Unfriendly skies.

Update:  Think it doesn't matter if you call, email, write to complain?  Freedom Airlines has issued a letter stating that in the future they will not request that nursing mothers cover up with blankets, and that they have taken disciplinary action against the flight attendant involved in the incident.  To see the full letter, click here.  More updates, including information on a planned "nurse-in" are in the comments section.

This story was a little too incredible to not write about.  Feel like sharing your response in the comments section?

Yesterday the Burlington Free Press and MSNBC reported that a mother from New Mexico who was traveling with her family on a Delta/Freedom Airlines plane leaving from Vermont, was kicked off the flight for nursing her daughter.  She has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission.  According to the Burlington Free Press:

Gillette said she was seated in the second-to-last row, next to the window, when she began to breast-feed her daughter. Breast-feeding helps babies with the altitude changes through takeoff and landings, Gillette said. She said she was being discreet -- her husband was seated between her and the aisle -- and no part of her breast was showing.

Gillette said that's when a flight attendant approached her, trying to hand her a blanket and directing her to cover up. Gillette said she told the attendant she was exercising her legal right to breast-feed, declining the blanket. That's when Gillette alleges the attendant told her, "You are offending me," and told her to cover up her daughter's head with the blanket.

"I declined," Gillette said in her complaint.

Moments later, a Delta ticket agent approached the Gillettes and said that the flight attendant was having the family removed from the flight.

Gillette said she didn't raise her voice -- not wanting to make a scene in the current jumpy air travel atmosphere -- and complied with the ticket agent, crying as she exited the plane.

I'm afraid that the response from Freedom Airlines was less than reassuring.

"A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft, providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way," that doesn't bother others, Skellon said. "She was asked to use a blanket just to provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she refused to use it, and that's all I know."

I guess my thoughts on this could be summed up as follows:  Breastfeeding is normal.  Breastfeeding is good for the health of babies and the public as a whole.  Breastfeeding is not indecent, and breastfeeding women do their best to be discreet when feeding their babies in public.  Breastfeeding on an airplane helps regulate ear pressure.  Screaming babies make flights unpleasant for everyone.

If you'd like to send Delta an email here's their complaint form.  I've already received a copy of one complaint letter from a pediatrician.  And Jen, in her letter posted on The Lactivist pretty well summed it up with her comment:  "I'd ask how many Delta and Freedom Airlines employees enjoy their daily meals with a blanket over their heads." 

Comments

[Heather]

That is horrible!! I have breastfed my babies many times on planes with no problems, usually wearing my Motherswear shirts. In fact its one of the few public places I felt comfortable nursing. It put the babies to sleep for the whole flight. Which makes the flight more pleasant for all.

When my daughter was young I flew Delta and have refused to fly them ever sense. They refused to let me preboard with a seven month old, a diaper bag, and a car seat. I had to apologize all the way down for bumping into people. I certainly didn't have any offers of assistance from their flight attendants. Continental always offers assistance. Delta is not a family friendly airline.

[Tanya Lieberman]

Heather - I felt the same way. People always commented on how quiet my son was during flights, and I'm pretty sure none of them knew that it was because he was nursing.

A little update: A group of about 30 mothers, fathers, and babies held a nurse in at the Burlington airport, yesterday, and you can read about it here:

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061115/NEWS01/61115010

The article notes that the Burlington International Airport was very accomodating of the protest.

And you may be interested in Angela's post on a similar incident at a movie theater in Texas:

http://www.breastfeeding123.com/texas-mother-plans-theater-nurse-in/

[Natural Moms Talk Radio]

The world is so topsy turvy. Teens in skimpy tops and bottom cleavage, ok. Grown women taking care of babies, bad. Will we ever change these people?

[Tanya Lieberman]

I had a similar thought. The provocative magazine covers in the airport gift shops showing far more breast are somehow okay, but feeding a baby on plane - indecent.

[Tanya Lieberman]

An update: You can sign a petition asking Delta Airlines to support breastfeeding mothers at:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/signUp.jsp?key=1772&t=petition.dwt

Thanks to Angela at www.breastfeeding123.com for this!

Also, Jen at www.thelactivist.blogspot.com has phone numbers you can use to call Delta to complain.

[EllenRebekah]

I've had two related experiences. In March of this year, my daughter was 3 months old and we flew from Norway to the US on British Airways. We had bulkheads seats on the 8 hour flight from Heathrow, right in the front of coach with lots of room in front of us. She nursed and slept the whole trip. I got two comments. One from a very friendly flight attendant who mentioned how quiet she was and another from a grandmother/passenger who said we reminded her of her grandchild. It was very pleasant.

