Southwest Airlines Apologizes To Mom Who Was Asked To Prove The Biracial Baby She Was Boarding With Was Hers!
May 30, 2018Is 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:
@SouthwestAir she 1st asked for proof with birth certificate. She then said it’s a "federal law" (not true) but asked me to prove I’m mother with Facebook post.What??Mother next to me said she’s never been asked for proof despite diff last name..not shockingly, not mixed face fam
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018
@SouthwestAir it was demeaning and insensitive, not to mention inefficient. Would have missed flight if it was not delayed. I would advise better training for employees to avoid this happening to others
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018
@SouthwestAir I’m appalled that after approx 50 times flying with my 1 year old son, ticket counter personnel told me I had to "prove" that he was my son, despite having his passport. She said because we have different last name. My guess is because he has a different skin color.
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018
The coach's fiancé, 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 — 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:
airlines have asked this of me, too, with my daughter. once I learned it's a precaution for the very real threat of child trafficking, I stopped being exasperated with it. Now I'm kind of worried when they don't ask.
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 29, 2018
but yeah, it's definitely a situational thing, though. depends on the day, depends on the agent, you never know! going to London is the most difficult with her in my experience. I have to bring a file folder of papers.
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 29, 2018
Sounds like she gets where the airline is coming from.
Where do U stand on this issue?
[Image via Twitter.]