Southwest reaction to skimpy outfit out of line

It’s hot in many of those places. Not only do young women wear sexy outfits with low-cut tops and short pants or skirts, it is most likely the norm. Southwest caters to people who like to save money. Many of those people are college students who travel all across the United States.

And Southwest suddenly decided that Ebbert’s particular outfit was too revealing?

Ebbert said she was humiliated. After being scolded by the “family airline” flight attendant, she said she had to walk through the plane with everyone staring at her because the rest of the passengers overheard the whole thing. And before anyone wisecracks that they were probably staring at her before the hubbub, this isn’t about wearing a sexy outfit, but rather about some airline employee arbitrarily imposing his or her idea of “appropriate” upon a paying customer.

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If a passenger were dressed in such a ridiculously preposterous manner that it was causing a major distraction, that would be different. But that’s not the case here. Ebbert’s ensemble, which she stood up and showed off for Lauer, was no different than what the average coed would wear on her way to Fort Lauderdale.

Ebbert showed up on “Today” with her mom and her attorney. She said she initially wanted an apology from Southwest; she said she received a letter, but it wasn’t an apology. It’s obvious she may sue.

Southwest did not send a representative to give its side of the incident on “Today,” but the airline did issue a statement in which it said, in part, “These situations are extremely rare.”

I’m not sure I agree.

Kicking somebody off a flight for wearing a sexy outfit may be extremely rare, but the lack of consideration shown toward customers seems to be fairly common. It is exhibited in the absurdly high number of flights that are late to depart or arrive, with no end in sight. It can also be seen in the increasing incidents of lost luggage, of passengers bumped off flights, and in the dwindling number of in-flight services.

Airlines, in general, are getting a little too uppity.

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If the flight attendant or attendants in question on Ebbert’s San Diego-to-Tucson run had a genuine problem with her outfit, there are better ways they could have handled it. They could have asked her from the get-go if she would mind pulling down her skirt, pulling up her top or wearing a blanket without going directly to the “you’ll have to leave this flight” card. I’ve had flight attendants offer to lend me their AC adapters so I could use it with my computer at my seat. Couldn’t one of them have lent her a jacket if they really had a problem?

But this sounds like it was an employee or employees of a major airline forgetting who puts the bread on their table. It seems all that was revealed on the flight in question was one crew’s lack of respect for the people who are really the bosses in this equation.

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