Did United Airlines Mistreat This Mother And Child?

Will it ever end for United Airlines? It has been sued by a number of people lately — who can forget the video of David Dao being dragged from his seat on a United flight in April? — and now a mother claims the airline mistreated her and her 2-year-old son on a flight from Bush Intercontinental in Houston to Boston.

Shirley Yamauchi said the airline gave her son's seat on the June 29 flight to another passenger even though she had paid $969 for the seat. She told the Houston Chronicle she was forced to hold her son on her lap, a clear infraction of FAA regulations, which state that children older than a certain age should be seated in their own secure seating while flying.

Photographs that Yamauchi shared with the Chronicle show her holding her son in a manner that does not look secure.

"I told the flight attendant about our situation, but she shrugged and told me the flight was full," Yamauchi said. "I paid $969 for my son's ticket."

United responded by saying that the mix-up resulted when employees "inaccurately scanned the boarding pass of Ms. Yamauchi's son." The airline went on to say that it "is providing compensation as a goodwill gesture."

United Airlines did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

See the complete story at the Houston Chronicle

Image: United Airlines