this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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Summary

United Airlines apologized to Melissa Sotomayor after crew members tried to make her remove her son's ventilator during a March 8 flight from Tampa to Newark.

Sotomayor, whose 2-year-old son relies on a ventilator and tracheostomy tube, said staff demanded the equipment be stowed for takeoff despite prior medical clearance.

A third flight attendant claimed the child would "be OK" without it. The captain called her "difficult" and said the equipment was a safety risk.

Sotomayor expressed feeling humiliated and vowed never to fly United again.

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[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 64 points 4 days ago (13 children)

She was then approached by another flight attendant who told her that their seats might have to be moved if she didn't comply, Sotomayor said.

This stuck out to me.

There's only one place in the passenger compartment of a plane I know has specific rules for sitting there: the wing exit row

Having sat in the exit row before, I know the flight crew is very unforgiving for items that may block transit of passengers should the need to get off the plane present itself. This may be backed up with another statement in the article:

Sotomayor said that before their flight, she obtained documentation so her son could fly to their destination. They did not encounter problems on the first leg — the trip to Tampa.

Were they not in an exit row on that flight, and therefor it wasn't an issue?

It sounds like Sotomayor did everything correctly with her prep before flying. Assuming all the statements in the article are factual and my exit row theory is correct, someone at United screwed up approving an exit row seat for her and her son's return flight, and that dropped the problem in the laps of the United flight crew that has to comply with FAA regulations.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 35 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

Actually, the crew should have taken one look when her kid was pre-boarded with that equipment and politely changed them to seats where it could be used safely, before they got all settled and before boarding the rest of the plane.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Exactly. It shouldn’t have even been an issue, because the crew is supposed to make sure the passengers sitting in the exit rows are able and willing to actually pop the hatches open in the event of an evacuation.

During an evacuation, plane rows are too crowded for attendants to be able to get to the doors and open them. Know how you’re stuck in the plane waiting for everyone to de-board after the flight? Attendants have to deal with that when evacuating. So the passengers need to be the ones to actually pop the hatches and start clearing the plane.

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