Woman Sues Delta Airlines After Being Kicked Off Plane for Breastfeeding Daughter

David Mittleman

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Vermont has some of the toughest laws guaranteeing a woman’s right to breastfeed in public. Nevertheless, a New Mexico woman was shamed and humiliated when a flight attendant on a New York-bound Delta flight at Burlington International Airport forced the woman and her family off of the plane because she was breast- feeding her 22-month-old daughter and refused to cover up with a blanket.

Emily Gillette attempted to negotiate with Delta, but the settlement collapsed. She has since filed a federal lawsuit. According to court documents, Gillette was flying from Burlington on a Delta Connections flight operated by Freedom Airlines, Inc. when she twice refused a blanket offered by the flight attendant to cover herself while breastfeeding. Consequently, the flight attendant ordered her off of the plane for “failing to follow the flight attendant’s instructions”. Gillette gathered her belongings and approached the front of the plane. She then told the flight attendant that she was embarrassing and humiliating her. Nevertheless, the flight attendant pointed to the exit and demanded that she “just get off the plane”.

Delta declined to comment on the pending litigation, but did state that they “work with all of our Connection partners to ensure the customer experience is consistent.” In this case, it seems as if the “customer experience” can also be a poor one, as long as it’s consistent.