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Traci Redford, the mother of a five-year-old girl named Abcde Redford (pronounced ab-city), has accused a Southwest Airlines employee of “name shaming” her daughter.
According to Redford, an unidentified Southwest Airlines agent allegedly mocked her daughter after reading her boarding pass. The Southwest agent also uploaded a picture of the boarding pass to Facebook.
The incident reportedly happened on Sunday, November 4, as the pair boarded a flight to El Paso, Texas, at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
Additionally, Redford says that her daughter Abcde suffers from epilepsy, meaning the family always pre-boards flights.
via ABC:
“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 Redford said.
“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,” said Redford.
Southwest Airlines provided the following statement to ABC about the incident:
“We extend our sincere apology to the family. 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 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.”
At this time, it is not clear whether or not the Southwest Airlines employee has been disciplined.
