On Sunday March 26, 2017, two young girls were prohibited from boarding a United Airlines flight because of their apparel. The girls were wearing leggings which were deemed “inappropriate” based on their flight information. This prohibition set off waves of anger on social media.
The girls, who were about to board a flight to Minneapolis, were turned away at the gate at Denver International Airport, according to the company, on Sunday. United doubled down on that decision, defending it with a series of tweets on Sunday.
The incident was first reported on Twitter by Shannon Watts, a passenger at the airport who was waiting to board a flight to Mexico. In a telephone interview from Mexico on Sunday afternoon, Watts said she noticed two visibly upset teenage girls leaving the gate next to hers. Both were wearing leggings. Watts went over to the neighboring gate and saw a “frantic” family with two young girls, one of whom was also wearing leggings, engaged in a tense exchange with a gate agent, who told them, “I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them.”
Jonathan Guerin, a spokesman for United, confirmed that two teenage girls were told they could not board a flight from Denver to Minneapolis because their leggings violated the company’s dress code policy for “pass travelers,” a company benefit which allows United employees and their dependents to travel for free on a standby basis. Guerin said, “Pass travelers are representing the company and as such are not allowed to wear Lycra and spandex leggings, tattered or ripped jeans, midriff shirts, flip-flops or any article of clothing that shows their undergarments.”
“It’s not that we want our standby travelers to come in wearing a suit and tie or that sort of thing,” he said. “We want people to be comfortable when they travel as long as it’s neat and in good taste for that environment.” He said both teenage girls stayed behind in Denver, “made an adjustment” to their outfits and waited for the next flight to Minneapolis. Mr. Guerin did not know if they had successfully boarded or not, and also had no information about the girl Watts said she saw change into a dress at the gate. The company confirmed Watts’ account earlier in the day in a response to her on Twitter which did little to mollify the concerns of its critics.
In a series of dozens of tweets, the company said the incident was not simply the result of an overzealous gate agent. Instead, it said United Airlines reserved the right to deny service to anyone of its employees, deemed to be inappropriately dressed. It also referred to the dress code applied to pass travelers.
“In our Contract of Carriage, Rule 21, we do have the right to refuse transport for passengers who are barefoot or not properly clothed,” the United Airlines tweeted. It added, “There is a dress code for pass travelers as they are representing UA when they fly.” Pleasant Valley student Hannah Thomas said, “I think it ridiculous that they made the girls change, but I also understand that it is company policy.”
