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Two girls barred from United flight for wearing leggings
March 27, 2017
A United Airlines gate agent barred two girls from boarding a flight Sunday morning because the girls were wearing leggings, reports the Washington Post.
Another
girl who was wearing gray leggings had to change before she was allowed
to board the flight from Denver to Minneapolis, a witness said.
"She's
forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can't
board," Shannon Watts, who was at a gate at Denver International
Airport, said on Twitter. "Since when does @united police women's
clothing?"
United, responding to
tweets about the incident tweeted that "United shall have the right to
refuse passengers who are not properly clothed via our Contract of
Carriage." And added, " This is left to the discretion of the agents."
The
airline's passenger contract says for the safety of all passengers and
crew members, the airline can refuse to let a passenger on board if the
passengers is "barefoot or not properly clothed."
The airlines, however, does not define "properly clothed."
United
Airlines spokesman Jonathan Guerin confirmed the two teens were not
allowed on the flight. But he said they girls were traveling using a
United employee pass and "were not in compliance with our dress code
policy for company benefit travel."
An
internal policy for employees using the airline travel benefit, he
said, specifically forbids leggings while traveling. It is unclear why
United considers leggings to be inappropriate and whether other articles
of clothing are barred under the policy.
"Our regular passengers
are not going to be denied boarding because they are wearing leggings
or yoga pants," Guerin said. "But when flying as a pass traveler we
require this pass travelers to follow rules and that is one of those
rules.
"They
were not compliant with the dress policy with the benefit," Guerin
said, noting that the girls were aware of the internal rule. "This
morning the attire of the pass travelers on this flight didn't meet the
dress code policy."
Travelers familiar with the airline employee
travel pass say it has long been a requirement for those using the
benefit to dress up more so than paying passengers.
Social media
exploded Sunday with users called the incident horrendous, outrageous
and a nonsense. Several users asked why leggings aren't proper clothing
and promised to take their business-- and leggings-- to another airline.
Many women wear leggings, yoga and athletic gear for comfort while
traveling.
Watts was traveling on vacation to Mexico when she
heard a family next to her panic. Then she heard the female agent
explain to the young travelers that they couldn't get on the plane
wearing Spandex.
"I don't make the rules, I just enforce them," the agent told the passengers, Watts said.
The
young girl, who was wearing gray leggings, not too tight, said Watts,
pulled a dress from her backpack and put it over her leggings and was
allowed to board, Watts said.
But two other girls were turned away and not allowed to board because they didn't have any other clothing, she said.
"I
have five kids: four of them are women. They wear yoga pants all of the
time when flying," said Watts in an email from aboard her flight. "I
think this policy is arbitrary and sexist. It singles out women for
their clothing and sexualizes little girls."
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