Actually, most of the comments I’ve seen on articles about it are from people who understand the issue and the dress code/employee pass thing. I’m sure it’ll blow over. People have short memories, especially the ones who can’t grasp the nuances of the situation and get their “news” from twitter.
Besides, most folks buy tickets based on 1) convenience of routing and 2) price. If those two things are in place, I doubt the vast majority of the traveling public will boycott United over this. It’ll soon be yesterday’s news.
Worth noting: Per news stories this morning, it was 3 girls. One was a 10 year old, who put a dress on. The other two were teenagers so not super young.
Agree that this will and should blow over. Seems a tad self serving/attention seeking on the part of Ms. Watts, and the attention is not all that good.
I did see this and I found it absolutely ridiculous. I actually thought it was more “Fake News”.
Who does not wear yoga pants in school? This seems to be the current fashion for schools. College included. I know many woman who wear a long sweater (here in NE), Yoga pants and high boots. They look ok.
To have an employee make such a unilateral decision is stupid beyond belief. What if the gate person was from a conservative Muslim culture and found a pair of jeans or t-shirt to be offensive? They can deny a boarding to them? America is such a diverse country, how can you possibly enforce this rule in any consistent manner?
I really hope people vote with their dollars and fly with another carrier. This type of crazy corporate culture needs to change with the times. Lets hope all those people crying about personal freedom pick up this fight and get United to change its caveman culture.
Might blow over, might be ridiculous, but it’s already cost United money–its PR people have been tied up with this nonstop, and it’s pretty bad press. If I were a United exec, I’d be asking myself if it’s worth it. After all, now we can do cost/benefit analysis. United can probably pretty easily calculate the bare minimum costs, but what are the associated benefits? I’m genuinely curious if there even are any. So while of course United has the right to impose even seemingly arbitrary rules on its employee free flight passengers, as a company it has to be pragmatic. What’s the bottom line? How much is this arbitrary policy worth to the United shareholders?
“To have an employee make such a unilateral decision is stupid beyond belief. What if the gate person was from a conservative Muslim culture and found a pair of jeans or t-shirt to be offensive?”
There is a stated dress code. It’s not unilateral. Jeans are allowed. Leggings aren’t. Let’s not pretend it was something different. Caveman culture?!
BTW, my kids’ high school didn’t allow leggings during the academic day. It’s not like United with their employee pass policy is the only one banning leggings.
The PR people are likely salaried. Doubt there was much additional cost to the airlines in that regard. The cost might, MIGHT be in a few lost ticket sales, but honestly, as others have said, most book by price and convenience. As for some of what comes across as faux outrage, when they hear “the rest of the story” (ie some seem to not be aware these were nonrev passengers) I am hearing Emily Litella’s “never mind” in my head.
And from my N of ! of a friend who initially posted an outraged post on her facebook page, she got a few quick explanations, and some of her friends are airline employees. She quickly said “I stand corrected” and said it was best to move on to more important things. Agree with that.
I honestly can’t believe anyone is truly upset about United enforcing a dress code policy for non-revs. Okay, maybe it’s outdated, but why would anyone care except the few non-revs who like to grumble? People are more likely to be irritated about seeing a large number of non-revs coming in at the last minute. Irritated about non-revs being upgraded, getting a free ticket when they paid a boatload.
I don’t non-rev, but occasionally I jumpseat. They generally put me in the back, not in the cockpit. But I do everything I’m supposed to for a free ride, and I absolutely don’t want to make my company look bad. I am polite to the gate agent and do everything they say. No room, no problem. I am polite, grateful, shake the captain’s hand and ask for a ride (even though at that point I’m already on the airplane). Not only do I not wear shorts or leggings, I wear the one pair of nice pants that I own, or my uniform. In fact, I even dress nicely when my company has paid for me to get a ticket, though it kills me being the only person onboard not wearing jeans. But if I was non-rev or jumpseat? Whatever they want, I do it with a grateful smile. It’s aggravating enough for people to watch you getting a free ride, they don’t need to be delayed or witness anything that causes disruption to their travel.
It sounds like the blogger is a rebel without a cause. I really can’t stand to fly on United, but this is a non-issue.
@busdriver11 Well I can’t speak for why everyone else is upset, but for me, I’m upset that they possibly humiliated a little girl.
Should the parents have followed the rules? Of course. But quietly slap the parent on the wrist and allow the little 10 year old girl some dignity and don’t embarrass her by telling her she is inappropriately dressed, when in fact, for most little girls of her age, she is not.
@Fishnlines29 - It is unlikely anyone shamed the girl to her face. More likely the gate agent told the parent that what she was wearing was against code for non rev passengers. And it is extremely unlikely that this was the first time this family flew nonrev. Is there any direct evidence that the gate agent humiliated the girl or her older sisters, or is this an assumption?
I’m not sure what exactly the gate agent said. Sometimes they can be heavy handed, they have a lot to deal with, and sometimes they are just cranky, rude people. But do you think it makes all the difference to say, “Honey, I’m so sorry, it’s against United’s non-rev rules, you’re going to have to change?” That’s the way I would deal with it, because I’m non-confrontational and want everyone to feel good. But I wouldn’t want to be a gate agent, that can be a stressful job. It would probably make me cranky too. And they certainly are expected to follow the rules, they have no obligation to allow non-revs to not adhere to policy, just because they are young.
I am sure the family is far more embarrassed by the public discussion. As a 10 year old, if your dignity is destroyed by a gate agent telling you that your clothing is inappropriate for non-revs, you have lived a very sheltered life.
@jym626 no and I just said “possibly” since we have no way of knowing how this girl felt. I feel better, however, thinking they had the parent correct the situation rather than the gate agent. But who knows.
I’ll bet we all have gate agent stories that aren’t pretty. We could start a thread on that and it would be a big one. But this story isn’t one of them. I can’t believe how some of this stuff gets top billing in the news media.
Interesting commentary here http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/03/26/united-leggings-dress-code/ (with update after it was confirmed that these were nonrev passengers). Agree with the writer that UA’s tweet could have been written better, and might have quelled this sooner. Also find it very interesting that as of yet, I haven’t seen any comment from the family involved. Has anyone seen/heard anything?
@Fishnlines29 I agree. That is what gets me so upset. For United to publicly shame these little girls is horrible. I only have son’s so I cannot speak to self esteem issues of 10 year old girls first hand but from what I can gather, being publicly shamed in front of a concourse full of people has to have effects on them. This just goes so low it is almost unbelievable. Again, I thought this was fake news. How could a corporation do that to a little girl? To what end? Did they wish to somehow make a corporate statement that United stand for proper attire? Is whose eyes? Who is the arbitrator of appropriate dress? Apparently it is this single gate agent who was trained by the corporate office to say that females wearing Yoga pants are not allowed to board the plane.
I get many of you think this is silly but to me, I feel it is horrible that these little girls were publicly shamed and forced to put on a dress! What the hell is wrong with people!
Perhaps there should be a different dress policy for children vs adults. Might be an interesting discussion to start. But at present, follow the rules and no one has to risk being embarrassed in public.
Where is there evidence they were “publicly shamed”, @MassDaD68 ? I agree with @MaterS. Looks like Shannon Watts took the opportunity to try to make a statement without all the data. Knee jerk reactions are not wise. I am not saying that I at all agree with the dress code. It sounds out of date and may be sexist. I am all for equality. Maybe this will get the airlines to revisit the dress policy, or to make age distinctions as suggested above. But for now, the twitter storm drama was, IMO, a bit for show. She should have tried to get a bit more info before hitting “send”. I think this firestorm is likely more embarrassing to the kids/family than the incident itself. JMO.
Side story:
Many establishments have, or had, dress codes. A while (a long while) back, a club that was very popular in my city had a “no collar, no entrance” policy for the men. So a gentleman wearing a t-shirt was turned away. He walked down to the supermarket, bought a dog collar, and returned for entrance. He was let in. True story.
I’ve also been to restaurants that keep extra ties and jackets in the back for customers who may arrive without awareness of the dress policy. But, these are paying customers. Shoulde that matter? Maybe yes, maybe no. But for now, airlines have dress codes for nonres passengers,and they can either follow or pay for a ticket.
