US Airline Under Fire After Refusing To Allow Girls Wearing Leggings To Board A Flight

United Airlines has come under fire after refusing to allow a 10-year-old girl to board a flight because she was wearing spandex leggings.

Some Twitter users were outraged after Shannon Watts, founder of an advocacy group, who was also a United Airlines passenger, tagged the airlines in a tweet about the incident, stating that gate agents did not allow the child, who was wearing spandex leggings, and two others on their flight from Denver to Minneapolis on Sunday, because of their outfits.

The airline defended its decision, telling outraged Twitter users who complained about it, that they reserved the right to refuse anyone who did not meet its dress code. It further explained that it’s the discretion of the gate agents whether or not a person is suitably dressed.

In the third tweet, despite the agent’s claim that she was merely following policy, the airline responded to Ms Watts stating its ‘Contract of Carriage’.

@shannonrwatts In our Contract of Carriage, Rule 21, we do have the right to refuse transport for passengers who … https://t.co/52kRVgaCyb

“” United (@united) March 26, 2017

However, the contract’s only mention of dress code is to allow agents the right to refuse anyone who is ‘barefoot or not properly clothed’.

One Twitter user accused the airline of bodyshaming. “If leggings aren’t allowed then what about shorts and dresses. Sounds like United Airlines is bodyshaming,” the user said.

A United Airlines spokesman told DailyMail.com that the trio were traveling as guests of airline staff and were therefore held to a more formal dress code which is standard across many airlines. Passengers with regular tickets would not have been held to the same standard.

The 10-year-old girl was eventually allowed to board the flight after changing in to a dress in her bag, but the two others, who were said to be in their early teens, were still refused entry because they did not have a change of clothes handy.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk