TSA Misses Another Opportunity

Usually, it's done the other way around. Last Saturday, though, a Miami-Cancun flight had the passengers all strip after they boarded the plane.

The TSA, having missed yet another golden (buff?) opportunity, had no comment.

You see, the flight -- all the passengers were nudists, heading for a Mexican nudist colony -- was designed to be one of those relaxing, let-it-all-hang-out kinds of affairs. PAX had to remain clothed in the terminal, and through boarding; in fact, they couldn't take off their clothes until they could take off their seatbelts. "It's an FAA safety thing," explained James Bailey, the Castaways Travel co-owner, in an exclusive ANN interview from Cancun.

The airline (a major, well-known charter company) has remained anonymous, except to say that the crew kept their uniforms on during the flight -- it's easier to identify them that way.

There was no "making out" allowed on the flight. As the travel agent said, "This is not the mile-high club." Oh -- and there was no hot drink service.

They're flying back Saturday, presumably sunburned, and naked again.

James Bailey, who organized the flight, told ANN, "We had talked about this kind of flight for a number of years, and wanted to develop new [nudist vacation] products in Mexico. I thought our market would accept Mexico as a great destination, as opposed to the traditional [eastern Caribbean] spots. We worked with a network of resorts, and wanted to do a buy-out of the resort for a week. The nude flight was just part of the publicity package as a new market for Mexico, for nudists." The "flying" aspect has generated international publicity. "I can't understand how popular it has become," he told us. "We sold out our contract -- we're pleased... We had 90 people on the 737, going out. We wanted to have an empty seat between couples."

It's a nice place.

"We're at Hidden Beach Resort, an hour south of Cancun," Bailey explained. "It's located, with its sister property [El Dorado], on almost 300 acres of Caribbean beach." It's isolated, in a good way, an important factor for nudists: "There's just one road in; there's no outside visitors -- just clients," he said.

Passenger "Trace," a military pilot from Dallas, has been a nudist for twelve years. He and wife, Dawn, took the flight. He told us, "We've been traveling with Castaways for a while -- we like the travel company, and what they do. We didn't plan to go with anyone we knew, but we met six or eight others whom we knew, at the airport." Any problems? "We're using a lot of sunscreen -- I didn't get enough on my nose, though."

Donna Daniels, Bailey's wife and co-owner of the travel agency, told us, "It's a little different, isn't it? ...Everything is going wonderfully. The staff says we're such easy people to deal with. They had never hosted a nude group before." It's a big step for the resort: "They created this whole new resort -- a five-star, all-nude, 365-day resort. We're the opening group. We're helping them, with an evaluation from our members. We're going to do this again, for sure." The trip is going well, even though this is the inaugural group of nudists for the resort. "The staff says there's no difference," she said. "We have surprised them, at being so easygoing." Nudism got a plug, too: "Everybody's equal -- you can't tell a school superintendent from a CEO, from a fire chief. You see spirits -- not bodies. It's no big deal."

Internet made it possible.

Donna said it hasn't been easy, in years past, to build a big enough group to charter a 737. That's different now: "The Internet has made it so easy to get and give the information -- it's so much easier to communicate."

FMI: www.castawaystravel.com