In June, I visited my best friend for the first time since my daughters(Sara Ellen) birth. At the time she had her own room in the basement of her fiances parents home. She thought it was wonderful, the connection I had with Sare Ellen and how healthy she was, more so than her bottle-fed nephew. She said she wanted to give her future children the same benefit. But when I was in the families living area, she was insistent that I cover up. I thought maybe she just didn't want her fiance to see (she is 24, he is 22/23) but even though I was discreet, it made her so nervous (and myself, very annoyed). I appeased her by using a blanket around the family, but in church when I went to feed the baby, my friend quietly pleaded with me not to. I, of course insisted I was going to feed my baby. If her fiance moved to see what was happening, she would block his view. I bet that only made him wonder more.

I suppose there will always be people uncomfortable with breasts being used for an incredible purpose. I imagine it has a lot to do with their own family and, as an adult, their body image. My friend, for instance, was nervous about me seeing her while she put on her wedding dress.

I am a modest person, AND I am going to feed my baby the best.

[Anna]

My mother in law bought us tickets to come see the family durring the holidays on Delta. When I saw this article on Tuesday, I called Delta customer service and spent over an hour on the phone trying to find out what was going on and if this was an isolated incident. First I was told there was no problem and was asked why I called. When I explained I was put on hold then told it was a TSA regulation that passengers be fully clothed. When I asked for a citation of a policy and procedure manual or for the URL to a webpage where this was documented I was told to go to "www.tsa.com". I then corrected them with "Don't you mean '.gov'?" Then I was put on hold again. When he came back on the line I was told it was an FAA regulation conserning descency. I pulled up the state laws on brestfeeding in public for the state my flight will originate in, where we have a layover, my final destination, and all states whose airspace we will be transiting in between. All have laws that protect breastfeeding in public. When I informed him of this, he transfered me to his supervisor, who told me to search the delta.com website for the section called Contract of Carriage. I was told to look for the part about bothering other passengers. Again, I was not given a specific URL nor a quotation, simply a vague paraphrase. At http://images.delta.com.edgesuite.net/delta/pdfs/contract_of_carriage_dom.pdf page 11 Rule 35 Paragraph F section 12
How breastfeeding my baby could be an unreasonable annoyance or offence to another passenger is beyond me. I would think a screaming child would be much more of a problem. The supervisor told me that if I was discrete that there should be no problem. When I asked for a definition of discrete she was unable to do so and told me I could always use the restroom. I asked her how I was supposed to fit myself, my step-son and the baby in the tiny restrooms abord and she had no answer. Then, on another part of their website, at http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/travel_tips/health/at/index.jsp
Delta recomends "Breast-feeding infants should continue nursing on demand." When offering advise on traveler's diarrhea. Ok, so how am I supposed to nurse on demand if I'm going to be removed from my flight for doing just that?

Last night I called TSA's traveler's info line to see if there was any validity to what Delta had told me, and the representative couldn't find anything close to what I had been told. She is supposed to contact me this evening with what, if any, regulations cover this and how I should respond to airline employees should I be harassed. I will be happy to share any information I receive.

In the meantime, I'm making preparations for hoilday travel with my very active 5 year old step-son and my 15 month old daughter (who is nursing in my lap as I type) while my husband is deployed. Thanks to this nonsense what was already looking like a stressful trip is looking even more bleak.

My coworkers are very supportive of me in the proactive measures I'm taking in attempts not to be removed from my flight and not get arrested. Then again, I'm a breastfeeding peer counselor for my local WIC office. Talking about it today got a lot of good breastfeeding talk going with our clients in the waiting area. Perhaps we can turn this atrocity into something positive?

Wish me luck!

[Susan]

I recently flew from Baltimore to San Francisco, then from Seattle to Philadelphia. There was never any issue- no one approached me at all. I think the whole Delta/Freedom airlines thing was an isolated incident. For the most part, Americans are aware that mothers have a right to feed their babies (obviously). I have yet to encounter any opposition from the public, mostly because I don't think people typically pay any attention to a nursing mother. Breastfeeding is a natural part of life, and I think people get that. The flight attendant in question must just have some unresolved issues- hopefully she'll get therapy for them!

[Tanya Lieberman]

Another update: A national nurse-in is planned for 10 am local time on Tuesday, November 21st at Delta Ticket Counters.

