Two Southern California women were removed from a Spirit Airlines plane before it took off because they were wearing crop tops, the airline and reports said.
Tara Kehidi and Teresa Araujo initially wore sweaters when they boarded a flight from Los Angeles to New Orleans on Friday, both men told KABC during interviews. Before takeoff, the women removed their sweaters to reveal crop tops because the plane had no air conditioning.
“We were wearing crop tops…you could see a little bit of our stomachs,” Tara Kehidi said, according to KABC.
At one point, the women told the Los Angeles-based television station that they were approached by a male flight attendant and told to “put something on” before leaving.
“He’s telling us both to wear sweaters,” Kehidi said, according to KABC. “Then we were like, ‘Oh, can I look at the dress code? Is there a policy that you can’t wear crop tops on the plane?'”
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Araujo said the women were “in a sense confused” because they felt they were “being treated like criminals,” KABC reported.
“Everyone on the plane was looking at us,” Araujo said.
In a statement obtained by USA TODAY, a Spirit Airlines spokesperson said, “Our Contract of Carriage (a document that all guests agree to when booking with us) specifies specific attire requirements for all guests traveling with us. It includes standards.”
“We are investigating this matter and are reaching out to guests regarding their experiences,” the statement continued.
USA TODAY reached out to Kehidi on Monday but did not receive a response.
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What does Spirit’s contract of carriage say?
According to Spirit’s Conditions of Carriage, airlines are prohibited from traveling if a guest is “barefoot or inappropriately dressed, or if (the guest’s) clothing is of an obscene, indecent or offensive nature. ” can refuse passengers boarding or request them to disembark. The contract does not explicitly mention crop tops, nor does it provide details on what types of clothing would be considered inappropriate or obscene.
The contract also states that if a guest is asked to leave the flight, they will not be eligible for a refund. After being kicked out of Spirit, the women spent $1,000 on a Delta flight to New Orleans to celebrate Araujo’s 30th birthday, according to KABC.
“Honestly, they treated us like criminals, all because we were wearing crop tops on the plane,” Kehidi said.
