Posted on 11/18/2006 6:22:21 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
Breast-feeding case leads to punishment
Fri Nov 17, 6:25 PM ET
BURLINGTON, Vt. - 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.
The Flight Attendant saw her as a non-compliant passenger.
Once you utter the statement 'it's my right' to the authority figure WHO IS IN CONTROL OF THE SITUATION you are daring them to act. They almost always will.
Who 'won' in the end? Oh, that's right--darn--the flight attendant wasn't fired? BTW--male of refale flight attendant--just curious? My bet is female because most men would chose to not see this situation AT ALL regarless of how we felt about it.
You make trouble and need to go away on an aircraft, so be it. You bought the ticket and the conditions.
Breastfeeding is just wonderful. So is modesty and discretion. A blanket should have been along for the flight to provide both----it's an aircraft for @#$% sake.
What was this mother going to do if seated next to an eight year old boy who gawked at her the whole time (they have the option of moving you where they want to for no reason) or would she have been cool with that.
I love the little sit in. AGHHHHH. Why do I bet the 'lady' is NOT a GOP member.
BREASTS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!!!!!!
Which one are you referring to?
Because, although this article doesn't mention it, her daughter's name is "River."
hee hee hee!
When your response to a reasonable request by an authority figure is to reject it and start ranting about some nonexistent "rights", you are looking to cause a scene. This woman got her wish.
Good point. As I understand it, even baby bottles with milk in them are subject to confiscation under the "dangerous liquids" alert. Supposedly the person bringing it on has to drink from it, or something, to show it isn't a dangerous explosive liquid.
So...I'm thinking that breast-feeding on planes is a really good idea. As my father-in-law told me many years ago, breast milk is always the right temperature, always the right formula, the cat can't get at it, and it comes in cute containers. ;-D
And certainly it quiets the infant, which anybody on a plane must appreciate. My children weaned themselves to a cup around 9 months, but I know a lot of women who have nursed longer. No problem for me.
"The kid should be eating steak and potatoes (or Tofu) by now, not nursing."
__________________________________________________________
Cheaper to breast feed.
Those kids look a little old to be breast-fed. And I can assume that any little yuppie kid named "Trey" is going to grow up to be a class-A dipstick with a bad temper and little to no impulse control.
Oh yes, a picture of the "Lactivists" sit in, always a hoot to watch them...
Maybe this shirt would have helped.
"That's how my wife wins all our arguments."
No man argues with breasts and wins. Of course, losing is pretty nice too.
They are "Lactivists"
Probably some gay guy whose breasts don't produce, though not for want of trying.
Well, let's assume for a moment that she didn't 'rant'; Let's say she just 'replied'.
If a vegetarian flight attendant told you to stop eating that SlimJim in her presence, you'd be well within your rights to tell her no.
I wouldn't stick an airline blanket on my toddler's head either, any more than I would encourage her to eat things she finds on the floor. Gross.
...only if it reaches that far....
That's OK; it's obvious that my point was beyond your comprehension.
That was 12 years ago. People are different, everywhere.
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