Two outraged women have claimed they were kicked off their Spirit Airlines flight by a male attendant for wearing crop tops.
Teresa and Tara told DailyMail.com they were on a plane from Los Angeles to New Orleans on Friday when a male flight attendant singled them out.
They had boarded the plane wearing pants and sweaters but removed them to cool down when they said the flight attendant told them to cover up.
The friends asked the man to explain what dress code rule they had violated when they claim the situation escalated and they were kicked off the plane without a refund.
‘It’s just humiliating having to be escorted and treated like a criminal just because we were wearing crop tops. It was such a dehumanizing experience. We wasted our time, other people’s time, our money, our dignity,’ Tara said.
Teresa is a travel influencer with nearly 40,000 followers and the two were heading to New Orleans to celebrate Tara’s birthday.
Before boarding the plane, the duo had recorded a video showing their outfits with Teresa wearing ripped jeans, a white crop top and a green striped sweater. Tara wore striped pants, a white crop top and navy zip-up jacket.
‘It’s very warm and humid and hot in the plane because they don’t have the A/C or anything on, so we just take off our sweaters and the single male flight attendant comes up to us and says “You guys need to put your sweaters back on right now,”‘ Tara said.
‘We were both just a little shocked, and like covering ourselves with our sweaters a little bit because we were nervous, and we had no idea what was going on.
‘We were sweating because it was so hot, so we took the sleeves off our sweaters, but we were covering our stomachs and cleavages with the sweaters because apparently that was so offensive to him.’
According to the woman, the flight attendant came back to reprimand them and the situation escalated when they inquired about the dress code policy and he brought over his supervisor.
The supervisor told them she does not have a problem with what they are wearing, but the male flight attendant made the executive decision that you guys need to cover up.
‘We got escorted out by one of the supervisors because she said either she was going to call the cops or we could choose to go with her and she would rebook our flights rebooked,’ Tara said.
‘They were using intimidation and power tactics on us. We’ve never been in a law situation getting in trouble, so we were like “oh my god, what do we do?”
‘We left the plane with her because we didn’t want to cause more issues and she flat out lied to us. When we left they said “Sorry, we can’t rebook your flight, you got kicked off the plane.”‘
The women said they were forced to spend an additional $1,000 to get flights on a different airline.
‘We are not even enjoying our trip because so much of our mental energy is being spent on this.’
‘It’s like when you get in a car accident, you get injured, you have mental trauma. We have mental trauma over this.’
‘It is not a fun experience to be singled out for being a woman and choosing to express yourself that way, especially when there was other people on the plane wearing crop tops and sports bras and we were the only two singled out for it.’
Teresa and Tara said other passengers tried to stick up for them which the male flight attendant reprimanded.
Tara said another passenger contacted them after the flight and shared that when they landed the attendant said, ‘See if you guys just mind your own business, you’ll get to your destination faster.’
Teresa and Tara said they have contacted Spirit about the incident and have not heard back. They also checked the company dress code and found they did not violate it.
‘We called Spirit support and they’ve even said there’s nothing against crop tops on their dress code. It’s not under lewd or anything or anything like that,’ Tara said.
‘It’s just pure discrimination. He wouldn’t give us a reason why he was kicking us out other than “oh, I told you to put a sweater on.”‘
Spirit Airlines told DailyMail.com they are in contact with Teresa and Tara and are investigating the matter.
‘Our Contract of Carriage, a document all Guests agree to upon making a reservation with us, includes certain clothing standards for all Guests traveling with us,’ the airline said.