I just stumbled across Southwest Airlines' latest press release and spent the last few minutes blinking at my computer screen. We wrote last week about how the airline recently courted controversy when employees reportedly ordered two female fliers dressed in "revealing clothing" (a miniskirt and a sundress) to cover up. "The Luv Airline" has gotten plenty of bad P.R. as a result -- especially after one of the women, Kyla Ebbert, took her complaint to the "Today" show and "The Dr. Phil Show." Southwest respectfully apologized for the incidents, but now it's making another attempt at saving face by announcing in a press release that the airline is facing "the bare facts and [revealing] the naked truth" by lowering "its already skimpy fares to 'mini-skirt.'"
Seriously. I'm not joking.
Oh, but Southwest is! The press release announces that the airline is "poking fun at itself." They're not moralizing prudes, you see -- they have a wicked sense of humor. To drive that point home, the airline's CEO, Gary Kelly, said, "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."
I liked you better apologetic and humorless, Southwest.
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