Florida Airport’s Pajama Ban Post Goes Viral – But It’s Just a Joke

Tampa International Airport sparked a social media frenzy when it posted about wanting to ban pajamas from the terminal. The airport quickly clarified the post was just part of their playful online personality that has entertained followers for over a decade.

A Florida airport created quite the buzz on social media this week after announcing plans to prohibit sleepwear in their terminals – but don’t worry, they weren’t serious about the policy.

Tampa International Airport made waves Thursday with a post on their official X platform declaring they had “seen enough” pajamas after previously going “Crocs-free” at their facility.

“The madness stops today. The movement starts now,” the airport wrote in the post that racked up 5.7 million views by Thursday afternoon and sparked heated discussions about appropriate travel clothing.

Airport representative Beau Zimmer explained to The Associated Press that the message reflected the facility’s well-established humorous social media approach that dates back to their early Twitter days, before the platform became X. This comedic strategy has built them a devoted worldwide fanbase, he noted.

“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.”

The post caught the attention of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who responded with a GIF featuring actor John Krasinski from “The Office” enthusiastically saying “Yes!”

Duffy has been promoting more formal airline attire as part of his civility initiative launched in November, titled “the Golden Age of Travel Starts with You.” According to the Transportation Department, this effort aims “to jumpstart a nationwide conversation around how we can all restore courtesy and class to air travel.”

Tampa International issued a clarification Thursday confirming their sleepwear post was meant as humor.

“Today’s post about ‘banning’ pajamas was another playful nod to day-of-travel fashion debates,” the statement read. “We encourage our passengers to travel comfortably and appreciate our loyal followers who enjoy the online humor.”

According to Zimmer, the airport’s entertaining online presence has existed for at least ten years. It began when a young intern started sharing lighthearted content, including jokes about competing sports teams and their supporters, “and it really took off.”

Recently, following the Tampa Bay Lightning’s dramatic comeback from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins 6-5 in an NHL Stadium Series match, the airport posted: “Oh, and safe flight home to all the Bruins fans today :)”

Last month, referencing a running gag about travelers confusing their TPA airport code with TIA (an Albanian airport), Tampa shared a New Year’s resolution “to stress out less.”

“Unfortunately,” their post added, “some of y’all’s resolutions is to continue calling us TIA so we will not be meeting our goal.”

One social media user suggested Tampa should simply change their code to “GOAT so people don’t get confused,” using the abbreviation for “greatest of all time.”