Welcome to Gaia! ::


Apocalyptic Cutesmasher

25,215 Points
  • Luminary Melee Champion 200
  • Waffles! 25
  • Attending the Ball 25
link

Quote:
Mom says flight attendant ‘humiliated’ her for using breast pump in the air

An Indiana mom says she was "humiliated" on a recent American Airlines flight when a flight attendant caused a brouhaha over her breast pump.

Dawn Brahos, 38, says the female flight attendant loudly forbade her plugging in and pumping during an April 18 flight to Chicago and called her a liar when she explained she'd pumped without problems during two other American flights in the prior week.

"It was humiliating. She kept saying I had to be mistaken, that it must have been a different airline," Brahos said.

"She was loud and cold and argumentative," Brahos recalled. "At least a third of the plane knew my business. I could see them talking amongst themselves."

An American official offered an apology to Brahos and said the airline does indeed allow breastfeeding moms to plug in Medela-brand pumps during flights.

"We apologize for the experience Ms. Brahos had on a recent flight. Our in-flight personnel are trained to handle these situations with professionalism and discretion. American does not have a policy prohibiting the use of breast pumps in-flight," American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said.

Huguely said Brahos should have been allowed to plug her Medela pump into the outlet by her seat. A different brand of pump would have required prior approval, she said.

Brahos said Thursday she appreciated the apology but hopes American can streamline its policy in the future and improve training.

"Pumping is already awkward and uncomfortable enough without having to worry about the individual discretion of whoever happens to be working that day," she said. "The rules have to be clear. It's not like you can fight with a flight attendant these days."

Brahos said she got contradictory information from four different reservations agents before a fifth agent finally answered all her questions and said Medela pumps were pre-approved.

She said she pumped under a blanket without anyone noticing on her first flight from Chicago to San Diego April 13.

One her April 17 return flight to Chicago, Brahos said American flight attendants were extremely accommodating, allowing her to use a galley outlet to pump not once but twice because the flight circled over O'Hare for an hour and eventually got diverted to Minneapolis because of a storm.

The bad weather led American to put Brahos and her husband up in a hotel overnight and book them on a flight to Chicago the next day.

It was on the Minneapolis-to-Chicago flight that Brahos got shut down.

"I started it off being quiet and discreet, but the flight attendant wasn't discreet at all. She came back three times to my seat and was really loud about it. She was like, 'You absolutely cannot pump,'" Brahos said.

"She was just dismissing any possibility of me resolving my situation. She got angry with me and then wasn't willing to give me her name," she recalled.

The mother of three said she normally pumps every three and a half hours and began feeling painfully engorged during the normally short flight because it took off late and she'd spent the previous few hours checking out of a hotel, traveling to the airport, checking in with American and going through security.

She and her husband were on a rare trip away without their three kids, and Brahos was reliant on the breast pump to relieve pressure and keep her milk supply flowing.

Breast-feeding her 1-year-old son Adrien is important to her, she said, because she and her husband both have bad eyesight, and research shows breast-feeding aids in vision development.
She said she came forward with her story because she doesn't want another breastfeeding mom to go through the same thing.

"I really hope they improve training and get everyone on the same page. And I'd love to see their policy in black and white on their website, so moms can print it up and travel with it," she said. "It's important that this doesn't happen to other moms down the road."

jellybeantoes's Partner

Angelic Star

15,600 Points
  • Tax Evader 100
  • Magical Girl 50
  • Party Animal 100
Boobs. Use them how nature intended and everybody gets mad. stressed

Unbeatable Hunter

9,475 Points
  • Money Never Sleeps 200
  • Entrepreneur 150
  • Citizen 200
Wow people are really be coming bitches these days

Liberal Fatcat

Delle42
Boobs. Use them how nature intended and everybody gets mad. stressed


Boobs are pretty much only tolerated in porn. Anywhere else and someone's liable to say "Hey put them titties away. Nobody wants to see that s**t!"

Im not going a whole flight with engorged breasts and get my shirt messed up in the process. Either you let me use my breast pump or you milk me yourself, but Im not going the whole flight without being milked. D:<
I'm curious how much of this overreaction was caused by a screwed up sleep schedule and how much was just someone who needs to be punched in the face and fired.

Chatty Lunatic

11,775 Points
  • Cat Fancier 100
  • Clambake 200
  • Streaker 200
This Isnt Sparta
Delle42
Boobs. Use them how nature intended and everybody gets mad. stressed


Boobs are pretty much only tolerated in porn. Anywhere else and someone's liable to say "Hey put them titties away. Nobody wants to see that s**t!"

