Breast-feeding case leads to punishment
Fri Nov 17, 6:25 PM ET
A commuter airline has disciplined a flight attendant who ordered a passenger off a plane for refusing to cover herself with a blanket while breast-feeding her toddler, the airline said Friday.
Freedom Airlines spokesman Paul Skellon did not specify the discipline in an e-mail announcing the action against the employee who had Emily Gillette, of Santa Fe, N.M., removed from the plane Oct. 13 at Burlington International Airport.
Gillette, 27, said she was breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter in a window seat in the next-to-last row, with no part of her breast showing and her husband between her and the aisle.
The flight attendant tried to hand her a blanket and told her to cover up, Gillette said. She declined, telling the flight attendant she had a legal right to nurse her daughter. Breast-feeding is protected under state law.
The case received broad news coverage this week, days after Gillette filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission. On Wednesday, about 30 parents and their children protested the airline's treatment of Gillette by staging a "nurse-in" at the Burlington airport.
Skellon said that after the flight attendant ordered Gillette off the plane, the captain of the Delta Air Lines flight being operated by Freedom apologized and asked her family to reboard, but they refused.
Gillette, however, said the airline never offered her a chance to get back on board the New York-bound plane. "I would have jumped at the opportunity," she said.
Delta paid for a hotel room and rebooked the family on a different airline the next day.
Airplane Breastfeeding Incident
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RedGlitter
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Airplane Breastfeeding Incident
Hamster;462937 wrote: I must admit during my 3 times of breast feeding I was amazed but the contrasting view points of people Red....
Some people welcomed it...and others looked at my like I had some sort of contageous disease!
Those places I thought would snub it (the pub, shopping centres etc) were very pro...and the opposite was true.
How on earth are you supposed to cover up with a blanket anyway? The baby gets too hot!
An incident occurred here in NE, about 8 or 9 years ago, where a woman was BF her baby in her car in a parking lot. A cop passing by noticed the natural event, and somehow gave her a ticket for indecient exposure! Ofcourse the woman was furious, took it to court & won! When will they ever learn!:wah:
As for the BF in pub thing, a few months ago, we went to a restaurant & were escorted to our table. I sat down, picked my napkin, happened to look up, & at the table across the isle that was facing us there was a woman BF her baby! I was suprised, but certainly in no way was offended, nor was her "female" server. So everyone was there to eat lunch, & we "all" did!
Some people welcomed it...and others looked at my like I had some sort of contageous disease!
Those places I thought would snub it (the pub, shopping centres etc) were very pro...and the opposite was true.
How on earth are you supposed to cover up with a blanket anyway? The baby gets too hot!
An incident occurred here in NE, about 8 or 9 years ago, where a woman was BF her baby in her car in a parking lot. A cop passing by noticed the natural event, and somehow gave her a ticket for indecient exposure! Ofcourse the woman was furious, took it to court & won! When will they ever learn!:wah:
As for the BF in pub thing, a few months ago, we went to a restaurant & were escorted to our table. I sat down, picked my napkin, happened to look up, & at the table across the isle that was facing us there was a woman BF her baby! I was suprised, but certainly in no way was offended, nor was her "female" server. So everyone was there to eat lunch, & we "all" did!
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