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- Posted: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:21:14 +0000
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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."
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."