A FURIOUS father has slammed flight attendants after they wouldn’t let his baby sit in an empty seat on a flight.
The man’s partner was on board a plane with her baby when she needed to pump breast milk.
Luckily for her, there was an empty seat next to her, which she placed her young child in, while she carried on with the task.
However, cabin crew members told her she wasn’t allowed to make use of the vacant chair and was instead asked to hold her four-month old at the same time.
Her husband, Matt Tolhurst, took to Twitter to complain to American Airlines, with whom his wife was flying at the time, saying the cabin crew were both rude and blunt.
He said: “Did AA1592 flight attendants get bad news today?
“Did they have to be blunt & rude to my wife who placed our 4 month old son on an empty seat next to her while she was pumping, demanding she hold him because she hadn’t paid for the empty seat?”
At the time of the incident the plane was cruising and seatbelt signs weren’t on, but that the cabin crew still insisted she was not allowed to use the seat because she hadn’t reserved it.
He added: “Flight was in the air, seatbelt sign was off and the seat next to her was empty.
“Flight attendant came through and told her off for placing him on the seat while she pumped… she had to hold him.”
American responded to Matt, saying: “Rudeness has no place in one’s travels, and we’re sorry if a different impression has been made.”
The airline’s policy seems to suggest that the use of unoccupied seating is permitted for babies being carried on laps, if they’re available.
It states: “To carry on a safety seat, you must have bought a seat for the child, or a seat must be available next to you.
“If an unoccupied, adjoining seat is not available, the gate agent will check the safety seat to your final destination.”
Sun Online Travel has contacted American Airlines for comment.
Elsewhere, another woman received messages of support online after she refused to move seats to let a mother have a seat for her baby.
The traveller, whose name is Michelle, was flying to Las Vegas with her husband for her honeymoon when the mother asked if she would move.
The parent hadn’t booked an extra seat for her child, who was young enough to sit on his mum’s lap for the journey, but she wanted to be able to put him down.
Michelle was asked if she could find another seat to sit in to allow the mother to have room to put her son down for the five-hour journey from Los Angeles.
Although Michelle searched for a seat, none were available so she eventually had to refuse.
Michelle received a lot of messages of support from people online, who said the mother should have prepared more and booked an extra seat if she wanted her child to have one.
One wrote: “You did more than enough! I don’t know why some people feel so entitled.”
Meanwhile, this man refused to switch seats on a plane so a father and son could sit together.
And these are the rules around seat swapping in flights and whether or not you can be fined for it.
