United Airlines doesn’t have a good track record for satisfactory customer service, and a recent incident with TikTok Creator Melissa Sotomayor shows how uncaring the airline can be. Going by the username, Missy Soto made a video post exposing United Airlines’ excessive mistreatment against her and her two-year-old son during a flight from Tampa, Florida, to Newark, New Jersey.
In her TikTok post, Sotomayor explained how her son, Noah, is “medically complex” and suffers from a slew of issues, including one that requires him to be on a ventilator. It goes without saying that she has all the documents to prove to any airport or airline staff that her son’s medical equipment is necessary during a flight. However, the crew of Flight UA1349 had a severe issue with her baby boy’s equipment not being stowed away before takeoff. It all started with a flight attendant approaching Sotomayor and telling her to put away the ventilator for safety reasons.
The New Jersey mother protested and provided the medical documents proving it didn’t go against FAA guidelines for Noah to be connected to his ventilator during the flight. The flight attendant then escalated the problem to the front of the plane, which led to two more crew members approaching Sotomayor, telling her that she needed to remove her son’s equipment. She refused again, repeating to them that the ventilator was “keeping him alive.” Word eventually reached the plane’s captain, who also told Sotomayor that she was endangering the lives of everyone on board, including her son.
The captain, along with the other three flight attendants, then threatened to remove her from her seat, claiming that she wasn’t being compliant with the United Airlines crew. Two other passengers even intervened by telling the crew that Sotomayor had done nothing wrong. Nevertheless, the captain and FAs continued to harass and humiliate the mother in front of other passengers until they finally decided to contact the airline’s upper management. After an hour, the plane finally took off without any more problems; in short, all the mistreatment Sotomayor went through wasn’t even necessary.
“Do people not understand what a ventilator is?” exclaims a TikTok commenter, shocked by how ignorant and irresponsible the crew acted. “United Airlines has the worst customer service,” chimes in another. Missy Soto shared this sentiment in her post, telling viewers to “Do not fly United Airlines.” She continued, “They treat you like you are less than them if you have a loved one with a disability.”
“This is actually nuts. The whole plane crew working together really trying to kill that kid,” remarks a Reddit user reacting to the news. Plenty of other commenters on Reddit and TikTok slam the rude and poorly trained United Airlines captain and flight attendants for their abhorrent behavior. Let’s all hope the backlash from Sotomayor’s video and online users forces United Airlines to act and punish the harassers.
