Woman barred from boarding plane 'because her shorts were too short'

Turned away: the passenger claims she was told she was inappropriately dressed
Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Hannah Al-Othman30 May 2016

A burlesque performer was reportedly turned away from a flight because airline crew said the shorts she was wearing were "too short".

Maggie McMuffin, from Seattle, had attempted to board a flight from Boston to Seattle when she was told that she was "inappropriately dressed".

JetBlue staff reportedly told her she wouldn't be able to board the flight unless she covered up, despite the fact she had arrived in Boston on a connection with the same airline.

Sharing pictures of Ms McMuffin in the black and white striped shorts, her friend Molly McIsaac wrote on Facebook: "No explanation was given except that the pilot said her clothes would prevent her boarding the plane.

"The flight lead asked if she had anything else to wear, and told her if she didn't they could rebook the flight for her.

"Maggie ended up having to go to another terminal to buy a pair of women's sleep shorts in XL for 'proper coverage'."

Ms McMuffin, who was wearing the shorts with knee socks and a long-sleeved jumper, ended up buying a pair of extra large sleep shorts before boarding her original flight.

JetBlue's policy states that the airline will remove anyone from a flight ‘whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive’.

Maggie told MailOnline Travel that although the airline apologised for the incident, the pilot did not apologise.

She said: "They refunded my shorts and offered me a 162 dollar credit.

"I asked for a monetary refund since I don’t want to fly with them again and was told I could let someone else use my credit.

"They let me on my original flight but only because I went and purchased new shorts."

A spokesperson for JetBlue said: "The gate and onboard crew discussed the customer’s clothing and determined that the burlesque shorts may offend other families on the flight.

"While the customer was not denied boarding, the crew members politely asked if she could change. The customer agreed and continued on the flight without interruption.

‘We support our crewmembers’ discretion to make these difficult decisions, and we decided to reimburse the customer for the cost of the new shorts and offered a credit for future flight as a good will gesture."

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