Southwest reaction to skimpy outfit out of line

Michael Ventre

Apparently the outfit Kyla Ebbert wore on the “Today” show Friday was acceptable for a national television audience of millions, but not quite up to the rigid standards set down by Southwest Airlines.

Ebbert, accompanied by her mom and her attorney, appeared with Matt Lauer to discuss a recent incident in which she was at first asked to leave a flight before it departed from San Diego to Tucson because the flight attendants felt her attire was too revealing. When she convinced them that she would adjust her outfit to meet their requirements, she was allowed to remain onboard.

And here’s the kicker: On the return flight, she not only wore the same outfit and encountered no trouble whatsoever from the Tucson-to-San Diego crew, but she told Lauer that one flight attendant actually complimented her.

Ebbert’s outfit might indeed be considered sexy, but just how revealing it was is open to debate. She wore a tight, low-cut shirt, which showed cleavage. But if the cleavage police were to suddenly pull a sting operation at all of our major airports, Ebbert would probably be let go with a mild warning. There undoubtedly are far more egregious perpetrators out there.

And Ebbert wore a rather short skirt to go with the shirt. What is unclear is just exactly what, if anything, the skirt revealed. Was this a Sharon Stone “Basic Instinct” situation? Ebbert did not address that specifically, and Lauer did not ask. But they did discuss the view of her terrain in general, and Ebbert insisted that she did not display anything she should not have revealed.

The issues here are twofold: the Southwest Airlines dress code, or more accurately, the lack of one; and the general lack of respect for customers that seems to be growing in the airline industry.

Ebbert said she found out later from a reporter that Southwest did not have a specific dress code. (That was reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, who quoted a company spokesperson as saying a passenger could conceivably wear a bikini top as long as all the proper spots are covered.) Rather, when she was initially ordered to leave the flight, she told Lauer that the flight attendant informed her that Southwest was a “family airline.”

I’ve been on many Southwest flights. And indeed, families travel on Southwest. A father, a mother, kids, etc. Most of them are good people looking for cheap fares and fun vacations.

I’ve also been stuck with loud, drunken morons on their way to Las Vegas, who are allowed to remain in their seats while they pound liquor and throw peanuts at each other.

One need only peruse Southwest’s route map to understand that Ebbert is undoubtedly not the first young woman to wear a sexy outfit. Southwest travels to many destinations in California, including San Diego and San Francisco. It has flights to many locations in Florida, Arizona, Texas and Nevada, among others.

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