Commentary

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Terrorists?

A Houston travel agency recently chartered what it says was the world’s first nude flight. The 727 departed May 3rd, from Miami International Airport, and headed for Nude Week in Cancun. Once the aircraft reached its cruising altitude, the captain announced it was safe to do much more than walk about the cabinââ?¬â??and 87 passengers took off their clothes. Although Donna Daniels of Castaways travel agency emphasized the stress-relieving benefits of nude travel, she also suggested that folks might feel safer when fellow passengers have nothing to hide. “After 9-11, I didn’t have any cancellations,” notes Daniels. “Even after war broke out, we didn’t have any cancellations on this trip. People feel safe on a flight like this.” So the FAA is apparently open-minded when it comes to nude travel, but narrow-minded when it comes to security experimentation. In its zeal to federalize security screening, the FAA forbade all but five airports from experimenting with different private security arrangements.