United Airlines reportedly sold a two-year-old child's seat to a standby passenger, resulting in the boy sitting uncomfortably on his mother's lap throughout the journey from Houston to Boston.
The airline requires children above the age of two to have their own tickets and occupy their own seats on a plane. When 27-month-old Taizo's mother booked a seat for him in the flight, the airline oversold his spot to another person.
Taizo's mother Shirley Yamauchi said she and her son had boarded their flight to Boston on June 29. This was the final leg of an 18-hour flight journey from Hawaii.
A standby passenger approached them and claimed Taizo was in his seat, according to Fox News.
"I told him that I bought both of these tickets and he tells me that he got the ticket on standby. Then he proceeds to sit in the centre," Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now.
The mother said she tried to inform a flight attendant about Taizo's seat, but the woman said she could not help them as all the seats in the flight were occupied.
Yamauchi said she did not want to create a scene in the flight so she sat her son on her lap and didn't say anything till they reached Boston.
A video of another incident in United Airlines had gone viral a few months ago, when the airline called security officials to drag a person out of his allocated seat in the flight. United Airlines had received heavy criticism for the incident.
"I started remembering all those incidents with United on the news. The violence. Teeth getting knocked out. I'm Asian. I'm scared and I felt uncomfortable. I didn't want those things to happen to me," Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now.
Reports state that after Yamauchi reached Boston, she was asked to call a United Airlines hotline to explain her situation. However, when she asked for a refund from the officials, she was informed that she would be required to cancel her return trip to Hawaii to get the money back.