[Tanya Lieberman]

One more update: Mesa Airlines has also issued an apology:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-17-2006/0004477112&EDATE=

Thanks to Angela at breastfeeding123.com!

[lbenni]

As a flight attendant with Skywest Airlines (flies both Delta Connection and United Express flights) and also having nursed my children for a total of 14 (yes, fourteen) years, I have mixed reactions to what happened on this flight. First of all, I can only speak for our airline, but we are specifically instructed (I believe as recently as the past 6 months by memo) to not discriminate against nursing mothers. I know that we have even discussed the use of nursing to relieve pressure in infants ears. I certainly applaud each mother I see nursing on one of my planes (and generally give her an extra bottle of water!)Before commenting here, I pulled out my operations manual for our companies policy, but found nothing there (though I can tell you what our policy is on snacks, how to serve cream and sugar, etc...a lot less important than whether an infant in a dehydrated air system should be allowed to nurse "uninhibited.") As a carrier for Delta, I know that our polices cannot conflict with the mainline Delta, so I am assuming that this is probably simply not addressed by the airlines. I have to question TSA regulating whether a passenger is fully clothed. That falls in the realm of the actual airline and not with national security. That was either a line, or falsely reported. Having said all that, I do believe that the issue should be addressed by company policy (in our big passenger handling section) and I personally will address this with our company. Now in defense of the airline: none of us were there. I certainly wasn't. But, I have seen testy passengers with attitudes. I don't want to judge Gillette unfairly, but if she did respond inappropriately (to an inappropriate request?), then the flight attendant had every right to remove her from that flight. The last place you want to be with a passenger who becomes confrontational is in a big metal tube with the doors locked and a long ways up in the air. It would be better for her, the baby and everyone else on board to be off the flight, calm down and take a later flight. I have seen immature behavior onboard by people who probably get off and tell everybody how the whacky flight attendant said this and that. All one-sided. So don't judge Gillette, don't judge the flight attendant. Just let the big boys (Delta, United, etc.) know that policy must be implemented to protect the rights of the mothers and babies.

[lbenni]

One more quick comment: I should also mention that Skywest Airlines policy is to leave a nursing mother undisturbed and that if any other passenger complains, offer to reseat the passenger that complains! Good policy that needs to be in all airline operating manuals, not just a memo.

[lbenni]

An additional thought. Every airline is required to have a complaint resolution officer (CRO--specifically deals with passenger rights) and a ground security coordinator (GSC--ensures that each station complies with all FAA and TSA mandates.) If anyone is ever questioned about nursing, they should immediately ask to speak to both.

[Tanya Lieberman]

Ibenni, I have been wanting to say something about flight attendants here for a while. Thanks for writing with some really informed comments. Your credentials are impeccable!

I have two friends who are flight attendants and who are very supportive of breastfeeding. One used to tell me how hard it was to fly when she was breastfeeding - the long shifts and being stuck on the plane make it really hard to pump. In my opinion, flight attendants work hard in a very unstable industry for not enough money, and sometimes have to put up with terrible (drunken, lecherous) behavior from passengers. Some have to spend long stretches away from their families.

So, who's at fault here? I feel that it is the responsibility of the airlines to set supportive policies for breastfeeding mothers and then adequately train their employees. That appears not to have happened in this case.

[rachelt123]

I submitted a complaint via Delta's online form and this is their response (I just edited out my last name for my privacy and the name of the person who responded in case they don't want their name on the internet):

Dear Mrs.,

Thank you for your e-mail to Delta Air Lines.

Delta Air Lines is disappointed to hear about the removal of the
passenger onboard Freedom Airlines Flight 6160. As you may know, they are one of our Delta Connection partners. The employees involved were Freedom Airlines employees. No Delta employees were involved in the decision to remove Mrs. Gillette from the aircraft.

Delta supports a mother's right to breastfeed her baby onboard our
aircraft. Please let me assure you that we are working with Freedom
Airlines on their investigation of this matter. Following the results
of this internal investigation, Delta will work with Freedom (a
subsidiary Mesa Air Group) to ensure that their procedures mirror
Delta's service standards.

Again, thank you for contacting us. We will always welcome the
opportunity to be of service.

Sincerely,

Online Customer Support Desk
http://www.delta.com

[lbenni]

On Monday I went to my annual recertification with Skywest airlines and brought the subject up with the lead instructor for the company's flight attendants. His response: "Do nothing, say nothing (to nursing mothers), offer to reseat or remove complaining customers (complaining about nursing mothers)."