NBC

Mom Left to Hold Toddler for Entire United Airlines Flight

She said she didn't try to alert a second flight attendant about the issue because of the recent problems on United aircraft

A teacher from Hawaii says she was forced to hold her 25-pound toddler on a recent United flight from Houston to Boston when a standby passenger was given his seat, even though she bought a ticket for her son, NBC News reported.

Kids two and over are required to have tickets on United flights, and Shirley Yamauchi purchased one for her 27-month-old son, Taizo. But when she told a flight attendant that the standby passenger was given a ticket for the same seat, the worker shrugged, Yamauchi said, leaving Taizo to fly in her lap.

Yamauchi didn't try to alert another flight attendant about the issue because of the recent problems on United aircraft, including a doctor being dragged from his seat in Chicago, she said. "If I were traveling by myself without my child, I would have spoken up a little louder or more forcefully."

A United spokesman apologized for the situtation, saying the boy's boarding pass was scanned incorrectly. Yamauchi said she was told she'd get a refund and travel voucher, but said the explanation "just doesn't add up."

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