A mother traveling with her one-year-old toddler claims that she was thrown off a United Airlines flight for “accidentally” using the wrong pronouns for a flight attendant, who refused to accept her apology for misgendering. Meanwhile, United says the incident started over a “discussion” about too many carry-on items onboard.
Woman Thrown Off United Airlines After Carry-On Dispute And “Accidentally Misgendering” Flight Attendant
Jenna Longoria was ticketed to travel on United from San Francisco (SFO) to Austin (AUS) with her 16-month-old child and her mother. Longoria is a Texas resident and a self-proclaimed female hormone expert. But controversy occurred onboard and Longoria found herself booted off the flight, claiming she was kicked off with her mother and child for “accidentally misgendering” a flight attendant.
‘I will tell you what happened now, I got one of the flight attendant’s pronouns wrong and the other flight attendant didn’t like it,’ Longoria explained.
‘I said, “I’m really sorry, I’m not very versed in pronouns,” I was holding my son, he was having a temper tantrum, I had the car seat on my back.
‘I wasn’t really focusing on anything except getting my son’s car seat on the plane and getting him comfortable.’
She posted four videos to her Instagram account (which I have captured below since those “Instagram stories” are set to automatically disappear after a set time):
Of note, the SFO gate agent explains that it was the captain who decided she could not fly and that “there was some more that I heard,” though it is not clear if she heard it directly or from one of the cabin crew onboard.
I asked United Airlines about what happened and was told:
“A party of three traveling out of San Francisco today was not allowed to board following a discussion about having too many carry-on items. The matter was resolved and the customers took a later United flight to finish their trip.”
Isn’t it interesting that Longoria did not mention any issue with carry-on items?
Could it have been an innocent error on the part of Longoria?
Sure it could.
Could a flight attendant have been having a bad day and ejected her even though Longoria was clearly frazzled traveling with her mother and child?
Yes.
But could it also be that Longoria was just plain nasty to the flight attendant who would not allow her to board with extra carry-on items?
And then could it be that Longoria referred to the flight attendant “sir” or “he” or “him” repeatedly despite a visible nametag that said “they/them” and an initial correction?
The answer is yes.
So I’m not making any judgments in this case…yet.
But it does appear there is more to the story here…and for that reason, I would be careful turning on the outrage machine just yet…
What do you think happened onboard?
The most logical answer with these people is that they were offended because someone incidentally used their silly pronoun wrong and then used the justification of “too many bags” to toss the family. Never trust someone who demands you use a specific language to speak to them to be reasonable. Just look at all the videos where they fly off the handle because “muh offended”.
A pax adept at mockery can diffuse the situation with humour .
No – the most logical answer in a case of someone looking for publicity on Instagram and leaving out key elements of the story and creating one that is inherently unbelievable is that she was looking to violate carry on rules and got nasty at which point the captain decided to not board her. 9 times out of 10 the person seeking publicity for themselves is the one acting entitled and instigating the situation.
You really believe had the mother actually boarded the plane with too many carry-ons, or she was being intentionally hostile towards the flight attendants, that somehow United would have allowed her to fly home on a later flight? How exactly does that work? She would have been kicked off , and told she was 86 from United find a different way home, or possibly arrested. The only difference in her getting on the flight or one later is the staff on the plane, what exactly does that tell you?
It’s more likely the pilot backed the flight attendant because they work closely with that person, and that simply tends to happen. As a team you’re going to stick up for the people on your team. If both flight attendants were offended, logically even though the pilot did not hear he’s going to side with them, and just get his job done. He doesn’t have time, nor does he want to deal with that drama.
The woman who talked to her couldn’t even tell her what she said, yet, she claimed she heard something else come out of the woman’s mouth. Was she there, or is she hearing this from her workers, and sticking up for them?
All reasonable points. Let’s hope more comes out.
She was told she couldn’t fly United at all and refunded her money. You see a CSR manager telling her this in a video on this blog. You people just don’t read.
But that did not ultimately happen. Ultimately, United flew her home on a later flight.
