Southwest Airlines apologized after a mother accused a gate agent of mocking her five-year-old daughter’s name and posting the child’s boarding pass on social media.
Traci Redford and her daughter Abcde, pronounced “Ab-city,” were catching a flight from California to Texas earlier this month. The mother said she had heard a gate agent laughing.
“The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees,” the mother told ABC7 News. “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.'”
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Redford said the agent at John Wayne Airport posted of photo of Abcde’s boarding pass on social media, mocking her daughter’s name.
“While I was sitting there, she took a picture of my boarding pass and chose to post it on social media, mocking my daughter. It was actually brought to my attention by somebody who had seen it on Facebook and reported it to Southwest Airlines,” Redford told the news station. “And after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn’t done anything.”
The airline acknowledged the incident and issued a statement, apologizing to the family.
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“We take great pride in extending our Southwest hospitality to all of our customers, which includes living by the golden rule and treating every individual with respect, in person or online,” the company said. “The post is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility we expect from all of our employees.
“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.”
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