Summary
United Airlines apologized to Melissa Sotomayor after crew members tried to make her remove her son’s ventilator during a March 8 flight from Tampa to Newark.
Sotomayor, whose 2-year-old son relies on a ventilator and tracheostomy tube, said staff demanded the equipment be stowed for takeoff despite prior medical clearance.
A third flight attendant claimed the child would “be OK” without it. The captain called her “difficult” and said the equipment was a safety risk.
Sotomayor expressed feeling humiliated and vowed never to fly United again.
It could have been a bulkhead seat, too. That’s the only other place where there are stricter regulations.
Yes. United’s reservation agents screwed up big time. The lady did everything she was supposed to. The crew could have solved this simply by asking for volunteers to exchange seats. Instead, they assumed that they knew more about the kid’s’condition than his mother did.
I didn’t know that about bulkhead seats. I think you’re right then, the article mentions something about that:
" the representative said the flight attendants reported it was a “bulk head seating problem,” "
So it does sound like this isn’t the flight crew being assholes, but rather the booking approver put then in a place the FAA won’t allow them to fly. If Sotomayor her first flight in a bulkhead as well, this is lose-lose for United. They either flouted the FAA rules on the first flight or created a combative situation on the second flight by trying to follow the FAA rules.
The flight crew were still being assholes, though. They could have handled it differently than not believing the woman when she asserted that her son needed the equipment, and produced the proper paperwork.
I fly a lot and know that many planes these days are full, but they absolutely could have reseated them without getting confrontational with the woman. Simply asking for volunteers, and saying “we can’t take off until this happens”, will get results.
We don’t know the paperwork United provided was proper. I believe Sotomayor did everything properly, however. This could have been part of United’s first screw up. If the United booking agent didn’t indicate the equipment was needed full time for life, it may have been put in the same category as a CPAP machine, as in not needed in use on the flight.
The article talked about the United staff talking about re-seating her. Did she refuse it? Was that not in the video?