A business class passenger is accusing a United Airlines flight attendant of shaming him and his wife for having a special needs child

07.08.2023 - 03:41 / insider.com / United Airlines / Airlines

A man has accused a United Airlines flight attendant of shaming him and his wife over their special needs child's behavior during a flight from New Delhi to Newark. 

Uttiya Basu complained about the airline in a series of posts on Twitter published on August 4. 

Basu said the flight attendant approached them after his son started crying and making noise during the family's 16-hour flight. The family had paid for "a FULL PRICE (USD 23K) business class ticket on their Polaris class on UA83 - DEL-EWR," per Basu. 

Basu said he and his wife had let their son play with his toys and check out the in-flight entertainment system, during which their son let out "a few small squeals and laughs due to excitement of finding his shows." 

"This is when a flight attendant comes over and starts rudely rebuking my wife," Basu wrote. 

"Ma'am, your child SIMPLY cannot be making any noise. This is rest time, Everyone is sleeping. You are DOING NOTHING to keep him quiet. You need to keep him silent," said the flight attendant, per Basu's account.

Basu claimed that the flight attendant refused to listen to any of their explanations.

"I have two children and I know how to be a mother to them. You need to do SOMETHING," Basu said of the flight attendant.

The same unnamed flight attendant later told Basu that he should let his child walk around the plane to calm him down. Basu said this ended up exciting his son further instead of calming the child down.

Basu wrote on Twitter that he reached out to United's customer service head and the US Department of Transportation, but was disappointed when United offered him a brief apology and a $100 travel voucher. 

"Well, I asked for an action taken report and an apology to my wife for the rude and condescending behavior of this FA. I did not ask for the voucher and a form letter," Basu tweeted on Friday, adding that he wanted to return the vouchers as they were "an insult adding to the injury."

United Airlines' customer service later reached out to Basu via Twitter on Friday.

On Saturday, Basu tweeted that he had a "long and detailed discussion" with a United representative, during which he was "assured of a detailed investigation on the incident." 

"The representative did apologize to me orally on the call and requested me to pass on the apology to my wife," Basu said in his follow-up tweet. 

Insider was unable to independently verify when Basu's flight took place. Basu and representatives for United Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.