when I'm actually travelling on the plane then I usually wear one for comfort's sake. Usually I wear reasonably conservative clothing be it abaya or business suit or casual clothes. The wearing of black abaya is a cultural point peculiar to Gulf (khaliji) countries and as no-one is telling me (let them dare to!!!) what to wear it's really up to me to decide what I wear for different occasions and places. For example here in Qatar I choose to wear abaya for business and generally being outside but when I'm doing sport I wear sports clothes. But I do love my abayas. It has become a tradition in Qatar for local women to wear abayas so I love feeling part of that tradition. I love feeling that elegance with a long flowing sparkly colourful garment!!!