You may want to leave your short shorts at home the next time you fly with JetBlue.
The airline wouldn’t let a Seattle burlesque dancer board a flight home last week because her outfit — thigh-high socks, shorts and a sweater — was deemed inappropriate.
She’d worn the same clothes on a JetBlue fight from New York earlier that day without any problems. It was the crew on her connecting flight in Boston that found the bottoms too racy.
JetBlue told Global News it was concerned the “shorts may offend other families on the flight.”
A staff member broke the news to her as she was waiting at the gate.
“The pilot had decided that I needed to put something else on or I would not be allowed to board the flight,” Maggie McMuffin told KIRO7 in Seattle.
McMuffin didn’t have any other clothes so she offered to tie her sweater around her waist or cover up with a blanket.
The airline reportedly refused, forcing her to take a later flight and go in search of clothing she could buy at the airport. She finally settled on a $22 pair of sleep trunks.
She’s been reimbursed for them and given a $200 airline credit. But the whole situation has left a sour taste in her mouth.
“I felt very disrespected.”
“It’s just a symptom of our patriarchal society that women are sold scantily-clad things and if we choose to wear them we can be punished for that,” she said to KIRO 7.
Jet Blue’s contract of carriage allows each crew to make its own judgment on “proper” passenger attire, and deny boarding to “any customer whose clothing may be offensive to the viewing public,” according to spokesperson Morgan Johnston.
Little did the airline know the shorts they snubbed would get global coverage, including on airport TVs.
What do Canadian airlines have to say?
Air Canada claimed attire doesn’t come up as an issue for its customers.
READ MORE: Air Canada criticized for ‘sexist’ voucher policy
WestJet said it doesn’t have a formal dress code. The company instead leaves “it up to the discretion of the cabin crew.”
“A certain amount of common sense comes into play. I am personally not aware of anyone that has been turned away from a WestJet flight though,” said spokesperson Lauren Stewart.
When pressed on its discretionary policy and where it can be found on the conditions of carriage, Stewart added:
“There is no dress code in our tariffs. We will leave it at that.”
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