Weddings have a dress code, schools have a uniform, but not aeroplanes. Or, so we all thought. Over this past weekend, a contentious debate has erupted over what can and can’t be worn during a flight.
On Sunday morning two females were refused from boarding a United Airlines plane to Minneapolis because there were wearing leggings. The agent at the gate advised them to change their clothes if they wished to board. The incident was live tweeted by activist Shannon Watts. Supposedly the women in question were not properly clothed according to the company’s Contract of Carriage.
Rightfully so, the internet has been outraged. Celebrities as disparate as Patricia Arquette, Chrissy Teigen and William Shatner have been weighing on the issue.
Regardless of Chrissy and Shatner’s Twitter trolling United Airlines is refusing to back down. In fact, they reiterated their policy in a tweet, saying: ‘The passengers this morning were United pass riders who were not in compliance with our dress code policy for company benefit travel.’
While leggings have long been a cause for distress for the fashion community who are unable to decide if they are tres chic or horrifique, this debate opens a can of anti-feminist worms. United say that the fliers were ‘pass riders’, which means they are ‘United employees or their eligible dependents standing by on a space-available basis.’ As a pass rider, there is, according to Mashable, a different internal policy around uniform.
Liked this? You might also be interested in:
There's Now Another Household Item You Can Use To Apply Foundation If You Don't Have Brushes To Hand
What Happened When I Went Dumpster Diving For Beauty Products
Follow Lucy on Instagram @lucyalicemorris
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.