The United Airlines leggings ban that sent online outrage soaring on Sunday is part of the company’s dress code — one that apparently isn’t so friendly to women travelers.
After a traveler tweeted about girls being barred from a Minneapolis-bound flight for wearing leggings, United tried — and failed — to explain away the ensuing vitriol.
First the airline pointed to its rules for general customers, which allows United to refuse transportation “for passengers who are barefoot or not properly clothed.” But as Twitter users noted, there’s nothing there making clear that leggings — or anything else in particular — are not proper.
United then reversed course and revealed that two young girls who were turned away from the flight were “pass travelers” — relatives of United employees, who fly for free or on discount but also with certain expectations.
Among those expectations: No “form-fitting” spandex pants.
As the social media onslaught raged, United made sure to make this distinction clear.
“Like most companies, we have a dress code that we ask employees and pass riders to follow,” United spokesman Jonathan Guerin said in a media statement.
“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 customers, your leggings are welcome.”
Other major airlines have similar guidelines on the books for general, first-class and non-revenue travelers.
American Airlines outlaws leggings and workout clothes, as well as beach clothing, attire with “offensive” graphics and even shorts and T-shirts.
Delta, more vaguely, says non-revenue customers can’t come on with clothing that is “excessively dirty,” vulgar” or “violates public decency laws and community standards.” Also: No bare feet.
But the policy at United, which has mostly male leadership, is notable for one thing: Many of its clothing rules apply mainly to women.
Its dress code for non-revenue fliers features 11 fashion bans, and about half would only be regular problems for women on board.
There’s the forbiddance on “form-fitting” pants and dresses, but also outlawed are miniskirts, short shorts and anything that “reveals a midriff.”
From there, only more questions take off, especially: Who decides how these rules get enforced?
United’s other restrictions against clothing that is “provocative,” “inappropriately revealing” or “offensive” leave plenty of room for interpretation.
Shannon Watts, the activist who alerted the world to Leggings-Gate, pointed out that she saw a father in shorts board the flight with no problem while his daughter were held up for their leggings. Many Twitter users who piled on the news — including model Chrissy Teigen — said they had boarded flights before in clothes (or, in little clothes) that would be more alarming than leggings.
There was also the question of why any gate agent saw little girls in leggings as reason enough to keep them from flying.
“I’d be interested in knowing how often they do this for little boys,” Watts told the Daily News in an interview.
“I don’t understand how shorts are acceptable but leggings aren’t. It seems like a strange, sexist policy.”
She pointed out that many women wear leggings while traveling simply for comfort, not because they are “sexual.”
United, meanwhile, had no problem flaunting a fit woman in yoga pants for an advertisement last year.
United has so far stuck to pointing at its policies when pressed about the leggings flap.
But could all the outrage now lead to a new direction for flight fashion?
Any answer on that is grounded for now.
When the Daily News asked United reps if it had considered changing its policy, the company did not answer, and simply sent the statement defending the rules that are already written.
