Mom Says United Flight Attendant Scolded Her for Crying Baby

A mother is accusing a United Airlines flight attendant of scolding her and her crying baby on a flight from Sydney to San Francisco.

Krupa Patel Bala, her husband, and 8-month-old baby son started their lengthy flight earlier this week, KTVU reported on Sept. 26. They had business class seats as well as a bassinet for the child.

Not long after the flight began, Bala said her boy was crying for about five minutes when the flight attendant “yelled” at her husband, saying it was “absolutely unacceptable” for the infant to cry, according to the report. The attendant said the crying was stressing out the crew.

A mom is accusing a United Airlines flight attendant of scolding her child. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Bala said she bought flight WiFi for $28.99 so she could air her frustration on Facebook.

“He’s going to cry again and I don’t have any control over that,” wrote Bala on the social media website. ”I was told it’s part of the rule book that the babies are not allowed to cry for more than 5 minutes,” Bala also said.

She said that she tried to soothe the child.

She later wrote to United: “Good news: The captain just came over with Linda so she could apologize to us.”

But the “bad news“ is that the flight attendant, who she identified as “Linda,” lied about the crew complaining about the child. Bala said that the attendant claimed the “service was disturbed and apparently that’s the same thing - ok Linda, whatever you say.” She added: “The pilot apologized for her and while I appreciate that, it’s not his apology I’m interested in.”

United Airlines issued a statement to KTVU.

“We’ve been in touch with our customer via social media and United representatives met the family upon arrival to apologize, offer a refund and make clear that the experience she relayed doesn’t reflect our commitment to serving our customers, including our youngest customers. Young families are welcome on our flights, including in business class. We are continuing to review the incident internally and the flight attendant is being held out of service pending the investigation,” the statement reads.

But Bala said that she would not fly with United again.

She wrote on Facebook: “Over the last day, we have spoken with numerous representatives from United. Like the captain and rest of the cabin crew, they are all lovely, kind, wonderful humans. (The flight attendant) is the exception and not the norm - and for what it’s worth, she remains unapologetic. From what I understand, United is handling the situation and ensuring that no one else ever has an experience like ours where a flight attendant makes up her own rules. I wish you all a great day and future flights with babies that cry for no more than five minutes.”

A similar incident occurred on a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this year after a family was from a flight from Chicago to Atlanta after a toddler threw a tantrum, WGN reported.