Airline Staff Allegedly Asked Passenger To Breastfeed In Plane Bathroom

An Air Canada staff allegedly asked a passenger to breastfeed inside the plane's bathroom, sparking public outrage.

Stephanie Vandenberg, a Calgary woman, took to Twitter on Monday to reveal that she was asked to breastfeed her infant in the airplane lavatory. She added that the airline customer service referred her to their medical helpline instead of the complaints department to discuss the issue.

“It is never okay to recommend a woman breastfeed her infant in an airplane lavatory. Nor would I like to be referred to your medical line to discuss this further. If you would like to eat your dinner there, by all means, but my infant son will not be joining you,” she tweeted.

The tweet was shared over 2,000 times with several people asking the passenger to file a human rights violation claim against the airline.

“This is contrary to human rights law. You are entitled to breastfeed anywhere you are legally permitted to be. When my kids were small, the AC flight attendants actually encouraged me to breast feed during take off and landing to protect my babies’ ears,” one user tweeted.

“This is so wrong. Women should not breastfeed in toilets this is very unsanitary,” another wrote.

Air Canada responded to the passenger’s tweet and asked her to share the details.

“Hello Stephanie, we're sorry to hear about the level of service you received today. Please DM us further details, so we can look into this for you,” the airline’s public relations department tweeted.

In another tweet the following day, the department said, “Hi Stephanie, we can confirm we support breastfeeding onboard our aircraft and you are welcome to nurse your baby wherever you feel comfortable onboard.”

In a similar incident in December 2017, a woman was kicked off a flight for breastfeeding her son. The incident took place on a Spirit Airlines flight from Houston to New York City. Dr. Mei Rui, a Grammy-winning pianist, said the flight was delayed due to weather and her two-year-old son was crying. She then started breastfeeding him to put him to sleep.

When a flight attendant informed her that the infant had to be in his seat during takeoff, the woman said she wanted some more time "because if he woke up at that point he would have made a lot of noise. I said, 'I promise I’ll finish before you close the plane’s door.'" The child started crying after Rui stopped breastfeeding him after which the crew told her to get off the flight, the Washington Post reported.