Photo: airspotting.com
Airline company Southwest is being criticized for name-shaming a 5-year-old girl who was pre-boarding a flight from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California to El Paso, Texas.
The incident actually occurred at the beginning of last month, but it’s only a few days ago that the child’s mother, Traci Redford, went public with the story. The moment it attained viral status, Southwest issued a proper apology, as was to be expected.
Traci named her daughter Abcde, which is pronounced “Ab-city.” As strange a name as it might seem, it’s actually not uncommon in the U.S.: figures estimate over 380 children carry this name, all of them girls.
Traci and Abcde were pre-boarding for El Paso, when the gate agent openly started to mock the girl’s name, Traci tells ABC7. She also snapped a photo of the girl’s boarding pass, which also included her family name, and then posted it to social media, to mock her some more.
“The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees. 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’,” Traci tells the media outlet.
“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. And after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn't done anything,” the upset mother adds.
So, Traci went to the media, which seemed to have the desired effect. The moment her story went viral, Southwest was quick to issue a formal apology, saying that their employee’s behavior was not indicative of where they stood as a company. The statement says the employee is under revision, but it doesn’t mention whether any concrete action against her has been taken.
Traci named her daughter Abcde, which is pronounced “Ab-city.” As strange a name as it might seem, it’s actually not uncommon in the U.S.: figures estimate over 380 children carry this name, all of them girls.
Traci and Abcde were pre-boarding for El Paso, when the gate agent openly started to mock the girl’s name, Traci tells ABC7. She also snapped a photo of the girl’s boarding pass, which also included her family name, and then posted it to social media, to mock her some more.
“The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees. 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’,” Traci tells the media outlet.
“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. And after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn't done anything,” the upset mother adds.
So, Traci went to the media, which seemed to have the desired effect. The moment her story went viral, Southwest was quick to issue a formal apology, saying that their employee’s behavior was not indicative of where they stood as a company. The statement says the employee is under revision, but it doesn’t mention whether any concrete action against her has been taken.
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