Much more believable that the party found a way to check the offending bag on the next flight. Outrage denied so you have to type 300 words to support an outrage narrative.
@Monique … Congratulations on understanding their words in the video . I couldn’t understand either one of them because both their diction is so poor . Pilot ought to have ordered both to a speech class .
Logic doesn’t apply when people need to support their prejudices.
More projection from you. It’s like clockwork. Nor do you have the selfawareness to even recognize it. lol
Oh dear, if the idea of projection is lost on anyone, it’s on the vile degenerates such as yourself.
Normally, I would agree. It being A SFO, and B being a mother WITH her parent and kid, not so much. Id be willing to bet hard cash that this was an entitled FA not a “mom looking for attention”. Despite there being many moms that do.
The person pictured is not a flight attendant.
No one claimed she was.
Neither person in the video speaks with clear , understandable diction .
They both ought to be ordered by the pilot to attend speech classes .
As a mom, I 100% understand the stresses of traveling with young kids. The last thing a mom would do is drop everything (including their distraught child) to “focus” on the tiny letters on a persons name tag. As a mother who cares deeply for their children, we want them to be comfortable in a situation out of their normal world – it’s so sad that someone, who is dying for an ounce of attention from a stranger, had to use “their” ounce of authority to ruin an experience for a child who probably looked up to a person in uniform on a vehicle that’s not an everyday mode of transportation. Shame on United for being so selfish.
You think a 16 month old is looking up to the authority of a flight attendant and will now be permanently scarred?
I think that you need to reread the post. There was no mention of emotional scarring. There was mention of a small child, seeing a person in uniform and possibly being upset and yes, that child will probably remember this experience on some level. I will tend to a 16 month old child a thousand times before I pay attention to the emotional trauma of an adult who has been addressed by the incorrect pronouns. If you don’t know what your gender is, I’m truly sorry for you, but that’s not the responsibility of a frazzled mom traveling with a baby. In a lecture I once heard a professor of Psychiatry say, “You are not responsible for the emotions of anyone else”. That doesn’t give you carte blanche to be rude and abusive, but your pronouns are exactly that. Your own.
Once again the folks defending the passenger are missing the point. United is a business. Businesses will let an employee put pronouns on a name tag but thats about all. I fly a lot and 100% of the time when they gate check my bag against my will it’s free. That usually calms me down enough to not get booted from a flight. This woman is lying, because if her version we’re true she wouldn’t have been allowed on a later flight. She’s karma farming and you’re falling for it
I belive the mother, woke people are highly sensitive and easily triggered. They don’t believe in freedom of religion or speech, they want to impose their ideology on us.
I find that ignorant people post one sided, subjective judgements.
I’ve always regarded the use of the term ‘woke’ as a demonstration that the user of said term fails to understand, probably because they lack the intelligence, that others may have a set of different values and principles to their own and the also lack the ability to look critically at their own position while shouting down others as wrong. On that basis where the current Tory junta is concerned, I’m fairly certain that the vast majority of the country are ‘woke’ and that we will dispense with their services at the earliest opportunity.
That definition seems to fit you perfectly.
No. Woke began as a legitimate term among blacks to suggest being aware, alert, and careful when engaging with a potentially hostile world. White women in academia hijacked it to encompass a wider leftist social agenda and the right wingers ran with it.
It’s a completely innocent term that morphed into a bizarre ideology.
@Jesda … Yep , especially the bizarre ideology . My idea of a Diversity is a Rum Blend Mixed Drink , especially a Mai Tai . My idea of an Inclusion is a female and male evening .
“Woke” was hijacked as a derisive stand-in for diversity, inclusion, and empathy, and people who are against those things.
Too many people throwing around the word “woke”, like a frisbee. Can you intelligently give me the definition of the word “woke”?
Perhaps you will use Webster’s dictionary, or even Google. Ask AI if you are still confused.
Then please come back to this post, and explain to the rest of us the problem of being “woke”. Not something that you are auto-repeating from any politician who has their own agenda and their own narrative to fit their that agenda. Let’s see if you can describe the ills of being a “woke individual”. The woke people will wait.
