AN airline has raised eyebrows for allowing a man wearing skimpy women's underwear and stockings to fly but banning a passenger wearing saggy pants.

Jill Tarlow, a passenger on a June 9 flight from Fort Lauderdale, to Phoenix, US, took a photo of the scantily clad man, which she provided to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The man flew six days before passenger DeShon Marman was arrested on a US Airways flight at San Francisco airport following allegations he refused to pull up his pants.

Tarlow told the Chronicle she and other passengers complained before boarding the plane, but US Airways employees did not prevent the unidentified man from flying.

"No one would believe me if I didn't take his picture," Tarlow, 40, of Phoenix said. "It was unbelievable."

US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder defended the airline's decision to let the man fly, saying employees acted correctly.