United assures paying customers that they and their leggings are welcome.
United Airlines defended a gate agent’s decision Sunday to bar two teenage girls from a flight for wearing leggings, saying that the young passengers were traveling on a company travel pass and were in violation of the airline’s dress code.
To be clear, United says, if you’re paying for your flight, “your leggings are welcome.”
The incident reported Sunday by a traveler at Denver International Airport set off scores of angry and mocking tweets. But it also ignited fury among airline travel pass users, who say the girls taking advantage of the employee benefit should have known better.
Late Sunday, United provided the following explanation:
“Let us take a moment to explain today’s news:
“We care about the way we present ourselves to you, our customers, as we believe that is part of the experience on board our flights. One of the benefits of working for an airline is that our employees are able to travel the world. Even better, they can extend this privilege to a select number of what we call ‘pass riders.’ These are relatives or friends who also receive the benefit of free or heavily discounted air travel — on our airline as well as on airlines around the world where we have mutual agreements in place for employees and pass riders.
“When taking advantage of this benefit, all employees and pass riders are considered representatives of United. 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. We regularly remind our employees that when they place a family member or friend on a flight for free as a standby passenger, they need to follow our dress code.
“To our regular custom- ers, your leggings are welcome.”
Early Sunday, however, when fellow passenger Shannon Watts tweeted the incident, it was not known that the girls were on a company pass.
The Twitterverse went nuts over what is considered “properly clothed.”
But forget about the passenger agreement, United said later. This was about the airline’s internal policy, which requires employees, and anyone using their free travel pass, to abide by a dress code. That dress code says spandex pants are “unacceptable” as are miniskirts and shorts that are shorter than 3 inches above the knee.