United Airlines is apologizing after it admitted it bumped 27-month-old Taizo Yamauchi from his nearly US$1,000 (C$1,294) seat and gave it away to a standby passenger for only US$75 (C$97).
Shirley Yamauchi was flying with her son from Hawaii to Boston last week when they had a layover in Houston. It was on the flight from Houston to their final destination that Tazio’s seat was given away to another passenger.
Yamauchi told CBS-affiliate station KGMB that she and her son were sitting in their assigned seats when a flight attendant approached them and asked if Taizo was present. She told the attendant that he was, but a man approached them shortly before takeoff, claiming that Taizo’s seat was his.
They compared their tickets and both had the seat number 24A printed on them.
“I told him that I bought both of these tickets. And he tells me that he got the ticket on standby and he proceeds to sit in the centre,” she said.
Yamauchi said she raised the problem with a flight attendant and claims the staffer just shrugged, said the flight was full and walked away.
Days later, United admitted that the toddler’s ticket was incorrectly scanned and did not register him as having checked in, which prompted the airline to release the seat to the standby passenger.
With the April incident in which Dr. David Dao was dragged off a United Airlines flight on her mind, Yamauchi said she felt intimidated and didn’t want to get into a confrontation. She pulled Taizo onto her lap for the three-and-a-half hour flight.
“He’s 25 pounds (11.5 kg) and he’s half my height,” she said. “I was very uncomfortable. My hand, my arm, my left arm, was smashed up against the wall. I lost feeling in my legs and left arm.”
“I had him in all these contorted sleeping positions. In the end, very sadly, he was standing up between my knees,” Yamauchi told ABC-affiliate station KITV.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, it is not advised for parents to hold children on their laps.
“Your arms aren’t capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence,” they write.
“What happened to my son was unsafe, uncomfortable and unfair,” said Yamauchi.
The schoolteacher said she tried to get answers from United Airlines staff when she landed. The gate agents directed her to customer service, who then directed her to a hotline.
“It’s worrisome. Everyone who has helped me so far has contradicted each other,” she said. “This needs to stop. United has made errors that make national headlines, yet it continues.”
In a statement, United Airlines apologized for the incident.
“We deeply apologize to Ms. Yamauchi and her son for this experience. We are refunding her son’s ticket and providing a travel voucher. We are also working with our gate staff to prevent this from happening again.”
Despite the refund and voucher, Yamauchi says she has second thoughts about whether she will ever fly with United Airlines again.
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