Woman Claims American Airlines Forced Her To Sit Through Flight With Child On Lap

A woman has alleged that American Airlines employees forced her to fly with her child seated in her lap, according to reports.

Kelly Duvall claimed to have purchased separate seats for both of her children — an 18-month-old daughter and 3-year-old son. She allegedly was required to ride with her infant daughter on a flight from Portland to Chicago on Aug. 17.

American Airlines and the FAA are reportedly investigating Duvall's complaint.

"We continue to review this situation, involving two FAA-approved car seats," Ross Feinstein, an American Airlines representative, said Friday in a statement to International Business Times. "We have spoken to the customer, and are reviewing the situation with our Portland, Oregon team."

Federal law requires any child over 2 years old to have their own airline seat and an adequate restraining system, but it's still heavily encouraged to purchase a seat for children under 2. The Federal Aviation Administration strongly urges children to be safely secured on flights. The agency claims that it is unsafe to rely on an individual's arms to protect a child because "arms aren't capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence."

American Airlines allows parents or any person 16 years or older to hold an infant during a flight instead of purchasing an additional seat.

Duvall intended to use an aviation-approved child restraint system (CRS) for her two children. The airline's gate agents prohibited her from bringing two CRS seats on board, which the employees alleged was a policy on its website. The passenger was forced to check in one of the CRS seats and hold her 18-month-old daughter in her lap for the duration of the flight.

The gate agents also allegedly denied Duvall permission to board the plane during family boarding because that policy was only available to families that need additional time to get settled on the airplane.

"He was quite rude and insisted I couldn't bring a seat on for both of them, but would have to check one through," Duvall wrote in a complaint to American Airlines that was obtained by Forbes. "I expressed how disappointed and frustrated I was that my children were not going to be safe on the flight, but he continued to be quite short and rude with me, as I was standing with both of my children."

"I also explained that nowhere on the American Airlines website had I seen anything about having to put a car seat in the window seat, or not being able to put more than one seat in a row," Duvall added, according to Forbes.

American Airlines' website does not specify whether its prohibited to bring two CRS' or that the seating system would need to be placed by a window seat. The website states: "If your infant will travel in his or her own seat, you must buy a ticket and bring a safety seat approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)." The airline's policy also only forbids aviation-approved seating from being used in an exit row or in the rows positioned on any side of an exit row.

This story has been updated to include a statement from American Airlines and the location of the alleged incident has been changed from Phoenix to Portland. A previous version of the story incorrectly stated this took place in Phoenix.