Kyla 1This outfit was considered too sexy for SouthWest Airlines: last July, 23 year old Kyla Ebbert boarded a flight from San Diego, California to her doctor’s office in Tuscon, Arizona, wearing the outfit she’s pictured in here. She was called from her seat and lectured by a customer service representative in front of dozens of other passengers about the way she was dressed and told she needed to cover up if she wanted to take the flight. The incident prompted national debate over the airline’s behaviour and the appropriateness of the outfit.

This morning I took part in a heated debate about this on KLPZ’s morning show. Some suggested that my standards are more relaxed because I live in a hot climate and an area high in tourism. It’s true that the average person dresses very casually here: shorts, T-shirts and sandals are normal dress for everyone from church pastors to bank clerks and women going grocery shopping in bikinis is not unusual. Kyla Ebbert lives in a hot climate too. I can’t understand why anyone on that flight would have been offended by the outfit; it was July, which is hot in both San Diego where she was departing and Tuscon where she was arriving.

No, I think we can put this down to good old-fashioned prudery. Of course, the airline is within its rights to take any action necessary to protect the business of other customers. Kyla 2But perhaps the person who complained would have been a better target for removal from the flight than the person being complained about?

In any case, she’s done well from this. An ambition of Kyla’s since she was 18 years old has been fulfilled by Hugh Hefner: to appear in Playboy magazine. Her feature is titled Legs in the Air and tells the story of her incident accompanied by a photo spread in which she’s wearing what she definitely couldn’t on any airline flight, no matter how relaxed their dress policy.

Well, good for her.