Pilot Won't Let Woman on Flight Over Her Short Shorts

A burlesque dancer trying to get home to Seattle from Boston earlier this month was told her shorts were simply too short to fly, KIRO reports. According to ABC News, the passenger—who goes by the stage name Maggie McMuffin—was preparing to board a JetBlue flight May 18 when she was told her shorts and thigh-high socks "may offend other families." McMuffin, having no other clothes, offered to tie her sweater around her waist or put a blanket over her legs. An airline worker, who said the decision was the pilot's, wasn't having it. “They said, 'If you don't change your clothes, you're not going to be able to board this flight,'" McMuffin tells KOMO.

A spokesperson for JetBlue says the airline can keep passengers from flying if their clothing is "offensive to the viewing public." McMuffin had to hustle to buy $22 sleep trunks at the airport in order to make her flight. JetBlue reimbursed her for the shorts and gave her a voucher worth nearly $200, but she says that's not enough. “I feel very disrespected," she tells KIRO. McMuffin says she was the victim of "body shaming and slut shaming" and "misogyny." She wants an apology from the pilot, a refund on her flight, and for JetBlue to institute a clearer dress code. “I've seen people online that say this looks like underwear because of the shape, but I have walked around in outfits like that before," she tells KIRO. (More air travel stories.)