And it could have been, exactly what it looks like. Normal, sane people being force to play along with those living the fetish, fantasy life.
Here’s my hot take….First, despite all that was going on, this person chose to film herself in the middle of it. This imputes some degree of intentionality or narcissism, If this was happening to me, I would not be plotting my media strategy but rather how I would get to my destination.
I thought the manager at the gate handled it flawlessly and calmly,
If I were a betting man (well, I am, but that’s for another day), I would wager that we’ll see that, as Britney said, she’s not that innocent.
I agree. The gate agent was calm and smart in her choice of words. Ultimately it was the captain who denied her boarding, which he is entitled to do as the captain. End of story.
Captains can be wrong too (as I can personally attest), but in this era, I suspect her escalation of the carry-on issue made FAs fearful she would not follow other instructions onboard.
This exactly. This woman is overwhelmed by the reality of traveling with a child, but somehow found the energy to post multiple Instagram stories about her experience. Immediately claiming a pronouns issue and running to Elon Musk on Twitter is proof that this is ginned up for maximum internet outrage.
Checking your supposedly essential thyroid medication is proof that the elevator isn’t going to the top floor mentally.
I’m not going to be forced to use incorrect ghetto English because of someone else’s mental disorder.
They/Them is plural.
My god, please take a first grade grammar class. “My friend likes eggs, but they are allergic” – how many people am I talking about here? The lack of intelligence and lack of compassion tend to go hand in hand with you “people who don’t look like me scare me” crowd.
Lmao, calling it ghetto English while having no grasp on the language. Classic.
They is plural. I’ve never actually encountered one of these pronoun freaks in real life but I certainly wouldn’t indulge the lie if I did.
@Chi … +1 . What if the person claimed to be a singular animal , say , a cat ?
Stick to your little bubble then, no need to be a jerk to people in real life as well.
Eat my bung little Aaron
Lulz.
That’s your fetish, trash, not mine.
This scenario of too many carry-on’s is typical thousands of times all day long all over the world on all airlines and is always handled. However, some FA’s like to exaggerate or infer something that really is nothing but they make it something. By the time the situation gets to the captain, it’s completely blown out of proportion siding positively for the FA. This writer is not very observant in the 200,000 miles that he has traveled or he writes in braille.
Oh, I think I’m very observant and I know several non-binary people and it takes more than a misgendering, even a deliberate one, to “trigger” them. We will see what comes out, but the fact that this woman went right to Elon Musk on Twitter suggests a certain entitlement.
Oh, and I was thrown off a United flight too by a lying flight attendant and the captain was a jerk and didn’t even consider my side of the story–
https://liveandletsfly.com/thrown-off-a-united-airlines-flight-for-taking-pictures/
So I do get it. FAs can also be horrible. I’m just not sure that was the case here.
I disagree. I have seen more than enough entitled pronoun people, not to say all of the “non-binary” are pronouners, that do this more for attention than anything else. Also, as you stated, some FA’s can be very entitled brats. Given this was in SFO, if I were “betting”, I’m putting my money on the pax. Not saying the pax is always right, just that it seems plausible.
Except none of that has any effect on your daily life, so there is no reason for it to trigger you so much. except for the obvious reasons, but you do you.
90% of this blog doesn’t have a direct affect on my daily life, you dingus. Thanks captain obvious. If there weren’t so many observable incidents where the pronouners were harassing people for mistakes, then sure. I saw this as someone who will usually do my best to be respectful, but when you flip your lid over someone getting something as silly as a “pronoun” wrong when you look like the pronoun you were accidentally called, then it’s a problem for everyone. Not shocking you are for the pronouners harassing the rest of us.
And yet, here you are, constantly posting your vile, hateful opinions on posts like this all the time. You? Respectful? Sure, and Hannibal Lecter is a vegetarian. The only people who flip their lids are people like you who go out of their way to be disrespectful of others, when act all shocked when people call you out for your vile, hateful, nasty comments and views. You are the ones harassing them then claiming victim-hood, like the degenerate toad you are.
