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The mother of a disabled child is reporting mistreatment at the hands of airline crew after they reportedly forced her to remove a ventilator that was enabling him to breathe. The flight from Tampa International Airport (TPA) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) saw this sad incident unfold.
@missysoto0 @United Airlines Do better and be better! You tried to deny my child the right to fly HOME stating his vent and portable oxygen concentrator are a danger to my son and other passengers?! The captain of flight number UA1349 tried saying my son shouldn’t be allowed to fly because of his special needs. 4 flight crews told me I needed to disconnect his vent and oxygen until we were up in the air & kept saying our seats would be moved because I was unwilling to comply?! I explained multiple times that these pieces of equipment are keeping my son alive and to be told “He’ll be ok until we’re up in the air” is ignorant and unacceptable!!! If you have a loved one with special needs, I do NOT recommend flying United!!! This goes against ADA and corporate is unwilling to do anything to right the situation. An apology was all I wanted!!!#NoahScottStrong #TeamSpicySweetPotato #babiesoftiktok #fyp #medicalmomsoftiktok #medicallycomplex #preemiestrong #warriors #tracheostomy #trach #gtubebaby #gtube #trachbabies #dobetterbebetter #americanswithdisabilitiesact #unitedairlines
Melissa Sotomayor explained in a now viral TikTok video that her “son is dependent upon a trach, short for tracheostomy, and ventilator. He has vision and hearing problems.” She had documentation to show that her son needed the medical equipment, but a male flight attendant allegedly was not having it. He reportedly told her she needed to take him off of it and stow the equipment for takeoff. She explained that he needed these devices to live, but the flight attendant reportedly had two others and the captain also try to tell her to put the ventilator and portable oxygen concentrator away.
After reportedly being harassed by the crew (with the plane taxiing for close to an hour), Sotomayor was allowed to keep her son connected to his medical devices. The plane took off and arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) without further incident.
Sotomayor reached out to United Airlines after the flight (according to The New York Post) and was told that they don’t go against FAA guidelines (essentially backing the flight attendants).
Anthony’s Take: I can’t imagine what was going on during this flight. Essential medical equipment should be allowed to remain on when it is essentially providing life support. Heart pacemakers or portable oxygen concentrators (POC) are exempt from FAA directives around the use of portable electronic devices.
(Featured Image Credit: @missysoto0 via X.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
