United Airlines Boots Pregnant Singer Sarah Blackwood From Flight For Crying Baby

In yet another public relations gaffe for United Airlines, seven-month-pregnant singer Sarah Blackwood of Walk Off The Earth was kicked off a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Vancouver on Wednesday, all because her 23-month-old son was being “fussy” and, according to the airline, causing “safety concerns,” according to a report by CTV News.

The singer, currently on tour with her band, is traveling with her toddler and preparing to give birth in two months. She told CTV that while returning from San Francisco on United Airlines regional partner SkyWest Airlines, her son, Giorgio, was upset for the first leg of the journey. During the second part of the flight (United Airlines Flight 6223), a flight attendant warned her that if she was unable to “control” her son, the pilot would turn the plane around.

“I had to hold him, he was being very squirmy and was crying very loud.

I looked at her and said ‘I’m doing what I can here, I’m holding him. This is what I’m supposed to do.’ “

Giorgio was sitting in her lap, as United Airlines policy allows children under two years of age to fly for free with their parents without a ticket. Another flight attendant approached Blackwood and started to speak with her, and she says she started getting emotional and upset.

“My eyes were welling up, I was so embarrassed.”

A man in the seat next to her, with three children of his own, tried to reassure her that she was doing fine. The pilot nevertheless turned the plane around. According to Global News, by the time the plane came to a stop (with reassurances by the captain to the other passengers that they were landing to refuel), her son was asleep.

However, once the plane came to a stop, a third flight attendant approached Blackwood and informed her that she and her son would need to leave the plane. When she asked why, she was told that the flight attendants felt “unsafe” because her son was causing a “threat” to the airplane.

Blackwood felt absolutely humiliated as she and her nanny exited the plane.

“It felt like it was in slow motion. I was in tears, it was so embarrassing. It was awful.”

In a statement to CTV News, SkyWest Airlines said that Blackwood’s removal from United Airlines Flight 6223 was a “difficult decision” fueled by “safety concerns.”

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, this isn’t the first time that United Airlines crews have exercised poor decision-making in booting minors from their flights. Earlier this month, a 15-year-old autistic girl was kicked from a United flight home from Disneyworld.

SkyWest Airlines remains adamant that they made the correct decision.

“Despite numerous requests, the child was not seated, as required by federal regulation to ensure passenger safety, and was repeatedly in the aisle of the aircraft before departure and during taxi.

While our crews work to make travelling safe and comfortable for all travellers, particularly families, the crew made the appropriate decision to return to the gate in the interest of safety.”

After working her way through a chain of United employees, Blackwood was finally told by a supervisor that she was removed because she refused to put a seatbelt around her son, as repeatedly requested — a claim she disputes.

“If I had the chance to put a seatbelt over him I would. […] There is no reason why any mother should be apologetic to the people around her because her baby is having a hard time on a flight. They’re not adults. They are not always consolable the way that people think that they are.”

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images]