Im not going a whole flight with engorged breasts and get my shirt messed up in the process. Either you let me use my breast pump or you milk me yourself, but Im not going the whole flight without being milked. D:<


It's unfortunate that people in the States haven't quite gotten out of the Victorian mindset that women should be ashamed of their bodies and cover up even when doing something that is completely nonsexual as breast feeding.

What weirds me out is the bitchy behavior of the flight attendant and her blatant refusal to give her name when requested. She was looking to cause a problem.

Lord Elwrind's Queen

Dangerous Fairy

55,065 Points
  • Waffles! 25
  • Team Poison Master 250
  • Winged 100
This Isnt Sparta
Delle42
Boobs. Use them how nature intended and everybody gets mad. stressed


Boobs are pretty much only tolerated in porn. Anywhere else and someone's liable to say "Hey put them titties away. Nobody wants to see that s**t!"

Im not going a whole flight with engorged breasts and get my shirt messed up in the process. Either you let me use my breast pump or you milk me yourself, but Im not going the whole flight without being milked. D:<


Right? If we can't feed the baby, what the hell else are we supposed to do.

Do people who never had a baby even know what it feels like being engorged? How really uncomfortable it gets?
That is even without the embarrassment of - "OOOPS!! It's all over everywhere!

Original Rogue

11,100 Points
  • Battle: Rogue 100
  • Demonic Associate 100
  • The Wolf Within 100
This Isnt Sparta
Boobs are pretty much only tolerated in porn. Anywhere else and someone's liable to say "Hey put them titties away. Nobody wants to see that s**t!"
That obviously does not apply to fat man-boobs.
Unless she was showing off her breasts and pumping her milk without a blanket thrown over herself, I see no problem here.

People are just pathetic nowadays.

Friendly Wench

This Isnt Sparta

Im not going a whole flight with engorged breasts and get my shirt messed up in the process. Either you let me use my breast pump or you milk me yourself, but Im not going the whole flight without being milked. D:<

Alright, as a pregnant woman, I laughed way too hard at this.

Dedicated Student

Where does it say that she refused to give out her name to the flight attendant?

I think this is horrible.

Demonic Fairy

13,625 Points
  • Beta Citizen 0
  • Tycoon 200
  • Jack-pot 100
Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. I wonder what made her so irritable. The flight attendant who made a fuss, I mean; not the mom.

Aged Noob

12,450 Points
  • Perfect Attendance 400
  • Bunny Hunter 100
  • Signature Look 250
This wasn't about her pumping, it was about the brand of breast pump she was using. They didn't want her plugging in the pump even though it was authorized by the airline. They should have known which brands were allowed and which were not.

Sweet Humorist

15,425 Points
  • Seasoned Warrior 250
  • Conversationalist 100
  • Informer 100
Lupa Fangs Makucha
Where does it say that she refused to give out her name to the flight attendant?

I think this is horrible.


yeah i think the attendant kind of already knew she was in the wrong. thats why she didn't give her name.

Snuggly Buddy

29,150 Points
  • Conversationalist 100
  • Mark Twain 100
  • Conventioneer 300
MemoriesOfGreen
This Isnt Sparta
Delle42
Boobs. Use them how nature intended and everybody gets mad. stressed


Boobs are pretty much only tolerated in porn. Anywhere else and someone's liable to say "Hey put them titties away. Nobody wants to see that s**t!"

Im not going a whole flight with engorged breasts and get my shirt messed up in the process. Either you let me use my breast pump or you milk me yourself, but Im not going the whole flight without being milked. D:<


It's unfortunate that > SOME < people in the States haven't quite gotten out of the Victorian mindset that women should be ashamed of their bodies and cover up even when doing something that is completely nonsexual as breast feeding.

What weirds me out is the bitchy behavior of the flight attendant and her blatant refusal to give her name when requested. She was looking to cause a problem.


There. I fixed that for you.
It's true some people are "Oh noz a booby" but around where I live I frequently see women breastfeeding at the mall or a restaurant and nobody cares. They are polite about it - not stripping from the waste up - typically covered with a receiving blanket or something but it is obvious what they are doing.

As far is this woman - I'm kind of surprised she is using an electric pump if she is worried about people noticing she is pumping. You are more limited in where and they make noise. I do realize that some women have trouble with manual pumps but most can use them. And they are lighter / smaller. For travel on a plane I was kind of surprised she is using an electric pump.
Doesn't excuse b***h stewardess though. No call for that. She might not have given her name but if AA wants to know who she is they can tell since there would be limited stewardesses on the plane and they would have records.

Quick Reply

Submit
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
Get GCash
Offers
Get Items
More Items
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum