Celebs join the airline 'leggings' war

Supermodel Chrissy Teigen threatened to take her next flight topless.

Captain James T Kirk of the starship Enterprise, otherwise known as William Shatner, vowed to start wearing bulge-revealing Spandex pants again - all in defence of a pair of girls who were denied boarding this week because they were wearing leggings.

A storm erupted on social media after a pair of teens were turned away at the boarding gate for a United Airlines flight from Denver to Minneapolis.

The incident was first reported on Twitter by a passenger, Sharon Watts, who described how the "young teens" had been told they would have to put on dresses or be denied boarding.

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Watts said the girls had been visibly upset and that the agent at the gate had said: "I don't make the rules, I just enforce them."

The airline ultimately defended itself by saying the girls were flying on staff passes that required them to follow a dress code. "When taking advantage of this benefit, all employees and pass riders are considered representatives of United," it said, adding, "To our regular customers, your leggings are welcome."

The Internet, though, remained furious.

Teigen tweeted: "I have flown United before with literally no pants on. Just a top as a dress. Next time I will wear only jeans and a scarf."

Shatner tweeted that he'd don leggings too and that he'd done it before, sharing a pic of himself shirtless in a pair of red tights from an early Star Trek episode.

There has been no word from United on whether Teigen's threat to go topless coincided with a sharp rise in bookings.