Barcelona Puts Women Soccer Players in Economy While Men Get First Class

After filming a promotional video showing both male and female teams boarding a plane together, the women’s Barcelona soccer team was shuffled to economy class during a recent flight to the United States, while the male players were all put up in first class, even though many of them were B-list athletes.

Recently on a flight to the United States, both the men and women teams of the Barcelona soccer club boarded the flight together – even immortalizing the moment in a video and a few photo ops, which is the first time both teams have toured together. But after they got on the plane, the two groups were split. Men went up into first class, and the women ended up in economy.

Social media users immediately noticed the discrepancy, asking online why the male players automatically appeared to be getting the better seats, including the male B-team players. But the athletes on the women’s team stood up for the football club, defending the choice of seating.

According to Alexia Putellas, in a story reported by the BBC, the women’s team wasn’t added to the tour until far after the men’s team, so the club had “to organize everything practically at the last minute.” The plane didn’t have enough business seats for everyone, so the women were put in economy but with two or three seats open for each player.

The teams’ next flight will be from Portland to Los Angeles, and it’s reported that there will be enough first class seats for everyone.

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