll see hundreds of stories.

It's your call on which ejections are legit and which ones aren't - or, rather, it isn't, it's the airlines call, or the TSA's call, or maybe some random group of racist passengers. You're not in control of the situation, not one bit. You're too sexy, or too brown, or too willing to exercise your civil rights for the plane.

I'm willing to bet you know if you're Arabic Coca-Cola t-shirt is going to cause havoc or not. But I'm also willing to bet that nine out of ten of you, or maybe more, don't have the time or energy to be an ACLU test case. You're on the plane because you're trying to get to a destination, not because you're trying to make a point.  So, for good measure, here's an article about what to wear on the plane.

Good luck. What gets you thrown off next is anyone's guess.

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View.

Submitted by Pam (view blog) on Mon, 09/10/2007 - 12:16
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Comments

 

Not kicked off

Here's the thing. She wasn't kicked off. She was asked (privately) to adjust her skirt so her stuff wasn't hanging out. I don't see that as so awful or ridiculous.

--Gem

Bloggin' away at My So-Called Homeschool

Submitted by jewelmcjem on Mon, 09/10/2007 - 09:40
 

Flight Service or Fashion Police

I think there are a lot of behaviors on airplanes that warrant "adjustment." I can't bear it, for example, if someone is soaking in perfume or aftershave on a plane. That's pretty offensive. And if Ms. Ebbert was indeed flashing the passengers, well, yeah, someone could have politely tipped her off.

"Miss, you're displaying your goods" discretely whispered in an ear would have done the trick. Instead, we're reading about a scene complete with walk of shame. Ms Ebbert's indiscretion in her choice of travel clothes is bad, but the airlines response -from an organization that's supposed to be providing travel service, not fashion advice, is a lot worse.

Nerd's Eye View

Submitted by Pam on Mon, 09/10/2007 - 11:58
 

Why aren't we outraged?

No one, not even the airline PR department has said that she was flashing anyone. They DID remove her from the plane like a dangerous criminal. They did try to make her change clothes. They did create a situation that I wouldn't tolerate. So she pulled up her tank and pulled down her skirt.

Basically, no Italian girl under 30 could have gotten on that plane.

I hate these too-tight, too-expository fashions, but it's what girls are wearing. Everywhere. This girl was selected to be humiliated because she's dressed like a hooker, but 80% of the girls I saw on the streets this summer were dressed like hookers.

http://www.judithgreenwood.com/thinkonit/

Submitted by Judith in Umbria on Mon, 09/10/2007 - 21:43
 

No Italian Girl Under 30

Genius. Hilarious. True.

Honestly, my outrage levels are tapped out. Air travel is such a trial, it really is, that this is just unsurprising to me.

It is, however, sexist (I'm imagining that guy in the tiny cutoffs and the cutaway tank top in this conversation, you know, the one with the hockey hair), absurd, and one more thing to complain to your airlines about. There's isn't a dress code, it's not a private club, and airlines don't set the stage for what's "acceptable dress."

There's a whole 'noter issue around "young women are dressing trashier and trashier" but I fear that those are the words of every generation, and I'm just not going there, I don't have the tools or the desire.

Judith, I'd be outraged if I had any left. I would. I'm gonna have to leave this to you.

Nerd's Eye View

Submitted by Pam on Tue, 09/11/2007 - 07:06
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