Two girls travelling on a pass for employees’ guests were barred from a flight for wearing leggings.
United Airlines has been heavily criticised on social media after two girls were reportedly barred from flying for wearing leggings.
The incident happened on a flight from Denver to Minneapolis on Sunday morning, activist Shannon Watts said.
United said the girls were travelling on a special pass, for employees and their guests, which has a dress code.
It has since clarified that all regular, paying customers are welcome to wear leggings.
The girls were “United pass travellers”, which are tickets for company employees or eligible dependents, it explained in a Twitter exchange on the issue.
“United pass travellers” are eligible for free or heavily discounted air travel.
The dress code for pass-holders states they should not wear “form-fitting lycra/spandex tops, pants and dresses”, among various other stipulations, including no exposed midriffs, no mini skirts and no flip-flops.
Why are leggings so controversial?
Activist Shannon Watts tweeted about what happened to five girls when they tried to board a flight at Denver airport.
She said a United gate agent was “forcing” the girls, one of them aged 10, to change their clothes or wear dresses over the leggings.
She said three of the girls were allowed to fly after putting dresses over the top of their clothing, but two were prevented from boarding.
She criticised the airliner for its actions, asking: “Since when does United police women’s clothing? “.
United later released a statement explaining the dress code requirement of its United pass travellers.
“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,” it said.
It added that the passengers on Sunday’s flight had not complied to the dress code.
Ms Watts’ tweets have been shared and responded to by thousands of users, including the actress and activist Patricia Arquette.
Flight attendant and author Heather Poole, who does not work for United, defended the airline’s policy on Twitter.
She said dress codes for staff travelling on free passes are common practice in the industry, and have evolved over the years.
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Kurt Cochran was knocked off Westminster Bridge to his death, but family says he wouldn’t have had “ill feelings towards anyone”
Kurt Cochran’s wife Melissa was not at a news conference in London on Monday morning — she’s still in the hospital recovering — but 11 of her family members were, many of them having flown all the way from Utah to be by her side.
Utah couple Kurt and Melissa Cochran were on a trip to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary when they became one of the first victims of the …
“Her health is steadily improving, and she has been strengthened by the presence of her family,” Melissa’s brother, Clint Payne, said. “She is so grateful for the outpouring of love and generosity.”
He said she is still recovering from a broken leg and rib. Her mother Sandra said she’s also just coming to terms with the attack that took her husband’s life.
Immediately after the attack, a photo emerged of Melissa laying on the ground, bloodied, but with strength in her eyes.
The family said Monday that it was “heart-wrenching for us to see this picture of her,” but that every day she’s getting stronger.
Photos of the London attack near Parliament
“We know that Kurt wouldn’t bear ill feelings towards anyone and we can draw strength as a family from that,” Payne said. “His whole life was an example of focusing on the positive. Not pretending that negative things don’t exist, but not living our life in the negative — that’s what we choose to do.”
Melissa and Kurt were on the last day of their dream European vacation when they became a couple of the first victims in the attack. They were walking across Westminster Bridge when the speeding car struck them on the sidewalk.
Kurt went over the side of the bridge and fell onto a concrete slab 20 feet below.
In all, four people were killed when Khalid Massood drove his car down the sidewalk before crashing into a fence around the Houses of Parliament and then stabbing a police officer.

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