Community Chat

[occasionalrain]

Checking everyone would be too time consuming so perhaps they do spot checks. Compared to going through security with pat downs, which not everyone gets, it's nothing to produce a bit of paperwork. This woman is a whining attention seeker.

[JaneMarple]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

Checking everyone would be too time consuming so perhaps they do spot checks. Compared to going through security with pat downs, which not everyone gets, it's nothing to produce a bit of paperwork. This woman is a whining attention seeker.

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"Whining attention seeker"? I'm glad that she brought it to our attention! This should not be swept under the rug, if the mother was asked for the baby's birth certificate to prove his actual age then that's fine since it is the airlines's policy BUT...... to ask if she is the baby's mother is  totally different and to add insult to injury by accepting FB posts as proof of maternity is really ridiculous!

How many people do you know of carries their kid's birth certificates? 

[kitcat51]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

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@kitcat51 wrote:

Being single or traveling with 1 parent has nothing to do with it....the LAST NAMES on the ID's were DIFFERENT. An apology was given to the family so fingers crossed the story is over. Have a good night @sunshine45

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yes, it does have something to do with it. how do you prevent a parent from taking a child and disappearing if he  or she wanted to? it is another possible scenario.....even when the last names are the SAME.

the mother had a passport with the age of the child. the mother had flown 50 some times before without incident. also, did EVERYONE on that plane traveling with a child get asked for a birth certificate or passport? i am glad that southwest will be doing some investigating.

i never used the same last name as my children. and that was starting about 26 years ago.

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OK, one last reply. The OP thread is about what happened at Southwest Airlines & my posts are about the mom & baby in the story....of course my comments don't & can't apply to everyone in every situation, that would be ridiculous. I read the story & tried my best to be fair about it in my posts.

[151949]

When I was a little girl we flew between Pitts and Fl  unaccompanied a lot. While in Fl. we spent a lot of time in the pool and we would get very very tanned. When my very fair, light skinned father came to pick us up at the gate in Pitts. the stewardess would usually look at him with a questioning expression and ask us a lot of questions before handing us over. He would often have to show his driver's license. Even though the tag on our clothes said he was who to give us to, and we were telling her he is our Daddy.They were always extremely careful. Better safe than sorry.

[cherry]

I don't think the problem is checking to be sure,that the child is safe,I think that it isn't equally applied to everyone

I am in favor of checks for the safety of all children, but, I am not in favor of picking and choosing who gets checked

[Cakers3]

Since Southwest requires a birth certificate for children under the age of two, the mother's name would have been on the birth certificate and should have matched her own ID.  Unless the mother's name on the birth certificate did not match the mother's own ID I can see the confusion.

I do agree that the situation was handled poorly but I don't see the employee as a racist.

Better training will prevent such an incident happening again.

And yes, a birth certificate was required when DS and DDIL flew with grandson many years ago on Southwest.  DDIL is Hispanic; DS is white.

[JaneMarple]

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@Cakers3 wrote:

Since Southwest requires a birth certificate for children under the age of two, the mother's name would have been on the birth certificate and should have matched her own ID.  Unless the mother's name on the birth certificate did not match the mother's own ID I can see the confusion.

I do agree that the situation was handled poorly but I don't see the employee as a racist.

Better training will prevent such an incident happening again.

And yes, a birth certificate was required when DS and DDIL flew with grandson many years ago on Southwest.  DDIL is Hispanic; DS is white.

 I don't think the agent is racist just clueless! Facebook proof? Ridiculous!

[SahmIam]

You know, not everything is about race. Nope, it isn't.

18 years or so ago, my first born, myself and my husband were at the mall. Lord & Taylor, to be exact. Husband was doing something in the Mens Departmen with our son and I was trying on something. I came out of the dressing room to find my son sitting with 2 sales people and talking (well, the best he could at 2 something). He was fine but I was furious with DH.

I walked over to thank the ladies and pick him up to then go find DH and THEY STOPPED ME!! They wouldn't allow me to take him. Why? The didn't believe I was his mother. I'm very pale with black hair and dark eyes. He was (is) not as fair, with white blond hair and very blue eyes. We looked (look) nothing alike. They called security. I'm standing there trying to think of what I had on me to prove I was the mother!!! Security made an announcement over the store loudspeakers about a lost child with blond hair, around the age of 2 and for the parent to come to Womens' Sportswear. 

A few minutes later, here came my husband. He KNEW he was in trouble. But the moment they saw him, it was obvious who the father was. "WILL YOU PLEASE TELL THEM I"M HIS MOTHER?!!!" I yelled. He did, he even showed them a family picture of us in his wallet (something I started doing with from that moment on). 

Security and the ladies apologized but I was also told that in the past, they HAVE had child abductions and they were erring on the side of caution. On one hand, I was livid because that was MY child and how dare they keep him from me. On the other hand.....what if someone HAD taken his hand and just........walked away with him.

Just saying.

[Zernia Rose]

Sahmlam,

Agree that sometimes it isn't about race; however, many times it is. Historically and now, not recognizing the difference can result in significant physical harm or even death as has been well documented in many sources.