Airlines do not have it easy in the social media age. If something awful, boneheaded or just plain questionable happens, the world is going to hear about it and sympathy will be in short supply. The latest case of backlash bubbled today up when The Internet® had a lot of thoughts about a story involving two girls and United’s decision to boot the passengers off the flight over their attire.
Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts tweeted her dismay and frustration over an incident where two United customers were barred from their Minneapolis-bound flight over their leggings.
1) A @united gate agent isn't letting girls in leggings get on flight from Denver to Minneapolis because spandex is not allowed?
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017
2) She's forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can't board. Since when does @united police women's clothing?
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017
3) Gate agent for flt 215 at 7:55. Said she doesn't make the rules, just follows them. I guess @united not letting women wear athletic wear?
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017
United’s defense on the issue? The airline has the right to refuse service to customers deemed to be dressed inappropriately. Or in other words, United decided Sunday was a good time to knock over Pandora’s Box.
The passengers this morning were United pass riders who were not in compliance with our dress code policy for company benefit travel.
— United Airlines (@united) March 26, 2017
The customers in question were United Pass users, a designation that has a different brand of dress code than other passengers. That explanation (understandably) did little to quell the backlash over the decision to deem the travel wear inappropriate.
1) 3 girls inspected for wearing perfectly acceptable leggings. 2 not allowed to board. I don't care what kind of passengers they were. https://t.co/9VwGKgvWys
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017
2) This behavior is sexist and sexualizes young girls. Not to mention that the families were mortified and inconveninced.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017
3) As the mother of 4 daughters who live and travel in yoga pants, I'd like to know how many boys @United has penalized for the same reason.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017
What qualifies as inappropriate seems to be lacking a hard and fast set of rules in this regard. Anyone that’s had to share a seat next to a dude with his scrunched up dink mushed into thin sweatpants knows that airlines seem pretty darn flexible on what is considered reasonable attire. The issue quickly grabbed the attention of Twitter with Chrissy Teigen, Sarah Silverman and Patricia Arquette among the voices slamming United over the choice to enforce this rule over girls in leggings.
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/846066710171926529
Hey @united I fly a LOT. About to go on tour all April and changing all my @united flights to other airlines
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) March 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/846040543201177600
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/846042944897376256
https://twitter.com/kashanacauley/status/846067845209489408
Hey, @united, you know how this ends, right? Images of women in leggings tagging you on social as they fly your competition.
— Jenn VandeZande (@jennvzande) March 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/Shananigans/status/846093997705740288
https://twitter.com/BenKuchera/status/846075764734865408
https://twitter.com/DanaSchwartzzz/status/846056399058690056
https://twitter.com/MaryNumair/status/846069199789174784
So, shorts on adult men are business attire but leggings on little girls aren't. Got it United.
— L Laiken (@lb_bklyn) March 26, 2017
"We know you have a choice when flying, so how dare you wear leggings cover yourself up young lady SHAME SHAME SHAME." – @united
— Karen Kilgariff (@KarenKilgariff) March 26, 2017
Not a good look @United… #bydhttmwfi https://t.co/unXazNjTRY
— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) March 26, 2017
United have been repeatedly stressing that they have the right to refuse service over what they deem inappropriate for company benefit travel. While United remains technically correct, this stance is doing the opposite of endearing themselves to customers.
To suggest a tween is dressing inappropriately for wearing leggings on a flight (even as someone taking advantage of a corporate service) is presenting a public face of policing what women wear and projecting internal biases on what clothing means. Instead of deftly handling the situation, the airline now has to deal with a stigma of sexualizing the attire of girls and valuing the rights of their policy over common sense. Leggings may be considered “inappropriate” for the company’s pass rider dress code, but the optics of being called out publicly by Sarah Silverman and Chrissy Teigen for barring service is much worse look.
