Southwest Flight Attendant Told Her “Pull Your Shirt Up” — The LUV Airline Is Back To Policing What Passengers Wear

Southwest Airlines is back in dress-code drama after a passenger accused a flight attendant of telling her to “pull your shirt up” before she could fly, saying the comment singled out her body and birthmarks.

The clash is awkward for an airline that built its brand on LUV and once leaned into cheeky marketing—and it highlights the core problem with airline attire rules today: they’re vague, discretionary, and enforced unevenly from one crew member to the next.

Houston-based baseball card trader, motorcycle and lifestyle influencer and OnlyFans model “Mayhem” describes herself as an exhibitionist, but Southwest Airlines wasn’t having any of that on any of their flights this week. She says a flight attendant required her to pull her shirt up in order to fly.

Despite the salacious bio, she honestly doesn’t look like that different to me than the median passenger on Southwest!

To the @SouthwestAir flight attended who told me to "pull your shirt up" – birthmarks are birth defects! You shouldn't be commenting on people's bodies while on the clock. No LUV here. pic.twitter.com/TwwtNtIG4O

— Mayhem (@More__Mayhem) January 21, 2026

It was 18 years ago that Kyla Ebbert had 15 seconds of worldwide fame getting kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for her outfit (‘too sexy to fly’). Back then the airline ran a fare sale based on the publicity,

Southwest Airlines today faces the bare facts and reveals the naked truth by issuing an apology to its Customers who have commented about its handling of a few who were dressed in revealing clothing. …Southwest has lowered its already skimpy fares to “mini-skirt” size of $49 to $109 one-way.

“Some have said we’ve gone from loving hot pants to having hot flashes but nothing could be farther from the truth, “said Southwest’s CEO Gary Kelly. “The publicity caught us with our pants down, quite frankly. The story has such great legs, but we have an even better sense of humor, so we’re going to jump out there and lower our fares to match the mini skirts we’ve all been hearing so much about.”

This is an airline that plastered Israeli model Bar Refaeli in a bikini on the side of one of their 737s, which I take as prima facie evidence that the attire in question doesn’t violate Southwest’s standards of what’s appropriate to fly.

Here are Southwest’s original flight attendant uniforms, designed by their original President’s wife. The airline’s ticker symbol is LUV. The peanuts they used to serve onboard were “Love Bites.” Their original ticketing machines were called Quickies.

The days of getting dressed up on planes, like you would for formal dinner on a cruise ship, are long gone. Over the past few years there haven’t been as many business travelers in business attire either. Dress guidelines are vague and left to the interpretation and discretion of gate agents and flight crew.