DALLAS -- Faced with a career change following the financial failure of Braniff International, 10 of the airline's former stewardesses decided to undress for success.
The women are featured in the November issue of Playboy Magazine, which will appear on newstands this week. The women and representatives of Playboy appeared at a news conference Monday.
'It's a nice way to say goodbye to the airline,' Teresa Tidwell said, explaining her reason for posing in the buff.
The blurb introducing the photo layout in the magazine said the working title was 'Girls of the Unemployment Line.'
'When we heard that Braniff Airways had filed for bankruptcy, grounding more than 2,000 flight attendants, we sent (a photographer) to Dallas to interview the survivors,' the magazine said.
All of the women said their lives changed dramatically when Braniff folded.
Jude Arledge, 32, a native of Champagne, Ill., said: 'I flew for Braniff for eight years. Sometimes I had five days in London or Frankfurt (Germany). You'd work a flight over and your hotel was paid for. It was wonderful.'
Ms. Arledge said the job left her with 'jet set' tastes and skills which did not transfer well to life on the ground.
'It's traumatic,' she said. 'I feel like my taste has gotten more and more expensive over the years as I have been exposed to different things. And airline skills don't apply very well to other jobs.
Former stewardesses Joy Woods and January Whitaker said the grounding put their luxurious lifestyle in a holding pattern.
'The girls would go to lunch in New Orleans or we'd go shopping for a day in New York,' Ms. Woods said. 'When Braniff folded, it (that lifestyle) folded.'
Although the $1,000 fee for the day's work came in handy, several of the women seemed concerned at the way their decision to pose would be interpreted.
Ms. Whitaker, who posed fully clothed in a spread on stewardesses two years ago, said she refused at that time to take it all off for fear of her job.
'I didn't want to risk my job with Braniff,' she said.
'When you're unemployed and you're not using anyone's name, I don't know who you could offend,' Ms. Woods said.
