http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061114&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=611140314&SectionCat=NEWS05&Template=printart
Burlington Free Press
Woman alleges she was kicked off Burlington flight for breast-feeding
By Sky Barsch
Free Press Staff Writer
November 14, 2006
A New Mexico woman who was kicked off an airplane departing from
Burlington International Airport after she breast-fed her 22-month-old
daughter has filed a complaint against two airlines with the Vermont
Human Rights Commission.
Emily Gillette, 27, filed a charge with the commission last week -- a
step citizens can take before suing in court -- after a Freedom
Airlines flight attendant allegedly told Gillette that she offended
her, ordering her to cover up.
Robert Appel, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights
Commission, said statute prevented him from saying whether the charge
had been filed with his office. He did say that breast-feeding is
protected under the Public Accommodations Act, meaning that a mother
is allowed to breast-feed in public. Gillette's attorney, Elizabeth
Boepple, provided documentation to the Free Press of the charge filed
with the Human Rights Commission.
In that filing and in a telephone interview Monday, Gillette said she,
her husband, Brad, and their daughter, River, were seated on Delta
Flight 6160, a code-shared flight with Freedom Airlines, on Oct. 13
awaiting takeoff. The family, which had been visiting relatives in
Vermont, was on its way to New York City to rendezvous with family
visiting from out of state and out of the country. The flight had been
delayed by three hours, and it was about 10 p.m. when it appeared that
it was nearing takeoff time.
Gillette said she was seated in the second-to-last row, next to the
window, when she began to breast-feed her daughter. Breast-feeding
helps babies with the altitude changes through takeoff and landings,
Gillette said. She said she was being discreet -- her husband was
seated between her and the aisle -- and no part of her breast was
showing.
Gillette said that's when a flight attendant approached her, trying to
hand her a blanket and directing her to cover up. Gillette said she
told the attendant she was exercising her legal right to breast-feed,
declining the blanket. That's when Gillette alleges the attendant told
her, "You are offending me," and told her to cover up her daughter's
head with the blanket.
"I declined," Gillette said in her complaint.
Moments later, a Delta ticket agent approached the Gillettes and said
that the flight attendant was having the family removed from the
flight.
Gillette said she didn't raise her voice -- not wanting to make a
scene in the current jumpy air travel atmosphere -- and complied with
the ticket agent, crying as she exited the plane.
Paul Skellon, a spokesperson for Phoenix-based Freedom Airlines, said
he was aware of the incident.
"A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft,
providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way," that doesn't
bother others, Skellon said. "She was asked to use a blanket just to
provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she
refused to use it, and that's all I know."
Skellon said the airline investigated the incident, and the flight
attendant is still employed.
Gillette said she felt "really ashamed."
"It embarrassed me. That was my first reaction, which is a weird
reaction for doing something so good for a child. And then helpless,"
Gillette said. "I wasn't even allowed to get angry because it could
have been held against me. Then, devastated all around."
Delta provided ground transportation, hotel accommodations and new
tickets on another airline, according to Boepple, a Manchester
attorney, who is representing Gillette. Gillette, who owns restaurant
equipment and repair companies with her husband, said she spent the
family weekend on the phone with airline representatives upset from
the incident.
Asked what she hoped to come of the case, Gillette said she wants to
see policy change.
"I don't have any kind of high expectations. I'd really love to see
them make a donation to an organization I choose. And, yeah, I want
another trip with my family."
Contact Sky Barsch at [log in to unmask] or 660-1861.
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