Melissa Sotomayor said in a now-viral video she was humiliated by the way she was spoken to. The airline said it had apologized to her.

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.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    22·
    4 days ago

    when she asserted that her son needed the equipment, and produced the proper paperwork.

    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.

    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.

    The article talked about the United staff talking about re-seating her. Did she refuse it? Was that not in the video?