United Airlines forced a mother to give up her 2-year-old son’s seat, making her legs and arms go numb.
Shirley Yamauchi, a middle school teacher from Hawaii, told Hawaii News Now she was on a flight to Boston for a teacher’s conference last week when it happened. She was travelling with Taizo, her 27-month-old son, whose ticket was close to a thousand dollars.
The first half of the trip was going well—Hawaii to Houston—but when she was waiting for the plane to take off to Boston, a man had the same seat number as Taizo she told KITV.
“I told him, I bought both of these seats,” she told the station. “The flight attendant came by, shrugs and says, ‘Flight’s full.'”
Taizo’s boarding pass was scanned improperly during check-in, said a United spokesman, allowing his seat to be given to a standby passenger. The man sat in Taizo’s seat and the toddler sat on his mother’s lap.
The Federal Aviation Administration strongly recommends a separate seat for children. But, Yamauchi said she had no better options.
“I was concerned for his safety” she told CBS News, “I had to attempt to put his seatbelt over him for the two of us, and it was very difficult.”
“He’s 25 pounds; he’s half my height,” she told Hawaii News Now. “At the very end, he was standing between my knees,” she told KITV.
“I told him, I bought both of these seats,” she told the station. “The flight attendant came by, shrugs and says, ‘flight’s full.’”
Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now that she considered protesting, but she was too scared to make a scene after Dr. David Dao was dragged out on an overbooked United flight in April.
“I thought about Dr. Dao and his incident with United, having his teeth knocked out and being dragged down the aisle,” said Yamauchi. “And I didn’t want that to happen to me.”
United said it is trying to compensate the family for its mistake.
“We deeply apologize to Ms. Yamauchi and her son for this experience. We are refunding her son’s ticket and providing a travel voucher” said United in a statement.
However, Yamauchi was not very acceptive to their statement.
“It doesn’t feel genuine. It’s forced upon them. They’re trying to fix their image or save their reputation,” Yamauchi said. “It doesn’t seem right or enough for pain and discomfort.”
