A Texas woman claims she was kicked off a United Airlines flight because she miscarried a flight attendant — but the airline has an entirely different reason.
In a series of videos posted on her Instagram stories that have since expired but were posted on the Live and Let’s Fly YouTube account, Jenna Longoria says she was traveling from San Francisco to Austin with her mother and her 16-month-old son.
“The flight attendant banned us because he said I made a derogatory comment about one of the flight attendants because I didn’t use their correct pronoun,” she says in the first video. “Now they are banning us from getting on the plane.”
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She goes on to say that her son weighs 25 pounds. and she had been wearing it for about 30 minutes when the incident happened. “They denied us the boarding championship,” she says. “And now they are preparing to deny us entry to the plane.”
In another video, Longoria questions an airline employee, who says the captain decided to remove her from the flight, adding, “When the captain turns you away, that’s the end of the story.”
When PEOPLE reached out to United for comment on Thursday, June 27, the airline said in a statement that the incident was instead related to passengers carrying too many carry-ons.
“A group of three traveling from San Francisco today was denied boarding following a discussion about having too much carry-on luggage,” the statement said. “The matter was resolved and the customers boarded a later United flight to complete their trip.”
United’s standard baggage policy states that each passenger may bring one carry-on and one personal item into the cabin, and these items must be within the airline’s size restrictions.
Longoria did not disclose how much carry-on luggage her party had with them.
In a separate video, Longoria doubled down on her claim that she was kicked off a flight for using the wrong pronouns for a flight attendant.
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“I’ll tell you what happened right now,” she says. “I was talking to one of the flight attendants and I misunderstood their pronouns. The other flight attendant didn’t like it. I said, ‘I’m really sorry, ‘they” I’m not very versed in pronouns.”
Longoria also claims the airline took her family’s luggage on the flight, including medication she and her mother needed.
“I was holding my son,” she adds. “He had a tantrum. I had a car seat on my back. I wasn’t really focused on anything but getting my son’s car seat on the flight and making sure he was comfortable and safe.”
United’s website states that passengers can “check one car seat … per child you are traveling with, free of charge” at the gate or ticket counter. Car seats can also be used for small children with their own seat on the plane, but they must meet size requirements depending on the specific aircraft and regulations set by the Federal Aviation Administration. A car seat will not fit in the overhead compartment and there is usually no other storage space for it in the cabin.
Business Insider reported last year that United would begin allowing employees to wear name tags on their uniforms, though it’s unclear if the flight attendants on Longoria’s flight did so.
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Source: HIS Education