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Many (if not most) travelers tend to prioritize comfort over style when they’re flying. That includes plenty of people who will happily wear pajamas in public before boarding a plane, and Tampa International Airport managed to trigger some of them after proposing a ban on that particular type of attire.
There was once a time when flying on an airplane was a fairly luxurious experience for every single passenger who bought a ticket, and there are a ton of pictures of flights from the early days of commercial air travel featuring a cabin that’s almost exclusively filled with people wearing suits and dresses.
Things have changed a bit since the era when a good chunk of those flyers were also smoking multiple cigarettes over the course of a flight. It’s not necessarily rare to cross paths with someone who’s sharply dressed on a plane, but they tend to be an exception as opposed to the norm.
“Comfort” is one of the last words most people would associate with the current state of commercial aviation, so it’s easy to understand why many travelers opt for an outfit that provides them with some. It’s possible to check that box while still looking somewhat put together, but there are many flyers who could not care less about aesthetics.
That includes the ones who don’t think twice about rocking literal pajamas when they fly, and many of them will defend their right to do so to the death based on the response to one airport’s cheeky push to ban them.
Tampa International Airport had to clarify it’s not actually banning pajamas after riling up people who wear them while flying
As someone who will usually rock sweatpants on a flight, I’m not really in a place to criticize what other people wear. With that said, pajamas in public is a line I would not personally cross because I’m not a 14-year-old who has not lived long enough to regret the decisions I’ve made.
As a result, I couldn’t help but appreciate the message that Tampa International Airport sent out on Thursday, which bluntly stated “It’s time to ban pajamas” while bemoaning the number of people who sport them “in the middle of the day.”
— Tampa International Airport ✈️ (@FlyTPA) February 26, 2026
I thought it was pretty obvious that the airport, which has previously taken aim at people who wear Crocs with a “ban” it doesn’t actually enforce, didn’t have any plans to bar pajamas on its grounds. However, the joke flew over the heads of far too many people who flooded the comments with angry responses while fighting for their right to wear PJs.
It reached a point where the airport had to clarify the ban was not real in a statement, saying, “Tampa International Airport regularly shares lighthearted, satirical social media content as part of our ongoing effort to engage with our followers.”