United Airlines said the woman and her family were not allowed to board because of a carry-on issue. (Credit: Jenna Longoria)
A woman claims she, her 16-month-old son and her mother were prevented from flying on United Airlines because she misunderstood a flight attendant before boarding the plane.
The woman, identified as Jenna Longoria from Texas, relayed the ordeal in a series of videos recorded at the airport and posted on Instagram and X.
In the video, Longoria explains that she was trying to board a flight from San Francisco to Austin with her family.
“I was talking to one of the flight attendants, I got their pronouns wrong, the other flight attendant didn’t like it,” Longoria claimed.
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LR: A United Airlines flight and Jenna Longoria at San Francisco International Airport. (Getty Images; Jenna Longoria/Getty Images)
Longoria said she apologized, explaining that she’s “not very good with pronouns.”
“I was carrying my son, he was having a jitter, I had the car seat on his back. I wasn’t focusing on anything but getting my son’s car seat on the flight and making him comfortable,” Longoria said.
She claimed United staff accused her of a “hate crime” and told her she could be banned from flying United.
Longoria told FOX Business that a United Airport Operations supervisor escorted her and her family away from the area and told them it was the captain who made the final call for her family not to board.
| TICKER | Safety | The last | AmENdmENT | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAL | UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. | 48,66 | +0.46 | +0.95% |
FOX Business reached out to United for its side of the story.
United neither confirmed nor denied that Longoria and her family were fired because she allegedly abused a flight attendant.
“A party of three traveling out of San Francisco today was denied boarding after a discussion about having too many carry-ons,” United said. “The issue was resolved and the customers took a later United flight to complete their trip.”
Longoria said the explanation was “surprising” because she had the same amount of stuff on her way to San Francisco as she did on the return flight. When recounting the incident to FOX Business, Longoria called it “uneventful.”
Longoria said a United staffer initially wouldn’t let her go with her 16-month-old son, but eventually relented. Longoria said the employee became upset and was “shaking,” after Longoria said, “Thank you, sir.”
A woman and her party, including her young son, allegedly left a United Airlines flight after she misunderstood a flight attendant. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Longoria told FOX Business that the employee wouldn’t let her mother ride with her, leaving her to carry only her son, the heavy chair and the stroller. When Longoria asked another flight attendant for help, she claims he berated her for referring to the former employee as “she.”
“I said, look, I don’t know, he, she, they, I’m not good at pronouns, can you help me with my son? And he said, ‘ma’am, you’re going to have to get off the plane,” Longoria said. “He made me stand in the front of the plane and said help was coming for me.”
Longoria told FOX Business that she was particularly irritated that United wouldn’t take their luggage because it carried their medication.
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Longoria said she was eventually able to secure another flight and return home after a few more hours at the airport.
“We were in San Francisco. Everyone looks the same. Sometimes it’s hard in San Francisco to know if someone is male or female or female or which way they’re going. If they’re trans or transitioning. But you know, that’s their job, I don’t care,” Longoria said. “All I was focused on was my son, putting him in the seat. I made a slip.”