Flying The Friendly Skies: Not if You're on United Airlines This Week

Andrew Blum, Principal, AJB CommunicationsFor many years, the slogan of United Airlines has been "Fly the Friendly Skies." For two girls attempting to board a flight this week, the airline was anything but friendly and UAL stepped into a self-imposed PR and social media mess.In what has been hash-tagged as #LeggingsGate on Twitter, the two girls who were using a United "pass" to fly, were denied boarding because they were wearing leggings. Really, we're concerned about leggings as an issue?United said it was airline policy for people using the passes to follow a dress code. According to PR Week, United said the girls were barred from the flight because as "pass travelers" traveling as relatives or dependents of employees – they were subject to more stringent rules as they represent the airline when they fly.Ok, fine. A company has the right to have and enforce rules and policies. But UAL forgot a few other things here in 2017: optics, perception, and brand all count. So do customers and people with smart phones and social media accounts.This is an industry that has already come under consumer fire for nickel and diming passengers by putting fees on just about everything they can think of and also cutting way back on free food and drink service. The airlines have also had a variety of on board issues and incidents with customers and just plain bad service – too numerous to list them all here.So, this United incident about leggings is just stupid. They were asking to get pummeled over this decision. And get pummeled they did -- by celebrities such as Patricia Arquette, William Shatner, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman and Chrissy Teigen -- United's rule was called absurd, sexist and discriminatory.PR Week also reported that United added that regular paying passengers can wear leggings.They're missing the point. It’s not about a policy – it's how it looks to other customers and to the consuming public at large. United has handled all of this horribly. It doesn't have to be that way.So, what they should do? First, apologize to the two girls and other customers. Then give the two a free flight or even more to make up for this.[author]About the Author: Andrew Blum is a PR consultant, media trainer and principal of AJB Communications. He has directed PR for professional services and financial services firms, NGOs, agencies and other clients. In the political realm, he handled PR for former NY Governor George Pataki for six years. As a PR executive, and formerly as a journalist, he has been involved on both sides of the media aisle in some of the most media intensive crises of the past 25 years. Contact him at ajbcomms@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @ajbcomms[/author]