United Airlines crew told mother baby not allowed cry on flight

shutterstock/NextnewMedia

• United Airlines has apologized after a flight attendant told a passenger that her baby was not allowed to cry for more than five minutes on a flight. 
• The incident reportedly occurred on Monday, September 24, on UA Flight 870. 
• Krupa Patel Bala documented the incident on her Facebook page, writing that the flight attendant took her back into economy class, and after offering a lecture on parenting, told her that, “babies are not allowed to cry for more than five minutes” and that “it really stressed the crew out.” 
• In a statement to Business Insider, United Airlines said, “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.”

United Airlines is under fire after a flight attendant reportedly told a passenger that her baby was not allowed to cry for more than five minutes on a flight. 

According to Fox affiliate KTVU, Krupa Patel Bala was flying on United Airlines Flight 870 from Sydney to San Francisco with her husband and their 8-month-old baby on Monday, September 24. After takeoff, while sitting in their business class seats, their young child started to cry. 

It was then that the flight attendant reportedly approached Bala and told her it was “absolutely unacceptable,” for the baby to cry.  

Bala documented the entire incident on her Facebook page, writing that the flight attendant took her back into economy class, and after offering a lecture on parenting, told her that, “babies are not allowed to cry for more than five minutes” and that “it really stressed the crew out.” 

Bala wrote that the flight attendant told her “it’s part of the rule book that the babies are not allowed to cry for more than 5 minutes.” 

Bala called the crew member’s behavior “absolutely shocking.” 

Once Bala posted her message on Facebook at 10:55 p.m. on Monday, September 24, it eventually received up to 1,500 reactions and 393 comments. 

In a statement to Business Insider, United Airlines said, “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.”

United Airlines’ statement also added that “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.”

Bala eventually re-posted on her own Facebook page a message detailing her appreciation for how the airline handled her complaint, writing, “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.”

A screenshot of Krupa Patel Bala’s response to United from Facebook.United Airlines

Despite United’s apology, social media has reacted harshly to the incident. Many took to Twitter to voice their outrage at how United treated this mother and her crying baby.