Home Scandal and Gossip Southwest Airlines agent mocks 5 year old epileptic girl (but is mom...

Southwest Airlines agent mocks 5 year old epileptic girl (but is mom to blame too?)

Christopher Koulouris: About author bio at bottom of article.
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Abcde Redford
Pictured Southwest Airlines passengers, Abcde Redford and mom, Traci.
Abcde Redford
Pictured Southwest Airlines passengers, Abcde Redford and mom, Traci Redford.

Southwest Airlines agent reprimanded after mocking five year old epileptic girl, Abcde Redford as mom, Traci publicly relays her frustration. 

A Southwest Airlines agent has been shamed after publicly ridiculing a five-year-old epileptic girl who is called Abcde (pronounced ab-city) after sharing her boarding details on Facebook.

The incident has since led to the girl’s mother, Traci Redford, speaking out about their experience with the airline- which has since been vetted with demands to axe the agent.

Speaking to ABC 7– Redford described how the unidentified Southwest agent ridiculed her daughter as they boarded a flight at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, on November 4 upon handing over their boarding pass.

At the time, mother and daughter were flying home to El Paso, Texas.

According to the mom, not only did the agent laugh loudly at the gate, the agent went the extra distance of uploading a photograph of Redford’s daughter boarding pass onto Facebook to share with friends.

Abcde Redford epileptic girl left upset and confused: 

The episode according to Redford led to the five year old girl, Abcde being upset and confused.

‘She said “Mom, why is she laughing at my name? And I said not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice and it’s unfortunate,’ Redford told ABC7.

Redford said she was horrified enough when the agent laughed in their faces at the gate.

‘The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees. So I turned around and said, “Hey if I can hear you, my daughter can hear you, so I’d appreciate if you’d just stop,”‘ she said.

When she was later told about the post on Facebook, Redford’s disgust worsened.

Told the mother, ‘While I was sitting there, she took a picture of my boarding pass and chose to post it on social media, mocking my daughter.

‘It was actually brought to my attention by somebody who had seen it on Facebook and reported it to Southwest Airlines. 

‘And after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn’t done anything’.

Southwest Airlines refuses to say whether agent was fired or not: 

Southwest Airlines has since issued Redford an apology but refused to reveal whether or not the agent has been fired or faced any other kind of disciplinary action.

Told the airline in a released statement: ‘We extend our sincere apology to the family. We take great pride in extending our Southwest Hospitality to all of our Customers, which includes living by the Golden Rule and treating every individual with respect, in person or online. 

‘The post is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility we expect from all of our Employees. 

‘We have followed up with the Employee involved, and while we do not disclose personnel actions publicly, we are using this as an opportunity to reinforce our policies and emphasize our expectations for all Employees,’

The episode has led to social media users castigating both Traci Reynolds and the airliner, with one commentator posting, ‘The real question is… What is that employee doing posting a minor child’s full name on social media? Isn’t there some kind of law against that?’

And then there were these reactions on the web that caught this author’s attention. See what you think?

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