The airline industry goes after United over "leggings"

[brooklynite]

Spirit



Delta

Link to tweet

[Agschmid]

1. TBH... I side with United on this, they were pass passengers.

Maybe they should update the policy, but that is the policy for pass passengers at this time.

However sheer marketing genius for these other airlines.

[elleng]

2. It seems the passengers hadn't been informed about the policy.

If that's the case it was someone's mistake, and resulted in this foolish kerfuffle.

[msongs]

4. "someone's mistake" the employees who let others use their employee benefits nt

[elleng]

6. Right.

[Agschmid]

19. Yeah, it's totally on the person they got the pass from.

I agree.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I used to work for a different airline. They also had a dress code

for non-rev travel - no jeans, t-shirts, etc.; you didn't have to totally dress up but it had to be at least business casual. I don't know whether leggings would have been prohibited but if you're traveling on a pass you should be aware of those rules. However, since traveling on a pass sometimes means you can't make a flight and have to wait for a later one, or even that you might have to fly to a different place than the one you intended and pick up a flight from there, you should definitely dress comfortably.

[pnwmom]

8. What was "business casual" for a ten year old? n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. For a kid, probably something they'd wear to school.

I retired before leggings got to be a thing so I don't know whether they'd have been OK or not. The reason for the dress code was that they didn't want their employees and their families to look sloppy, so no jeans, t-shirts, flip flops (which would be a bad idea on a plane anyhow if you had to evacuate), beach wear, etc.

[pnwmom]

12. Leggings can be worn to most public schools (I'm not aware of exceptions but there probably are

some outlier schools.)

And the reports said that longer shorts were allowed, so the code wasn't strict in other respects.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Then United probably should either revise the dress code

or do a better job educating its gate agents about what's in it.

[Agschmid]

20. Revisions seem to be needed.

[pnwmom]

7. So what? A 10 year old boy could wear shorts, but a 10 year old girl couldn't wear leggings.

What message were they sending?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Seems kind of arbitrary. If the reason for the non-rev dress code

was so employees & spawn wouldn't look like slobs (as it was for my former employer), allowing shorts and not leggings doesn't seem to promote that principle. Maybe United will revise its dress code for pass riders.

[tammywammy]

18. A 10 year old girl could wear shorts and a 10 year old boy wouldn't be allowed to wear leggings.

[crazycatlady]

14. The passengers were minors

Many minors don't own dressy attire (have no need for it).

Perhaps the dress code should have exceptions for minors.

[aquamarina]

22. I would find it very hard to

believe that most minors don't own a pair of pants and a shirt.

[BannonsLiver]

5. Spirit has no room to talk about ANYTHING

If they could charge people to actually wear their own clothing on the plane they would do it.

[DFW]

9. An airline and its reps at airports need to think two steps ahead in such situations

Someone at the United boarding gate needed to simply say, " for Pete's sake, let the girl take her seat, and that's the end of it. I take full responsibility."

We wouldn't have heard a thing about it, and United wouldn't have lost one passenger.

Once upon a time, Air France has a terrible rep for poor customer service. Then, someone got them to wise up. They are now among the best in Europe. When I am late due to a clog in the security line, they bring out a car and drive me to the plane if that's what it takes. They act like they care (Lufthansa doesn't know the meaning of the word), and I'm now platinum for life with them.

[Rollo]

15. I flew quite a bit in the 90's...

...both domestic and internationally, and United was my least favorite airline.

Rude flight attendants, old dirty aircraft, poor maintenance, and overall a "customer comes last" attitude. It was not helped when United decided to yank my considerable accumulated frequent flier miles by "expiring" them.

My favorite airline had to be Virgin Atlantic. A real joy.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. What was the big deal about this?

The only issue I have ever seen about leggings is that some people wear nearly sheer leggings as pants. With or without a thong, it doesn't look appropriate. Don't force me to post pictures, but I think Sophia Vergara has pap photo floating around.

[Blue_Tires]

17. Delta's got no room to fucking talk

they have their litany of embarrassing incidents, too

[B2G]

21. Dear Spirit, you are hypocrites.

Dress CodeSpirit Airlines’ Customer Service Agents have the right to deny boarding to non-revenue passengers whose dress or behavior might beobjectionable to revenue passengers. Proper attire is important and the following guidelines should be followed for Spirit Plus andSpirit Coach:Male Adult:• Suits, casual slacks and shirts are appropriate.• Jeans are acceptable if neat, clean, hemmed, and pressed (must be free of rips, stains, frays, patches, and holes).• Clean, laced sneakers or sandals are acceptable.• Polo shirts, plain smart casual T-shirts (not undershirts) are acceptable. (Small logos are okay).• Tank tops, midriff tops, shorts and flip-flop beach sandals and sweat suits are not acceptable.Female Adult:• Dresses, suits, or casual slacks are appropriate.• Jeans and Capri’s are acceptable if neat, clean, hemmed, and pressed (must be free of rips, stains, frays, patches, and holes).• Split skirts or sport skirts are acceptable if the length comes to just above the knee.• Blouses or plain smart, casual T-shirts, are acceptable• Clean, laced sneakers or sandals are acceptable.• Spaghetti straps, midriff tops, tube tops, shorts, mini-skirts, flip flop beach sandals, and sweat suits are not acceptable.Children over the age of 12: Please follow the Adult Male and Female dress code.Revised August 2006 5


Children under the age of 12: Please follow the above dress code; however, shorts are acceptable.Revised August 2006 6