A man flying home from his father’s funeral, with his son sleeping across his lap, was mortified when flight crew accused him of having his hand ‘too close’ to his son’s crotch.
In a Facebook post by Joel on the group Dadsquared, he explains his husband Henry’s horrible ordeal at the hands of United Airlines staff.
‘A member of the flight crew made an accusation that my husband’s hand/arm laying across my sleeping son’s lap was too close to the “child’s genitals.’
Henry was detained as he exited the plane which his husband describes as ‘the icing on the cake for a man who has spent nearly the last two weeks in Puerto Rico dealing with his father’s quick decline and subsequent death.’
The situation left the family gobsmacked.
‘This is not something that should have happened in front of my son. This is not something that anyone should have to worry about happening to them on a flight just because someone might not like the looks of them.’
Joel adds that he and Henry are in the process of adopting their second foster child and as such are mandatory reporters – the least likely people to condone inappropriate behaviour with children.
‘This misguided man’s assumptions about my husband and the accusations that he made are completely unfounded and we plan on getting up bright and early in the morning to make as much f***ing noise about this as I possibly can.’
United spokesperson Jonathan Geurin told The News & Observer in an email: ‘Our customers should always be treated with the utmost respect. We have followed up with the customer directly and we apologized for the situation.’
The family are seeking legal action against the airline. Their attorney, Kenneth Padowitz explains:
‘That type of emotional distress and improper persecution of one of their customers based off zero evidence needs to be rectified.’
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