Texan Removed from United Flight for Misgendering Crew Member

Texas resident Jenna Longoria claims that she was kicked off a United Airlines flight after misgendering a crew member. 

Longoria, traveling from San Francisco with her 16-month-old son, used the wrong pronoun for a United employee. She claims that she was taken off the flight even though she had already apologized. 

Misgendering a Flight Attendant

“When (the flight attendant), who identifies as a woman, gave me our boarding passes, I said, ‘Thank you, sir.’ That is it. That is it,” Longoria said. She added, “She got upset. I walked to the plane to go down the aisle. Then she held my mother back and wouldn’t let her come with me (past the gate).”

While on board, she asked another male flight attendant for assistance. She said that “he,” referring to the first flight attendant, kept her mother at the gate. Longoria said, “He said, ‘”He”?’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’ He then said, ‘She’s wearing a dress.’”  

She added, “My son is in my hand crying, I’m trying to get on the plane.”  “As a mother, my prerogative is to get my son safely on the plane, not what the pronouns that someone goes by,” she continued. 

However, Longoria admitted on social media that she’s “not very versed with pronouns.” 

Barred from Getting on the Plane

Longoria posted what she experienced on the flight via Instagram. Here, she posted a video of her talking to a United official and she was told that it was the captain’s call to have them kicked off the flight. She then pressed for clarification and was told that she was kicked off the flight “for what came out of your mouth.”

The United staff said, “I need you to know that because of this verbal altercation that you had with my staff, you got yourself put off this craft.” “I don’t wanna put words in their mouths because I still need statements, but some transgender comments were made, derogatory comments about being a bigot not being on the aircraft. This is what I heard,” the United official added. 

Longoria and her mother decided to get tickets from American Airlines to Austin. She said that United didn’t apologize for what had happened. Also, United didn’t comment on the possibility of an airline ban on Longoria.