“The passengers this morning were United pass riders who were not in compliance with our dress code policy for company benefit travel,” United tweeted
United spokesman Jonathan Guerin said the girls were not allowed onto the Sunday morning flight because they were traveling under an employee travel pass that includes a dress code.
That dress code bars pass travelers from wearing spandex or lycra pants such as leggings. Guerin says the teenagers agreed to change their clothing and take a later flight.
Guerin says ticketed passengers are not subject to the same dress code and can wear leggings.
Shannon Watts — founder of Moms Demand Action, a movement working to combat gun violence — highlighted the incident in a slew of tweets, saying that a United gate agent forced the girls to change or put dresses over the leggings, or they would not be allowed to board.
