Falsely accused and relocated
Dec 20, 2014, 9:10 pm
#46
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 6,580
There are certain social norms about whose needs are more important than others. Often, this is a result of past discrimination. For example, handicapped people are normally seen by society as having needs that must be met at any cost, and it is taboo to complain about this. Breast-feeding mothers are the same way. If there is any debate in the media or among the public that involves a breast-feeding mother and an unrelated male, the breast-feeding mother is going to win every time, period. Those are the values our society has.
OP didn't do anything wrong, but there wasn't much he could have done to avoid this situation either. If he paid extra to sit in the bulkhead, he should look into getting a refund. If not, c'est la vie.
OP didn't do anything wrong, but there wasn't much he could have done to avoid this situation either. If he paid extra to sit in the bulkhead, he should look into getting a refund. If not, c'est la vie.
Dec 20, 2014, 9:58 pm
#47
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2001
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Moderator time-out.
Two of the forum's moderators have just spent a lot of time editing or deleting posts in order to rid this thread of unduly personalized attacks by a few on other members, of the type long barred by the FlyerTalk Rules (aka Terms of Service).
Surely the participants in this discussion can discuss the topic without attacking each other or other members -- especially during the holiday season!
This thread is going to be closed overnight for a cooling-off period. When it reopens, we'd strongly encourage that the discussion continue within the terms of the Rules - on the topic as framed by the OP and not on attacking each other. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.
Surely the participants in this discussion can discuss the topic without attacking each other or other members -- especially during the holiday season!
This thread is going to be closed overnight for a cooling-off period. When it reopens, we'd strongly encourage that the discussion continue within the terms of the Rules - on the topic as framed by the OP and not on attacking each other. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.
Dec 21, 2014, 9:46 am
#48
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2001
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Programs: UA Plat/2MM [23-yr. 1K, now emeritus] clawing way back to WN-A List; MR LT Titanium; HY Whateverist.
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As promised in the post above, this thread has now been re-opened with the expectation that discussion will be about the topic, and not about other members in a personalized way. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.
Dec 21, 2014, 11:43 am
#49
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 822
[Off-topic comment edited by Moderator.]
The lav on a packed aircraft offers privacy.If a breast feeding woman wants to expose her breast's rather than cover up and doesn't want to feel uncomfortable exposing her breast's in public....then the lav provides that privacy.A suckling baby doesn't "eat" the same way as you do.On a flight a breast feeding woman can also chose to feed her baby from a pre-prepared bottle if she doesn't want to cover up whilst breast feeding in public.Any woman that exposes her breast's in public can expect to have people look at her.I would have looked in astonishment that someone could be so selfishly uncaring as to the strangers around her.In some cultures the sight of a woman exposing her breast's could be highly offensive.Where was the flight from?
Last edited by Ocn Vw 1K; Dec 21, 2014 at 1:43 pm Reason: Per posts 48-49 above.
Dec 21, 2014, 12:43 pm
#50
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: New Zealand/ UK
Programs: NZ, EK, QF, SQ.
Posts: 776
I have breast fed all three of my children, both in public and in the privacy of my own home.
There is absolutely no need to expose any of the breast to public view. Apart from arranging my clothes so that breast feeding could be done easily, I always carried a scarf as an additional cover-up.
There are, however, some good reasons for not wanting to breast feed beside a stranger. The chief of these for me was that, once the baby is old enough to be aware of strangers, the presence of an unknown person can sometimes distract the baby from feeding, so that the whole process becomes unnecessarily prolonged.
There is absolutely no need to expose any of the breast to public view. Apart from arranging my clothes so that breast feeding could be done easily, I always carried a scarf as an additional cover-up.
There are, however, some good reasons for not wanting to breast feed beside a stranger. The chief of these for me was that, once the baby is old enough to be aware of strangers, the presence of an unknown person can sometimes distract the baby from feeding, so that the whole process becomes unnecessarily prolonged.
Dec 21, 2014, 3:52 pm
#51
Join Date: Jan 2013
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There are, however, some good reasons for not wanting to breast feed beside a stranger. The chief of these for me was that, once the baby is old enough to be aware of strangers, the presence of an unknown person can sometimes distract the baby from feeding, so that the whole process becomes unnecessarily prolonged.
