Airline: flight attendant disciplined in breast-feeding incident

BURLINGTON, Vt. --A commuter airline says it has disciplined a flight attendant who ordered a passenger off an airplane preparing for takeoff for refusing to cover her baby with a blanket while breast-feeding the child.

The attendant did not meet company expectations when Emily Gillette, of Santa Fe, N.M., was told to leave the plane at Burlington International Airport for declining a blanket, Freedom Airlines spokesman Paul Skellon said in an e-mail to news outlets Friday. The nature of the discipline was not disclosed.

"We concluded that the flight attendant in question acted contrary to the company's expectations," Skellon wrote. "We believe our disciplinary action was appropriate and was taken after considering all of the facts leading to this incident."

But Gillette disagreed with Skellon's contention that the captain of the flight apologized and "immediately requested that they be re-boarded for their flight," which the family refused.

Gillette said Friday that the airline "never offered" her a chance to get back on the plane for a Delta Air Lines flight operated by Freedom Airlines on Oct. 13.

"I would have jumped at the opportunity," she said.

Sitting aboard a plane that was three hours late in taking off, Gillette began to breast-feed her 22-month-old daughter. She says a flight attendant handed her a blanket and told her to cover up, which Gillette declined to do. The attendant said Gillette was offending her and she was removed from the plane.

Delta did provide ground transportation and a hotel before rebooking the family on a flight with a different airline the next day.

Gillette filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission because breast-feeding is protected under state law.