SoCal woman and friend claim they were kicked off Spirit flight for wearing crop tops

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A Southern California woman and her friend claim they were kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight for wearing crop tops, and they're now accusing the airline of singling them out and embarrassing them.

The two women were on a flight from LAX to New Orleans on Friday.

"We were wearing crop tops... just like a little bit of stomach showing," said Tara Kehidi, of Dana Point.

They both had sweaters, but they removed them because the plane did not have air conditioning before takeoff.

That's when Kehdi said a male flight attendant approached them and aggressively told them to "put something on" before walking away.

"He's telling both of us (to) put our sweaters on. And then we're like 'oh, can we see a dress code? Like, is there a policy that says we can't wear crop tops on the plane?"

Carla Hager, a woman they did not know, was sitting in front of them. She agreed that it was very hot on the aircraft and said everybody had their sweaters off.

"I said 'well, if your body is inappropriate, then so is mine because I also have a crop top under my sweater.' And I took my sweater off and I was like 'so if they're kicking you off the flight, then they're also going to have to kick me and my toddler off of the flight'," Hager added.

That's what happened. The three women and the toddler were kicked off the plane with no refund.

"We were kind of embarrassed as well, because we felt we were being treated like... like criminals, you know. Everyone in the plane was looking at us," said Teresa Araujo, of Costa Mesa.

Eyewitness News reached out to Spirit Airlines about the incident.

A statement from the airline read as follows: "Our Contract of Carriage, a document all Guests agree to upon making a reservation with us, includes certain clothing standards for all Guests traveling with us. We are investigating the matter, and we are in contact with the Guests about their experience."

The Contract of Carriage says, in part, a guest may be required to leave an aircraft if that guest is "inadequately clothed, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene or offensive in nature." It also states that if asked to leave, the guest will not be eligible for a refund.

The women then had to spend $1,000 on a Delta flight to get to New Orleans to celebrate Tara's 30th birthday.

"They were treating us, honestly, like criminals - all because we were wearing crop tops on the plane," Kehidi said.

The two friends told Eyewitness News they did offer to put their sweaters back on multiple times in order to not get kicked off, but the flight attendant told them it was too late. They say they are now interested in taking legal action.