American airline Southwest Airlines has apologised after a member of staff was reported as ridiculing a 5-year old’s name.
Traci Redmond was travelling with her daughter, named Abcde (pronounced ab-si-dee). As they were preparing to board their flight, an employee at California John Wayne Airport started laughing at the name and took a photograph of the child’s boarding pass, before posting it online.
Traci told ABC7 News: “The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees. So I turned around and said, ‘Hey if I can hear you, my daughter can hear you, so I’d appreciate if you’d just stop,’
Traci and Abcde were travelling to their home in El Paso, Texas. They were boarding early due to Abcde’s epilepsy.
“While I was sitting there, she took a picture of my boarding pass and chose to post it on social media, mocking my daughter,” said Ms Redmond.
“It was actually brought to my attention by somebody who had seen it on Facebook and reported it to Southwest Airlines. And after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn’t done anything.”
Southwest Airlines later apologised with regards to the incident.
“We take great pride in extending our Southwest Hospitality to all of our Customers, which includes living by the Golden Rule and treating every individual with respect, in person or online. The post is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility we expect from all of our employees,” it said, although it declined to say what action it had taken against its member of staff.
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