Is this insensitive or just insuring the safety of a child?
Twitter seems to be divided after Southwest Airlines apologized for an employee asking a mother to prove her biracial son belonged to her before boarding a flight.
University of California Berkeley women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb fired shots at the company on the social media site Monday following the experience she called “demeaning and insensitive.”
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Gottlieb explained that although she had her child’s passport, the gate agent still needed proof she was the 1-year-old’s mother, since they did not share the same last name.
After asking for a birth certificate Gottlieb did not have on her, the employee asked to see a Facebook post of the mother and child as proof of their relationship before allowing them to board a flight from Denver to Oakland, California.
To add insult to precaution, another mother on the plane whose baby has a different last name told the coach that she’d never been asked to prove her baby was hers. Gottlieb said this mother, unsurprisingly, was of “not mixed race fam,” explaining:
The coach’s fianc├â┬⌐, Patrick Martin, who is black, was also traveling with them, according to the Associated Press.
The airline issued an apology to the family over the employee’s actions, saying in a statement:
“We have reached out to Ms. Gottlieb directly to address her concerns and will utilize the situation as a coaching opportunity for our Employee. We apologize if our interaction made this family uncomfortable ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ that is never our intention.”
The reactions were sympathetic to both sides, with many expressing support for the mother and Southwest agent.
Chrissy Teigen even weighed in on the drama, noting she has had similar experiences when traveling with baby Luna:
Sounds like she gets where the airline is coming from.
Where do U stand on this issue?
[Image via Twitter.]