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A Texas mother claims her family was kicked off a United Airlines flight for accidentally misgendering a flight attendant, but the airline says otherwise.

Jenna Longoria, the mother of a 16-month-old, went viral after she posted Story clips to her Instagram early Wednesday afternoon describing having been booted from a United Airlines flight.

“My son and I are on United Airlines waiting for our flight from San Francisco to Austin,” she said in one of the clips. “And 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 their right pronouns. Now they are forbidding us from getting on the plane.”

“I am with my son. He’s 25 pounds. I’ve been carrying him for about 30 minutes. They denied us boarding priority, and now they’re about to deny us to board the plane,” she added.

Below is one of the clips she posted to Instagram:

She later posted another clip.

“We’re still waiting to board the plane,” she said this time. “I did not use the air host’s right pronoun by accident. I’m sorry. I’m here with my son. I have his car seat and his stroller. I’m carrying everything. And we just need to get on the plane. They won’t let us get on the plane.”

“They’re calling the air security. I didn’t know what my rights are in this situation. If anybody can reply telling me what my rights are … but this is ridiculous,” she added.

The third clip is where things started getting interesting. The clip showed a United Airlines official explicitly telling Longoria that she was booted from the flight by the captain because of “what came out of your mouth.” The remarks were a blatant admission that what she’d said before about being kicked off was 100 percent accurate.

“I need you to know that because of this verbal altercation that you had with my staff, you got yourself put off this craft,” the official said. “And it was confirmed by the captain. They heard it all.”

The official also said she’d committed a hate crime and that she may never be able to fly a United Airlines flight again.

The official has since been identified as Gabriella Chidom, a United manager whose job involves “developing and implementing DEI programs,” surprise, surprise.

(Source: LinkedIn)

Speaking later with the New York Post, Longoria offered more clarification on what had occurred.

“When [the flight attendant], who identifies as a woman, gave me our boarding passes, I said, ‘Thank you, sir,’” she recalled. “That is it. That is it. She got upset. I walked to the plane to go down the aisle. Then she held my mother back and wouldn’t let her come with me [past the gate].”

Once aboard the craft, she then asked another biologically male flight attendant for assistance, telling the attendant that the first attendant — whom Longoria referred to as “he” — was refusing to let her mother aboard.

“He!?” the second flight attendant responded with alarm. “She’s wearing a dress.”

Longoria was unfazed by his alarm.

“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.”

After her story went viral, throngs of social media users began calling for a boycott of United Airlines:

But this is where the story takes an unusual, somewhat inexplicable turn.

How so? The airline has formally claimed in a statement that Longoria was booted from the flight for having too many carry-on items.

“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,” an airline spokesperson said to the Daily Mail. “‘The matter was resolved and the customers took a later United flight to finish their trip.”

What!? Not only does this narrative contradict what the official said, but it also contradicts the fact that Longoria eventually got home by just buying some American Airlines tickets.

Thanks to United’s response, it’s now also facing accusations of being a lying airline.

Vivek Saxena
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