The moment two women were allegedly kicked off a flight for wearing ‘revealing’ crop tops has been caught on camera.
Travel blogger Teresa Araujo, 34, was travelling from Los Angeles to New Orleans to celebrate a friend’s birthday on October 4 when they were approached by a flight attendant.
The two women had settled into their seats when the Spirit Airlines steward told them they needed to ‘cover up’ because their outfits showed too much skin.
When the pair- who were wearing jeans and crop tops with jumpers over the top- refused the request because they were too hot, the attendant escalated the row.
The flight attendant allegedly told the women ‘Put your coat on, I won’t ask you another time’, and when Teresa asked to see a copy of the airline’s dress code she was snapped at and told ‘You’ll see what’s going to happen!’
Despite the plane already being on the runway, a female supervisor arrived and told the women they had to leave the aircraft since the attendant in question insisted on it.
The plane then turned around and dropped Tara and Teresa off at the gate. They were allegedly told the airline would organise a replacement flight for them, but they claim this never materialised.
In a social media post following the incident, Teresa said: ‘My friend and I had a terrible experience on Friday on the flight 387 from Lax to New Orleans with @spiritairlines.
‘We were harassed by a male flight attendant who told us to ‘cover up’ because we were wearing crop tops.’
She added: ‘Other passengers joined in and tried defending us, but ultimately, a supervisor talked to us and told [us] either we would leave the flight or she would bring [in] the police.’
Teresa filmed the moment they were confronted by the supervisor, despite being told not to record.
Other passengers can be heard chiming in to intervene on the women’s behalf during the clip, but the supervisor is adamant they have to leave.
Another clip shows the women in visible disbelief as they’re escorted off the plane.
In a follow-up clip, Teresa shared a photo of her and Tara’s outfits, and accused Spirit Airline of lying to them about a replacement flight.
‘It turned out to be all a lie, and later at the airport they explained to us that when someone is kicked off a plane, there is no refund or assignment to another flight,’ she said.
‘The police themselves said that we were right, that we shouldn’t have left the plane, that we should have waited for them to arrive and that we should sue the company.’
Teresa also said neither she nor her friend had done anything to antagonise the flight attendant, and had been forced to pay £764 for a second ticket.
She added that at least 16 passengers onboard the flight had made complaints to Spirit Airlines about the incident.
A Spirit Airlines spokesperson said: ‘Our Contract of Carriage, a document all Guests agree to upon making a reservation with us, includes certain clothing standards for all Guests travelling with us.
‘We are investigating the matter, and we are in contact with the Guests about their experience.’
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