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Tampa International Airport said on social media that it wanted to ban people from wearing pajamas at the Florida facility. No, it wasn’t being serious. A post on the airport’s official X account said that after successfully going “Crocs-free,” Tampa International had “seen enough” of pajamas.
“The madness stops today. The movement starts now,” reads the post, which had been viewed 5.7 million times by mid-afternoon Eastern time and generated a debate about airport attire in the comments.
Beau Zimmer, an airport spokesperson, told The Associated Press the post was part of the airport’s longstanding social media persona—a tongue-in-cheek voice it has cultivated since its early days on Twitter, before the platform rebranded as X. The account has attracted a loyal global following, he said.
“Our regular social media followers just eat this stuff up,” Zimmer said. “But obviously this is all in fun, and we encourage our travelers to be comfortable.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reacted to the post with a GIF of actor John Krasinski from the TV show The Office looking into the camera and saying, “Yes!”
Duffy has been encouraging passengers to dress more formally while flying, part of a civility campaign he launched last November—called “the Golden Age of Travel Starts with You.” The Transportation Department said the campaign was “intended to jump-start a nationwide conversation around how we can all restore courtesy and class to air travel.”
The airport released a statement clarifying its post was intended as a joke. “Today’s post about ‘banning’ pajamas was another playful nod to day-of-travel fashion debates,” it said. “We encourage our passengers to travel comfortably and appreciate our loyal followers who enjoy the online humor.”
This article was provided by The Associated Press.