Ber2dca

UA's policy leaves the least amount of room for misunderstandings. That's how company policies should be written. Delta's is a policy that could easily be 'anything goes' with an agent in Seattle or 'let's measure the distance between skirt and knee' with an agent in say Atlanta.

VIB

Oh, don't worry. She's still out there spreading misinformation and FAKE news --

http://motto.time.com/4714476/united...it-was-sexist/

spin88

The policy says "form fitting Lycra/Spandex" and there are clothes that we would all agree fit those. My Nike Running tights for example. I would never think those would fly. However, my daughter's pants (I posted a link in my post) have a very small amount of lycra type material, they are mostly other fabrique. And they look very very different. I think a lot of people would see them as "leggings" not as "form fitting Lycra/Spandex pants"

Cruss74

The thing is, we don't know what type of "leggings" they were wearing. By all accounts, these were two teenagers, which could mean they were as old as 18 or 19. It's very conceivable that they were wearing something like this (which I think would fit the description of "form fitting lycra/spandex"):
http://www2.assets-gap.com/webconten...cn12102193.jpg

GUWonder

The cause of this fiasco is United. United's agent made a fuss about attire and a bystander was there to communicate her take on the situation. Customers and others have a right to communicate their criticisms even of company policies applicable to employees and employment (or even retirement) related benefits.

Finkface

Where do you get that the gate agent made a fuss? There was no fuss. She communicated the policy, the girls went and changed. That's it. No fuss, until Miss Busybody took it upon herself to create one. But there was no fuss, no arguing, nothing. So explain to me again how the gate agent caused this 'fiasco'?

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un...-idUSKBN16Y2HY

"The girls, who were flying standby on Sunday from Denver to Minneapolis using free passes for employees or family members, were told by a gate attendant that they could not get on the plane while wearing the form-fitting pants.....
The girls were fine with the policy, Guerin says, but a traveler named Shannon Watts who overheard the exchange took offense."

Boiler84

The "anyone" includes Shannon Watts that broadcasted a situation, incorrectly, without knowing the facts. Now she's asking in the glory of internet fame without being held accountable for spreading inaccurate, incomplete information.

halls120

And the rest of us have the right to criticize the self-appointed officious busybodies like Shannon Watts who think their opinion matters more than anyone else's. It works both ways.

zombietooth

You know, there is just too much "toxic masculinity" in evidence on this thread.

spin88

If they were 18-19 and wearing that, they can sit next to me. OTOH, they could be wearing the athletica leggings for girls I linked too, very different. @:-) We just don't know, and given the pass holders are never gonna speak, no way to tell.
Well she won the fight as far as I see, and sparked an interesting discussion about what is "appropriate dress" for girls in this day and age.

or "toxic curmudgeonity"

spin88

I actually took the time to read what she said. She says they were on passes. Her point is that IMHO the rules are UA rules are sexist being mostly aimed at women (which is my take as well) but her point - and why this story got so big - is that it touched on a larger fault line - to quote her for those who don't fallow the link:

"Women are tired of being policed for our clothing. Dress codes are laced with words and phrases that easily conform to —  and are manipulated by  —  a misogynistic society. United’s pass rider dress policy,  whether intentional or not ,  is sexist, and it sexualizes young girls by calling leggings inappropriate.

As a woman and a mom of five kids, I was uncomfortable and angered by what unfolded at the Denver airport. I saw young women being scrutinized and shamed for what they looked like, something that happens daily."

Do I agree with her? Stronger than I would have said it, but I get where she is coming from. United errored in its initial response (pointing to the CoC and saying they could tell people what to wear) but I also think they errored in taking the line that leggings were not ok for employees as they were not "appropriate" that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. You may not like it, but what she says will (and has) resonated with many women, and some more thoughtful guys too.

halls120

And if UA employees - none of who I see jumping on Shannon's bandwagon - lose part or all of their pass privileges, what did she win except for screwing over UA employees - many of whom apparently support the rules?

LordHamster

Shannon's entire MO is spreading half-truths. I'm not at all surprised.

spin88

No UA employee is going to jump on the bandwagon, most of them are in an age category they think Leggings are slutty. And if they did not, who cares, no biggy.

But I can tell you, the idea that United would take it out on employees is ridiculous. Oscar at least appears smart enough to know what is up. The big question I have is if at some point UA says leggings are ok. My guess is they give into cultural change after this blows over.

FlyingNone

One thing I find interesting about this entire thread and that no one has asked - --- okay, I'm asking......

I wonder if the UA person who was sitting at United's "dedicated Twitter Department" was informed that their initial response to Shannon Watts was misleading and totally added fuel to the fire ?

Sounds like a new-hire or short-term employee that was twittering away with no obvious clue. That's my guess......any employee with any reasonable time with United would have seen the red flag waving in about two seconds and would have known the problem was about pass travelers and should have said so.
That's why I find Twitter to be a useless method of communication. One sentence statements, questions and answers do not solve big problems, they create more of a problem and bad press if the answer is vague or is not relevant (or misunderstood) to the question.