May 19, 2013
DALLAS (AP) -- Airlines give many reasons for refusing to let a passenger board, but none stir as much debate as how a person is dressed.
A woman flying from Las Vegas on Southwest this spring says she was confronted by an airline employee for showing too much cleavage.
Last year, a passenger was pulled off a US Airways jet and arrested at San Francisco International Airport after airline employees say he refused to pull up his low-hanging pants. But the man's attorney complained that the same airline repeatedly allowed a middle-age man to travel wearing women's underwear and not much else.
Critics complain that airlines enforce clothing standards inconsistently. And the lack of clear rules leaves decisions to the judgment of individual airline employees.
Kenneth Quinn, an aviation lawyer and former chief counsel at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, says airlines are like any service business, "If you run a family restaurant and somebody is swearing, you kindly ask them to leave."
AP-WF-08-25-12 1508GMT
