Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

United Airlines bans female passengers from flight because they wore leggings

The incident sparked outrage on Sunday

Justin Carissimo
New York
Monday 27 March 2017 00:37 BST
United Airlines chief executive Oscar Munoz said ‘this will never happen again’ after the viral video showing David Dao being violently dragged off the overbooked plane
United Airlines chief executive Oscar Munoz said ‘this will never happen again’ after the viral video showing David Dao being violently dragged off the overbooked plane (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A United Airlines agent stopped two girls from flying because they were wearing leggings, Twitter user and activist Shannon Watts said on Sunday, sparking a firestorm of backlash online for policing women’s clothing. Responding to the criticism, airline officials said that they can “refuse passengers who are not properly clothed.”

Another girl wearing grey leggings had to change before she was allowed to board her flight at Denver International Airport. The witness said the girl appeared to be 10 years old and was attempting to fly from Denver to Minneapolis.

“She’s forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can’t board,” she tweeted. “Since when does @united police women’s clothing?”

At first, United did not issue a formal response to the tweets but said on Twitter that the company “shall have the right to refuse passengers who are not properly clothed via our Contract of Carriage.” They added, “This is left to the discretion of the agents.”

A United spokesperson told the Washington Post that the two teens were not allowed on the flight. They explained the girls were travelling with a United employee pass and “were not in compliance with our dress code policy for company benefit travel”.

Still, many people online expressed outrage over the incident, suggesting many women wear leggings and yoga pants for comfort while travelling.

“I have five kids: four of them are women. They wear yoga pants all of the time when flying,” Watts said in an email exchange with the newspaper. “I think this policy is arbitrary and sexist. It singles out women for their clothing and sexualises little girls.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in