A-A-ron with the projection again. Shocking. You were the one who got called out by a black guy for your racist bs. Move on, kid. You have already outed yourself.
Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.
Yes, and popular girls have many penises.
“So I’m not making any judgments in this case…yet.” Your whole story is one sided. If you are going to pick a side do not add this BS statement to the end of your Hit Piece because that is all this is.
Get your head out of the sand dude…she could be right, she could be wrong. Wonder if we’ll ever find out…
First off, yes the misgendering can indeed tick off someone looking to cause a fight. See the pokemon tournament pronoun miscommunication: https://esports.gg/news/gaming/pokemon-tcg-community-rally-behind-disqualified-player-over-pronoun-mishap/
I have a nonbinary individual at my job, and I’m okay with using they/them pronouns but they are constantly trying to pick fights over genuine accidents as they fully present as a cis-woman and people who don’t really know them will make innocent mistakes. I straight up avoid them and just use their name to avoid making a mistake and getting caught up in that hot HR drama. I just want to go to work and do my job ffs.
I digress, but these are the details I heard. 1) The mom asserts she was removed for a supposed truly accidental misgendering. 2) The employee does not deny this or try to dispute and claim it was for a different reason, just that there was more “said”. 3) The mother then says she has baggage onboard the plane with medication that is now in route to destination. 4) She was carrying a car seat for her baby and United Policy says this was allowed “for free”.
Also per some comments I read from the author the mom did run to Musk, who is straight up inflammatory about this crap so that that makes me suspicious about the mom’s intentions.
In a nutshell, I can definitely believe the mother’s narrative. I have dealt with the drama on innocent misgendering myself. I have also just been harassed and hated on by a boarding agent/FA for no real reason (I still today do not know why).
I think it is weird they did not remove her baggage. I cannot tell if she somehow got onto the plane (I think she did because the FA stopped her right?). So the gate agent let her through with her luggage and the FA had an issue with it? And they made her disboard without her luggage? She said her child’s medication was on it, and most people keep medicine in their carry on. This is what makes me think the “too much baggage” excuse is not true. She was made to leave from the plane from what I can gather on the details without all of her bags. Surely if baggage was the issue they would have made her take the bags off??
Concerning the baggage excuse, the one issue I could think of that could arrive would be over misinterpreting how the car seat rule works. Does that count against United’s baggage/personal item count? Does it count as an item for the baby, and the mom gets an additional carry on/personal item? I could see the gate agent interpreting it one way, and an FA the other. If this is the case I would say this one is simply on United not clearly communicating baggage rules around car seats more clearly if 2 employees are not aligned on it.
The last option is the mom did misgender the flight attendant, likely by accident at first, but then got into a fight when she was corrected. The fact she went to Musk for attention makes this a plausible course of events.
If the issue was misgendering this does in part come down to how both she and the FA behaved over that disagreement. Was the FA latching onto an innocent mistake from a flustered mom or was the mom digging into a correction and getting nasty?
Personally I’m curious if any other passengers who witnessed the event are open to giving their 2 cents.
@BC – exactly.
The passenger was eager to get on YouTube and elsewhere on the internet. She miscalculated.
Discussion of pronouns can excite and trigger some people. But this passenger imagined that “pressing the pronoun button” would make her look like a victim. Of all of the angry people on the internet, her transparency and entitlement became more than obvious.
Some “pro tips” for this passenger:
• If she finds issues of gender identity are problematic, maybe San Francisco and Austin aren’t the best places to hang out.
• If she is a “hormone expert,” perhaps she should educate herself. It seems to be part of the territory?
• Although it took me some time to adjust, adding pronouns to name badges makes it easier. If she is unsure of how to address someone, it’s right in front of her. She doesn’t have to guess. If she is fearful of offending someone, she can just look at the name badge. “Misgendering” falls entirely on this passenger.
