Mum “humiliated” and allegedly put on no-fly list over nappy change
A woman in the US has shared how she was “humiliated” by a flight attendant mid-flight while trying to discard her baby’s nappy in the rubbish.
Farah Naz Khan, an endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism doctor from Seattle, shared the ordeal on social media, including how she was yelled at by a flight attendant who was then “harassing” her in a call to her personal mobile number after the flight.
“Anybody with connections at United Airlines? Had a horrific experience today with a flight attendant and then got a harassing phone call from the very same flight attendant,” Ms Khan wrote in a Facebook post, which she later edited to include the full story.
“When I walked back to the front holding my diaper wipes container and ... the pad that we used to change my daughter’s diaper on, the flight attendant accosted me and said: ‘Did you just dispose of a diaper back there? That’s a biohazard’,” Ms Khan told NBC News.
Ms Khan said that she then asked whether he wanted her to retrieve the nappy and that the flight attendant said yes.
Ms Khan continued to say the experience made her feel “humiliated” and “belittled”. After asking another flight attendant for a garbage bag to put the nappy in, she became angry when the attendant told her she hadn’t done anything wrong.
After filing a customer service incident report once the plane landed, things took a bizarre turn.
Later in the day, Ms Khan received a phone call from the flight attendant.
“I recognised the voice,” she told NBC News.
“He said, ‘Due to a biohazard incident on the plane today, we’ve placed you on the no-fly list’.
“This made me very angry, because I suffered the humiliating experience … They are placing me on a no-fly list?
“I also didn’t dispose of the diaper on the plane, even if it was considered a biohazard. I walked it off the plane and threw it away myself outside the flight.”
She also accused the flight attendant of using “profanities” during the call.
“[He said] ‘You people bring your children everywhere. Don’t you know that some people just want a peaceful flight and don’t want to listen to your effing children?’,” Ms Khan said.
He also allegedly said to her: “I hear your obnoxious daughter in the background.”
Ms Khan also shared her experience on Twitter, including the hashtag #racism.
She said she didn’t believe she had been placed on the no-fly list, after she was able to fly back to Houston a few days later.
Ms Khan confirmed she had heard from United Airlines, which uses Mesa Airlines to run regional services, but the conversation was “unsatisfying” as the airline could not say how the flight attendant obtained her phone number or whether he had been disciplined.
In a statement, a Mesa spokesperson said: “The details as described by our customer do not meet the high standards that Mesa sets for our flight attendants and we are reviewing the matter.”
Image: Facebook