A Texas woman claimed that she was booted off a flight on Wednesday for “misgendering” a flight attendant.
The mother, Jenna Longoria, was traveling on United Airlines with her 16-month-old child. In a video shared online, Longoria claimed that she was not allowed to board the plane because she made a comment where she “misgendered” an airline employed.
“The flight attendant has denied access to us because he said I made a derogatory comment about one of the flight attendants because I didn’t use the right pronoun,” she stated in the video.
“The flight attendant has denied access to us because he said I made a derogatory comment about one of the flight attendants because I didn’t use the right pronoun,” she stated in the video. “Now they are forbidding us to get on the plane.”
Mother and 16 month old baby DENIED entry to United Flight for using the wrong PRONOUNS for flight attendant.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) June 26, 2024
“The flight attendant has denied access to us because he said I made a derogatory comment about one of the flight attendants because I didn’t use the right pronoun” pic.twitter.com/SyvqNJzdmF
In another video, an airline employee said that the captain denied Longoria from boarding the flight. Their bags were sent to Austin with medication in them.
One of the flight attendants tells the upset mother “I gotta fact find. I gotta get my crews together. In flight has to get their statements. I need statements. I don’t want to go verbal about what I thought I heard.”
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) June 26, 2024
🎥 @JennaLongoria pic.twitter.com/DK5WUJdvlt
In an interview with the New York Post, Longoria said, “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.”
The flight attendant “got upset” and held Longoria’s mother back, not allowing her to board with her family.
On board, Longoria asked another male flight attendant for assistance, telling him that the previous flight attendant had kept her mother from boarding the plane with her. Longoria’s mother was helping her with her son.
“He said, ‘He?’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’ He then said, ‘She’s wearing a dress,’” Longoria told the Post, adding that she’s “not very versed with pronouns.”
“My son is in my hand crying, I’m trying to get on the plane,” she recalled. “As a mother, my prerogative is to get my son safely on the plane and not what the pronouns that someone goes by.”
In a statement to the Post, United Airlines claimed that Longoria and her family were not allowed to board the plane “following a discussion about having too many carry-on items.”
Longoria called this “an absolute lie.”
“There was no yelling, there was no pushing or shoving — that’s why I’m so very surprised,” she said. “It all happened very quietly and don’t think anyone else [passengers] knew what was going on.”
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