A breastfeeding mother was beside herself after collecting an ample amount of milk for her 13-month-old son and was forced to leave it behind before boarding a plane.
The Salow family was traveling economy on American Airlines from Massachusetts back home to Arizona last Thursday when they exceeded the airfare’s carry-on bag limit.
Mom Sarah, 30, explained to Dailymail.com her first check-in bag cost $25, the second, $35 and the third, $125. She said if there were any bags while at the gate, an additional $25 service fee was added.
‘Basically my husband, son and I were on our way home to Phoenix and when we approached the gate to board our plane, we had small, soft cooler of breast milk in stroller’ when the conflict started.
Before the family’s trip, the mother contacted American Airlines to assure the cooler could be accepted, as she needed to have enough milk for the week.
Breasteeding mom Sarah Salow, 30, and her family were on their way home to Phoenix when American Airlines agents tried to make her pay $150 to carry milk for her son
She collected eight pouches for her 13-month-old son who she was required to pump exclusively for
She explained in a Facebook post that her son was ‘born with a class 4 lip tie and posterior tongue tie at 9 months old’ and that she ‘ and exclusively pumped.
‘The gentleman I spoke with that day was so warm and encouraging. He actually suggested that i carry the milk with us to ensure it’s safety,’ she said of her previous phone call with the company.
Her son’s diaper bag and backpack were personal items and the cooler containing the milk, a medical necessity.
‘I told them the milk was a medical necessity the guard said it was not,’ Sarah said, shocked.
When they told her she would need to pay $150, the family had to decline.
‘We are a young, growing family (so) it wasn’t economical for us to spend $150 to check the cooler and we were forced to leave it behind.,’ she wrote to Facebook.
Friendly passengers without personal items even offered to carry the cooler for the family but an agent would not allow it.
‘I cried for the first 40 minutes (of the flight),’ she said. ‘I know when my husband shuts down too, he is upset.’
When agents told her she would need to pay $150, the family said they had to decline
It seems the mother and her son took a flight on American Airlines back in October, which she described as a ‘lovely’ experience.
‘I was shocked and confused. We had walked to the gate before with the same amount of milk and did not have a problem.’
Whether she would be flying with American Airlines in the future, Sarah said she was unsure at this time.
‘I am beyond appalled and saddened by how myself and my family were treated today,’ she wrote.
American Airlines spokeswoman Leslie Scott since released an apology on behalf of the company.
‘It was absolutely our mistake,” Scott said in the statement.
She said there were restrictions with the new economy tickets.
However, ‘strollers, diaper bags, breast pumps and breast-milk containers are among the items exempt from the restrictions,’ Scott said, according to Arizona Central.
‘When the basic economy tickets were introduced this year, American made it clear in policies sent to gate agents that the first three items were exempt but wasn’t clear enough on the breast-milk containers.
‘We wanted to make it easier for our agents and just make the policy explicitly clear so that this doesn’t happen again,’ Scott said.