Mum left furious after flight attendant 'mocked' five-year-old daughter's name
Anish Vij
Featured Image Credit: ABC7
A mum was furious when a flight attendant 'mocked' her daughter's name by posting the five-year-old's boarding pass on social media.
When mother Traci Redford and her daughter were about to board at the gate at California's John Wayne Airport in 2018, she was said to have heard a giggle from a member of Southwest Airlines staff.
The girl's mother claims the flight agent made fun her daughter's name - Abcde - pronounced 'ab-cidy'.
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Abcde lives with epilepsy, so the family were travelling pre-board in Orange County to their home to El Paso, Texas.
Traci said that the gate agent then posted a photo of Abcde's boarding pass on her Facebook page, where others joined in mocking the little girl's name.
She told ABC7: "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.'
"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.
"She said 'Mom, why is she laughing at my name?'
"And I said not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice and it's unfortunate.'"
At the time, Southwest Airlines said in a statement: "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."
Although Abcde is a fairly uncommon name, it’s not completely unheard of.
Back in 2014, Vocativ reported that over the previous 30 years, 328 baby girls in the US have been given that name.
32 of those babies were born in 2009.
Tyla has contacted Southwest Airlines for additional comment.