• This passenger got lucky. She was re-accommodated. United gave her time to cool off and stay clear of cameras.
It is entirely possible that the flight attendant was difficult as well, but the optics strongly depict the passenger as someone looking for trouble and publicity.
I concede that issues related to transgender identities can make me uncomfortable. But the apparent gender and gender identity of a flight attendant are immaterial. Does this person have the ability to evacuate an airplane? Extinguish a fire? Can this person provide some level of cordial and courteous service? If yes, then I am grateful. I might find it awkward to see what looks like a man in makeup or a skirt (or any variations), but that discomfort is MY problem.
Lastly, United made a short and painful film about a transgender flight attendant. It was a compelling story about living a life with added complexity. The flight attendant subsequently took their own life. If there is one company where one should veer on the side of compassion and sensitivity, it is United.
The Flight Attendant in question had a long history of mental health issues and it was cruel to exploit his condition and then blame his death on “intolerance” or some other manufactured outrage.
A reminder…we don’t let anorexics starve themselves to death and we don’t let “cutters” bleed to death.
I would never trust a mentally ill tranny with my safety. I might as well put my life in the hands of a toddler.
That’s not a helpful.
The only mentally ill person here is you.
And you have an a**hole.
It is interesting that she says on video she was flying to Houston but says on Twitter she was flying to Austin.
Did she not know where she was going?
Houston is a United hub. Travelled from SFO to Houston, then back over to Austin many times.
Yes, but UA also has three nonstops per day between SFO and AUS.
I agree with Mr. Kline. But just a gut feeling to this. Which is more likely?
That United would throw hissy fit and not allow her to board because she merely called she a he? Or that that she went off and airline especially because of recent incidents cannot risk passengers having anger-incidents once in air? Just saying her story does not add up.
Social media drama. She is the ” Period Guru ” with too much stuff. Maybe the guru did say something inappropriate? But perhaps we need to limit personal choice information in business. Life is too short to complicate what should be simple.
One thing I don’t understand is how she was allowed to board even though she had too many carry-ons. In my view, if passengers pass through the boarding gate without being stopped for exceeding the bag limit, they shouldn’t be kicked off later. This is a lesson for agents to be more vigilant and thoroughly check before allowing passengers to carry excess items. Shame on United.
The bigot should be happy that she, assuming thos is her/his/its preferred pronoun, was only thrown off. She could have been Dao’ed (and he deserved it).
There is insufficient evidence for me conclude whether she is or is not a bigot.
To the pronouners, you are a bigot if you don’t worship the T’s and deny basic biology. Most people really don’t GAS enough about their drama to even insult them on purpose.
Was on the flight. She brought half of her house as carry on and wanted the whole cabin crew to deal with it and delay the flight.
David – thanks for chiming in. So the gate agent let her on with a bunch of extra items?
Did you hear her conversation with the flight attendant(s)?
Since we’re all speculating, I might as well jump in…
If there was an issue with “too many carry-ons” on the first flight, how did United resolve it on the second flight that they allowed her to take?
Yes, it could be that she checked in some of those the second time round. But it could also be that the FA in the first flight was less versed about the extra items that parents of toddlers are allowed on board.
For instance, was the FA counting the car seat as a carry-on? What about the folding stroller? According to UA’s website, neither count towards the carry-on allowance if they meet certain requirements:
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/accessibility-and-assistance/traveling-with-children.html
It’s happened to me on many flights that FAs will see me board with my wife and children, but will only focus on the number of items I’m fumbling with, and challenge me on the number of those. Not realizing initially that each of us has a carry-on entitlement (which we’re well below anyway) and that some of those don’t count (the compact strollers, in my case).
Fly the Pathetic Friendly Skies
United is # 1. The worst airline in the US
Not as long as Delta exists.
Delta is repeatedly ranked at the top among domestics, not in all metrics but in overall performance and customer satisfaction.
I’d argue that Frontier is the worst. Among mainline carriers, AA is the worst. I havent had any bad experiences on United but their reputation has been tarnished.
I know stories like this “pay the bills.” I respect the hustle and look forward to the trip reports…
I must say, the hustle on this story is impressive. Capturing Insta stories and uploading to YouTube? Genius! Also reaching out to UA for comment. I don’t care personally about this story, but bravo. Nice work.
Are you being sarcastic? 😉
My response was genuine! It’s funny to me that you uploaded Stories to YT and actually contacted UA on what is so clearly a clickbait story. I can’t imagine anyone actually caring about this, but clearly they do, and I’m impressed with how well you exploit that. It’s a compliment, I promise!
It pays the bills!
Delta all the way!!! I wish it had been me on that flight. You CAN NOT make up new pronouns and force people to use them PERIOD. Psycho tranny should not be looking after peoples safety if he can’t take words which don’t align with his mental disability.
I miss the old days when you called a person Maam or Sir. Don’t expect me to even talk to you if you are so self centered and attention seeking that you expect me to abide by this nonsense. Just more PC crap. Shame on United.
Another scammy social media wannabe who somehow forgot – OOPS – to mention that they had a legitimate reason for being ejected and instead tried to lie their way out of it. That’s a perfect example of why I detest social media.
They and them implies a pleural interpretation…meaning more than one person???? SO very confusing for one person to call themselves in the “PLEURAL”!!??
It isn’t pleural because that makes no sense,
I’m assuming you meant “plural” in which case, I’d suggest you revisit your elementary school grammar.
I have a friend who likes to run, but they broke their leg.
None of those pronouns are plural.
My full name is Jessica, but I go by Jessie – is that a problem for you as well? Or is it only trans or nonbinary people you have a problem with?
Have the kind of day you deserve 🙂
It’s only confusing if you want it to be. Otherwise, it isn’t that hard or confusing.
Pax are allowed a certain amount of carry on luggage per flt per person. Ual gate agents have procedures for ppl who try to violate this rule. Pax have information on what is and isn’t allowed as carry on luggage via Ual website and gate agents. .The traveller should read, understand her rights, observe Ual policy BEFORE she books a Ual flt anywhere. This is usually the problem in a situation as this. Travellers have all the information for travel on Ual in multiple languahes. Being a retired flight attendant with 30 yrs at Ual, nothing about pax behavior changes, only their names and faces.
I think there is too much missing to accuse either party at this moment
Certain fares are purchased with the understanding that a passenger can only bring on one bag that fits under the seat. I guarantee this is what she purchased then became irate because she had to check the bags.
The woman called the FA a racist name but decided to say it was about “pronouns”. She deserved to be removed. No one deserves to be treated with such disrespect.
On Instagram, she follows Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, and Charlie Kirk. I don’t believe for a second, of she even encounters their content in passing, that she is “not very versed in pronouns.” It’s more likely that she knew exactly what she was doing.
I wanted to add my two cents into this conversation because I have seen a lot of videos on this and also read the article fully and I would in a heartbeat take the mother’s side over UA and all there Shady lies. I think any smart person or persons could easily figure out why this mother & her family were kicked off the flight and it wasn’t due to too many pieces of luggage at all, UA has chosen to go with that lie because they probably don’t wanna get sued at all for Illegally ejecting a mother & her family off the flight due to the whole Misgendering Garbage, which might I add was the Real reason for the ejection and not UA’s lying cover story that their trying to go with, which I think is Absolutely laughable ! I got news for UA and it’s this- Nobody in there right mind has to go along with playing the whole pronouns game with you/ nor do they have to respect this Garbage either because it’s nothing but a Mental Illness run amuck
The pronouns here aren’t the problem.
If you are boarding a plane and fail to follow rules, can’t control your hostility, and are unable to behave cooperatively before you board, then the crew can’t risk being stuck in metal tube with you. It is unsafe for them and unsafe for the other passengers.
If the woman would have checked her bag and given the impression that she would be a cooperative person, no one would be having this conversation now. This is the risk when people can’t control themselves:
https://liveandletsfly.com/woman-bites-united-airlines-flight-attendant/