A father of a 3-year-old child with special needs had to go through a very painful experience while flying with United Airlines. Parents with a 3-year-old child with special needs had to go through a lot of inconvenience while flying to Newark from Delhi. He tweeted his ordeal in a series of tweets, and the airline responded to the same. Here is exactly what happened!
Father Of 3YO Child With Special Needs Blasts United Airlines
This is a painful post to share my terrible experience with @united service. We booked a FULL PRICE (USD 23K) business class ticket on their Polaris class on UA83 – DEL-EWR. First the flight was delayed by almost two hours. No big deal, we spent time in the lounge.
— Uttiya Basu (@uttiyab) August 4, 2023
Identified as Battiya Basu, the father of a three-year-old child with special needs boarded a DEL-EWR flight. Their flight was already 2 hours late, and then he got to know that the pre-ordered meal for their child was not loaded on the flight.
First, United forgot to load his child meal, even though the ticket says so. So we took out our own food. While my wife is mixing the cereal, my son is crying due to an unfamiliar place and environment. I pace up and down the aisle and he calms down and eats.
— Uttiya Basu (@uttiyab) August 4, 2023
The couple had to then prepare their own food, and the child was crying because of the unfamiliar environment. The child was playing with the IFE screen and was excitedly making sounds. The tweet then mentioned that the flight attendant was rude to the child’s mother, asking her to pacify the baby.
FA – “Ma’am, your child SIMPLY cannot be making any noise. This is rest time, Everyone is sleeping. You are DOING NOTHING to keep him quiet. You need to keep him silent”.
We try to explain his needs to her but she refuses to listen.— Uttiya Basu (@uttiyab) August 4, 2023
After the flight attendant rudely spoke to the couple, the mother asked the father to take the child for a walk. That did help. The father asked the other passengers in the plane if the sound of the child was disturbing, and they answered that the sound was not audible over the noise of the plane.
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Advised People To Look For Alternatives
We were forced to let our son walk in the aisles, which actually disturbed people more and excited him further. I confirmed with multiple passengers who all said that they were not bothered, as he was barely audible over the plane noise.
— Uttiya Basu (@uttiyab) August 4, 2023
Concluding his ordeal, the father asked other people to look for other alternative airlines if they were travelling with a child with special needs and not go with United Airlines.
Also sent formal letters to their head of customer service as well as the @USDOT. The request I made was to know what action was taken on the FA, why the special needs were not communicated to the crew and what’s was being done to ensure this was never repeated again.
— Uttiya Basu (@uttiyab) August 4, 2023
The airline did get back to him and offer him some vouchers, which did not satisfy the father at all. He mentioned the same in the tweet, saying that he was offered a USD 100 voucher. The representative called him to apologise and then asked the father to pass it on to the mother.
Hi there, Uttiya. We’re sorry to hear this. When you have a moment please DM us your confirmation number and further information. ^DK https://t.co/Y6hG6u3i8R
— United Airlines (@united) August 4, 2023
In one of the tweets, the father asked some questions to United Airlines that have yet to be answered.
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