United Airlines has run into a social media storm after it barred two teenage girls from boarding a flight in Denver, Colorado, because they were wearing leggings.
Another girl who was also wearing leggings was allowed to board the flight from Denver International Airport to Minneapolis after she changed, a witness said.
United Airlines spokesman Jonathan Guerin told the New York Times that the two girls barred from flying “made an adjustment” to their clothing and were waiting for the next flight to Minneapolis.
He did not know whether they made it aboard.
The incident was reported on Twitter by Shannon Watts — founder of gun reform group Moms Demand Action — who was a passenger at the airport waiting to board another flight to Mexico.
“She’s forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can’t board,” she said. “Since when does @united police women’s clothing?”
“A 10-year-old girl in gray leggings,” she added of one of the girls. “She looked normal and appropriate.”
With that, the charges began to fly across the Twittersphere, with outraged travelers and celebrities weighing in with accusations of sexism and corporate ham-handedness.
“I have flown united before with literally no pants on. Just a top as a dress,” declared model Chrissy Teigen in one tweet. “Next time I will wear only jeans and a scarf.”
United Airlines defended the gate agent’s decision in a series of tweets.
It said the girls were flying on passes that require them to keep to a dress code in return for free or discounted travel.
“When taking advantage of this benefit, all employees and pass riders are considered representatives of United,” it said. “And like most companies, we have a dress code that we ask employees and pass riders to follow. The passengers this morning were United pass riders and not in compliance with our dress code for company benefit travel.”
“To our regular customers, your leggings are welcome,” it said.
That only drew attention to what many saw as a double standard. Some wondered what business United had in deciding for others what was appropriate casual wear.
The leggings rule was “something I’d expect from the Taliban, not a major western airline,” John Balano tweeted.
“@united Leggings are business attire for 10 year olds. Their business is being children,” Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Arquette tweeted.
Some men mocked the airline by threatening to wear leggings they next time they fly.
Actor William Shatner posted a picture of himself as younger man, bare chested and in red tights.
“See I’ve done it before,” he said.
“Issue is 3 kids, one only 10, got singled out & punished for wearing ordinary clothing as girls. why defend this?” another tweet said.
In a tweet to Arquette, the airline acknowledged “the severity of the situation and are looking into it.”
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion