A United passenger flying coach to Orlando boarded the plane this week, went to his seat, and took off his pants. Then he settled in for the journey. Another passenger points out that flight attendants now have another job on their hands: check that passengers are wearing pants.
Wow, get this – my friend is flying to Orlando on @united right now. His seat mate has blue hair and apparently has taken off his pants. I’m told they were off by the time he got to his seat when boarding!! pic.twitter.com/HnxUdHPEVZ
— Matt Michels (@MattMichels10) January 4, 2026
When I was growing up in New York, there were so many people around and everyone pretty much minded their own business. People didn’t have a lot of personal space, so they created a zone of privacy by basically ignoring the world around them.
There’s no real privacy on a plane, especially in coach, so I guess the same approach goes and some people figure that under tight seating conditions they should do whatever makes them the most comfortable.
How else do you explain a Southwest passenger stripping naked, the pantsless Spirit Airlines passenger or the ex-cop who dropped his pants on JetBlue?
There’s an argument for taking your pants off in business class but only when the airline gives you pajamas to wear instead. For overnight flights without pajamas, I bring my own (I usually try to bring pajamas I’d gotten from the same airline on a previous flight, or at least stay in the airline’s joint ventures or alliances).
But here’s a Delta passenger without pants or socks at a bulkhead seat, and a woman taken off of a United Express flight in nothing but her t-shirt.
Delta and United position themselves as premium airlines. Even Spirit isn’t your mom’s basement, and they’re trying to elevate their image away from the belief that all of their passengers were raised by wolves.
Plane surfaces are dirty. The one thing I really had hoped would last coming out of the pandemic was elevated cleanliness, but it really didn’t. You want layers between your body and what’s rubbed all over airplane seats by numerous passengers who sat there before you.
In fairness, if you don’t actually bring the pants with you to travel then that’s less weight on the aircraft, lower fuel burn, and cost-saving to the airline. That ultimately translates into lower fares for all of us. Still, not worth it!
And United’s Contract of Carriage, in Rule 21 (Refusal of Transport), says the airline has the right to refuse transport or remove a passenger when, among other things, the passenger is “barefoot” or “not properly clothed.” It flags clothing that is “lewd, obscene or offensive” but this can be read to include clothing that’s off, as well.
So, they Winnie the Pooh’d it.
(That’s what Xi said.)
From the picture I am not sure if he is in underwear or just shorts. I currently have on shorts of the same color and bottom hem that someone could mistake for underwear if they didn’t see that the shorts have pockets. The underwear are under them. I sometimes wear pants over the shorts. Maybe the long pants are uncomfortable to wear in the airplane seat. Probably much ado about nothing.
Not sure if that’s underwear or shorts? But if the former in our Lord’s year 2026 that certainly would not surprise me.
The golden age of flying is officially DOA …as stated previously the airlines are to blame for many of the issues but the flying public has lost all levels of self respect and respect for their fellow passengers. Ban them forever … let Greyhound ferry them around
@George Romey — Let’s keep your lord outta this.
I had to check but no, that’s not me.
United Airlines typically adheres to the dress standard of “no shirt, no shoes, no service.” However, United Airlines does not offer any guidance on requiring the wearing of pants, or for the Brits, trousers. Since cultural values, norms, and laws regarding clothing can vary by location, it is possible that United Airlines is planning new international travel to New Guinea and Vanuatu. According to Wikipedia, in some areas in these two countries, it is customary for men to wear nothing but penis sheaths in public, while women wear string skirts. In remote areas of Bali, women may go topless, which is less common in more Western countries or when flying in coach on United Airlines.
“On Zoom, no one can see your pants.”
@jns He is wearing neither. If you look close, that is the bottom of his shirt. I am guessing tighty whities, I hope he isn’t going commando anyway.
He’s wearing boxer shorts – more modest than other things we see. Why he took off his jeans is a question… but we can let go of the pearls.
He is holding his jeans on his lap. You can see the denim belt loops and a black belt running through them. Sadly, nothing surprises me anymore.
Abolish ICE. Those thugs can go sleep in a ditch somewhere.
I will go with what I see and not be guessing. The color of the shorts is consistent with Hanes Athletic Navy Pe Heather of which I have both shorts and t-shirts in the same color, which I bought on Amazon. Although a short woman can wear a tall man’s shirt as a short dress, even a shirt that is an XLT or 2XLT or 3XLT is not long enough to cover a taller guy that way and the photo seems to be of a guy significantly taller than a short woman. The underwear or shorts would show beneath it. Of course, if the guy was commando, a lot more leg would be showing. Therefore, my original analysis is more likely to be correct. I sometimes carry extra shorts in my carry-on or personal item. If something spilled on my pants, I could take off my pants and wear my shorts instead.
DaveS:
I don’t think that dude was ICE, girlfriend.
@DaveS — (sir, that’s the other post… this one’s about lack of clothing on-board a passenger aircraft…)
I know the human race and it is capable of anything.
I won’t address exactly what he might be wearing. I will say that I own some running shorts that will function as underwear. But bare skin on an airplane seat???