A Texas mom is outraged after a Southwest Airlines worker made fun of her 5-year-old daughter’s name – by snapping a picture of the girl’s boarding pass and posting it on social media.
Traci Redford, from El Paso, says the agent at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, began poking fun at her daughter’s name, Abcde – pronounced “ab-city” – as they boarded a flight a few weeks ago and put it online for users to shame the girl, who suffers from epilepsy.
“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,'” Redford
told KABC this week.
Redford said she only recently learned that the agent took a picture and put it online after a friend spotted it circulating on social media.
“While I was sitting there, she took a picture of my boarding pass and chose to post it on social media, mocking my daughter,” Redford said.
“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 apologized for the incident, but would not say if the unidentified worker was disciplined.
“The post is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility we expect from all of our Employees,” the airline said in a statement. “We have followed up with the Employee involved, and while we do not disclose personnel actions publicly, we are using this as an opportunity to reinforce our policies and emphasize our expectations for all Employees,” the statement continues.
