Shannon Watts’ Twitter: United Airlines Flight 215 Leggings Melee Caused ‘Panic’

United Airlines has exploded on social media, all because of leggings. The United Airlines controversy began due to girls being banned from a flight because they were wearing leggings. Shannon Watts tweeted the following tweet, wherein Watts reported that a gate agent at United Airlines would not allow girls wearing leggings to board a flight from Denver to Minneapolis until they covered their leggings with dresses. A photo of the girls in leggings was not included with the Twitter post, which has since gone completely viral.

1) A @united gate agent isn't letting girls in leggings get on flight from Denver to Minneapolis because spandex is not allowed?

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017

The conversation went forward at that point, with Shannon writing that the United Airlines gate agent forced the girls to put on dresses over their leggings, or else they wouldn’t be allowed to board the United Airlines flight.

“2) She’s forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can’t board. Since when does @united police women’s clothing? 3) Gate agent for flt 215 at 7:55. Said she doesn’t make the rules, just follows them. I guess @united not letting women wear athletic wear?”

With such an outrageous notion of comfortable and popular leggings not being allowed on a United Airlines flight, this was one tweet from Watts that was primed to go viral.

As a reply, the verified United Twitter account asked if Shannon was speaking with the passenger that she tweeted about. Shannon replied to United Airlines on Twitter that the passengers had indeed boarded the United Airlines flight after being forced to put on different clothing.

“@united They just boarded after being forced to change or put dresses on over the top of their clothing. Is this your policy?”

United Airlines replied that their “Contract of Carriage, Rule 21,” gave them the right to refuse certain passengers for transport. Shannon went on to note that the “Rule 21” referenced that the rule implied that such passengers would be removed once aboard the carrier. However, Watts replied that the United Airlines rulebook didn’t explain what “properly clothed” actually meant. Shannon asked United Airlines if leggings fell under their definition of improper.

According to Snopes, United Airlines replied to a different Twitter user that proper attire and casual gear was okay, as long as it was neat. Shannon noted that the dad of the girls who wore the leggings was wearing shorts. The incident has caused an uproar regarding United Airlines and the leggings situation, with Watts telling Jason Silverstein, as seen in the following tweet, that the United Airlines leggings incident sent United Airlines passengers into a panic, and it was an incident that delayed boarding of the United Airlines flight.

Spoke w/ @shannonrwatts about @united leggings incident. She said it sent passengers into "panic," held up boarding https://t.co/bNZdikDikN

— Jason Silverstein (@jaysunsilver) March 26, 2017

Meanwhile, Shannon has retweeted popular tweets about the subject, with Chrissy Teigen noting that she has actually flown on United Airlines flights actually wearing no pants, let alone leggings.

Other people are commenting about what they feel is outrageous behavior by the United Airlines gate agent forcing girls to wear dresses over their leggings. However, at least one daughter of a woman who worked for an airlines commented that she knew about the leggings restriction for years. United Airlines has noted that the girls who were denied boarding the plane because of the leggings were flying on a pass.

A search for “United Airlines leggings” shows the outrage exploding over social media because of the incident, with comments like those below flowing into the social media network that is Twitter.

Kollin Kosmicki?: “I can’t stand power-hungry airline agents… Two girls barred from United flight for wearing leggings.”

jas the destroyer: “I fly United at least twice a month and I guarantee I’m in leggings on every flight.”

[Featured Image by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Tone It Up]