Texas Mom Claims She Was Kicked off Flight for Misgendering Flight Attendant

Bad behavior on airplanes has long been one of the internet's favorite sub-genres. Every once in a while, a video or story of someone misbehaving goes viral, and we're all left reacting to or discussing exactly what went down.

The latest example of that comes from a woman in Texas, who claims that she and her 16-month-old were kicked off a flight for an honest mistake. Here's what we know about the story, and about whether this woman is telling the whole truth.

Jenna Longoria, a women’s health and hormone expert from outside Austin, claims that she was removed from a flight after she mistakenly misgendered a flight attendant. Jenna said that she was boarding her flight at around 9 a.m. at San Francisco International Airport when she slipped up and misgendered a member of the United crew on the flight multiple times.

“When [the flight attendant], who identifies as a woman, gave me our boarding passes, I said, ‘Thank you, sir.’ That is it. That is it," Jenna said during an interview with The New York Post.

“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]."

Jenna then stopped a male flight attendant and asked him for help, again misgendering the first flight attendant in the process.

“My son is in my hand crying, I’m trying to get on the plane,” she said. “As a mother, my prerogative is to get my son safely on the plane and not what the pronouns that someone goes by.” Jenna added on social media that she is “not very versed with pronouns.”

Ultimately, she, her mother, and her son were forbidden from boarding, and the plane took off with their luggage and medicine on board. While Jenna has maintained that the reason she was not allowed on board is because she misgendered an attendant, United has told a different story about what kept her off the flight.

Although Jenna claims that she was kept from boarding for misgendering someone, United said that she and her family were kept off the flight “following a discussion about having too many carry-on items." However, Jenna's mother filmed an interaction Jenna had with a United official named Gabriella that seemed to confirm Jenna's version of events.

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

“I don’t wanna put words in their mouths because I still need statements, but some transgender comments were made, derogatory comments about being a bigot not being on the aircraft," Gabriella continued. "This is what I heard." Jenna also claimed she was told she may be banned indefinitely.