Two women kicked off Spirit Airlines flight from LA to New Orleans 'for wearing crop tops'

Teresa Araujo, 34, was travelling from Los Angeles to New Orleans to celebrate a friend's birthday on a Spirit Airlines plane when the argument occurred on Friday, 4th October.

She and another female friend, named only as Tara, had settled into their seats when suddenly they were approached by a flight attendant who demanded they "cover up".

The women, who were wearing jeans and crop tops as well as sweaters over the top, said they were confused by the request, especially since Teresa says it was unbearably hot on the plane.

Teresa, originally from Portugal but now living in the US where she works at a software company, said in a social media post: "My friend and I had a terrible experience on Friday on the flight 387 from Lax to New Orleans with @spiritairlines

"We were harassed by a male flight attendant who told us to 'cover up' because we were wearing crop tops."

Teresa says she initially put her sweater back on but it was so hot that she began sweating and took it off again.

At that point, the flight attendant returned and reportedly told her: "Put your coat on, I won't ask you another time".

Teresa explains that the only question she asked was whether she could see the airline’s dress code and the situation escalated with the flight attendant making another threat: “You’ll see what’s going to happen!”

After this troubled scene, the plane, which was already on the runway, returned to the boarding gate so that Teresa and her friend could leave the aircraft.

A female supervisor then arrived and told the women that had to leave the plane, since the attendant in question insisted on it.

Teresa said: "Other passengers joined in and tried defending us, but ultimately, a supervisor talked to us and told [us] either we would leave the flight or she would bring [in] the police."

She filmed the moment they were confronted by the supervisor, who even asks them not to record.

Other passengers can be heard chiming in to intervene on the women's part but the supervisor is adamant that they have to deboard.

Another clip shows the visibly frustrated women being escorted off the plane. Teresa also shared another video which she had filmed that day showing that she and her friend were decently dressed.

After being thrown off the flight with the bizarre explanation, Teresa explains she was assured that she would be promptly placed on another flight to New Orleans.

She said: "It turned out to be all a lie, and later at the airport they explained to us that when someone is kicked off a plane, there is no refund or assignment to another flight", adding that at that moment she "was already crying."

She said: "The police themselves said that we were right, that we shouldn’t have left the plane, that we should have waited for them to arrive and that we should sue the company."

She ended up having to pay another $ 1,000 (£) for a second ticket, this time with Delta Airlines, and wait around five hours at Los Angeles airport.

Teresa confesses that she never thought something like this could happen at a North American airport and assures that she only bought the second ticket because it was her friend's birthday that weekend.

As a travel blogger who has flown many times with several airlines, Teresa also guarantees that neither she nor her friend "said anything to the flight attendant" to provoke him, had not "drunk alcohol, nothing”.

They just sat in their seats, it was hot and they were wearing short tops. The whole situation did not go unnoticed by the rest of the passengers. Teresa says that at least 16 people who were on that flight to New Orleans filed complaints against Spirit Airlines about what happened. She will also file a complaint against the airline.