Dec 21, 2014, 4:43 pm
#52
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 628
I am very sympathetic to nursing mothers, but this is a silly analogy.
If the major concern here is the infant, he or she is not eating off of a surface of the lav but off of mom's breast, a unit designed to function for the purpose in any number of environments, generally not sterile ones or even close to clean. Even today infants in the third world nurse in roadways full of blaring traffic, dust, and heaven knows what else. It's eat, or die. Seven billion former infants can't have managed to be that picky that a stranger's glance or noise or dirt in the surroundings would have put them off. If mom's breast is reasonably clean, that likely suffices - breast milk is full of antibodies in any case.
I don't think either had to move. Mom could have discreetly used a towel or blanket. She played the trump card not for her infant, but for herself.
If the major concern here is the infant, he or she is not eating off of a surface of the lav but off of mom's breast, a unit designed to function for the purpose in any number of environments, generally not sterile ones or even close to clean. Even today infants in the third world nurse in roadways full of blaring traffic, dust, and heaven knows what else. It's eat, or die. Seven billion former infants can't have managed to be that picky that a stranger's glance or noise or dirt in the surroundings would have put them off. If mom's breast is reasonably clean, that likely suffices - breast milk is full of antibodies in any case.
I don't think either had to move. Mom could have discreetly used a towel or blanket. She played the trump card not for her infant, but for herself.
Dec 21, 2014, 4:46 pm
#53
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: QFF Gold, Flying Blue, Enrich
Posts: 5,366
I have breast fed all three of my children, both in public and in the privacy of my own home.
There is absolutely no need to expose any of the breast to public view. Apart from arranging my clothes so that breast feeding could be done easily, I always carried a scarf as an additional cover-up.
There are, however, some good reasons for not wanting to breast feed beside a stranger. The chief of these for me was that, once the baby is old enough to be aware of strangers, the presence of an unknown person can sometimes distract the baby from feeding, so that the whole process becomes unnecessarily prolonged.
There is absolutely no need to expose any of the breast to public view. Apart from arranging my clothes so that breast feeding could be done easily, I always carried a scarf as an additional cover-up.
There are, however, some good reasons for not wanting to breast feed beside a stranger. The chief of these for me was that, once the baby is old enough to be aware of strangers, the presence of an unknown person can sometimes distract the baby from feeding, so that the whole process becomes unnecessarily prolonged.
Dec 21, 2014, 7:49 pm
#55
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 765
I would never move without compensation if I paid extra for that seat. I'd ask the mother to compensate me twice the fee I paid herself with cash, not the airline. If it's really a problem for her, she would pay. I have the right to look in any direction for any length of time, whether socially accepted or not. If the airline calls the police, that's grounds for a lawsuit. Let them get negative publicity for this.
Dec 21, 2014, 9:02 pm
#56
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: on the path to perdition
Programs: Delta, United
Posts: 4,786
My suggestion to the OP is to file a complaint with the airline and DOT. I doubt that it will do much other than give them a black mark in the complaint column.
Dec 21, 2014, 9:13 pm
#57
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: QFF Gold, Flying Blue, Enrich
Posts: 5,366
My suggestion to the OP is to file a complaint with the airline and DOT. I doubt that it will do much other than give them a black mark in the complaint column.
Dec 21, 2014, 9:15 pm
#58
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: 대한민국 (South Korea) - ex-PVG (上海)
Programs: UA MM / LT Gold (LT UC), DL SM, AA PLT (AC), OZ, KE; GE and Korean SES (like GE); Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,995
Did she breastfeed (is it one word or two??) the entire flight? Then, why have the OP move for other than times she was feeding her child? This was clearly a ploy to get the seat for her husband that they couldn't get otherwise; really nice people! SHE has rights, HE has no rights. Breast feeding (see, I'm flexible on the spelling) is common here in Asia, but the mother almost always has the decency to cover up during these times, so what is there to see? If not, she should not feel "uncomfortable". Emirates was wrong in so many ways here.
