A California mother was “appalled” when she was asked to provide proof of her relationship to her son when boarding a Southwest flight out of Denver (DEN).
After a successful past of flying with her son, Lindsay Gottlieb was shocked when a Southwest gate agent asked her for additional evidence showing that her son, who is biracial, was actually hers as she was boarding flight 1808 from DEN to Oakland (OAK) on Monday. Although the mother and son have different last names, Gottlieb felt that their difference in skin color was a greater factor.
As the head coach for the UC Berkeley women’s basketball team, Gottlieb was no stranger to flying. Before her most recent experience with Southwest she had boarded 50 planes with the 1-year-old by her side without a problem.
@SouthwestAir I’m appalled that after approx 50 times flying with my 1 year old son, ticket counter personnel told me I had to “prove” that he was my son, despite having his passport. She said because we have different last name. My guess is because he has a different skin color.
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018
Beyond the necessary passport that she had to present for her son upon arriving at the airport, she was also asked to provide both a birth certificate and a Facebook post that would show the baby was indeed her child.
@SouthwestAir she 1st asked for proof with birth certificate. She then said it’s a “federal law” (not true) but asked me to prove I’m mother with Facebook post.What??Mother next to me said she’s never been asked for proof despite diff last name..not shockingly, not mixed face fam
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018
“I do feel like as a white female, with a position of privilege, and a platform where someone is going to listen, it is my responsibility to say, hey, this happened, this isn’t okay,” Gottlieb told KPIX 5 after the incident.
In response to the upsetting encounter, Southwest told Fox News, “We’re looking into this specific interaction, and we have engaged with the Customer directly to address her concerns. Our Employees are well regarded for their Hospitality and we always strive for the best experience for anyone who entrusts us with their travel.”
TPG reached out to Southwest for more information but did not get a response by time of publication.
Gottlieb says that better training could maybe prevent the situation from occurring again in the future.
@SouthwestAir it was demeaning and insensitive, not to mention inefficient. Would have missed flight if it was not delayed. I would advise better training for employees to avoid this happening to others
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018
Although she doesn’t necessarily blame the airline as a whole for the employee’s behavior. “I suspect it was just one insensitive employee,” she told KPIX 5. “It hurt my feelings. It made me feel a little bit less than, and it’s not okay.”
Featured image by Garry Lopater via Unsplash.