It’s usually a bad idea to take a baby on an airplane, if only because the air pressure adjustments are hard to handle when you’re too young to know to swallow and get your ears to pop. When the 13-month-old daughter of Lee Ann and Joseph Cid wouldn’t stop crying during a Southwest Airlines flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico, the tears turned into a domestic incident. That’s when Southwest flight attendant Beverly McCurley intervened, taking custody of the 13-month-old and walking her to the back of the plane, away from her parents.
Here’s the weird part: Southwest denies that their flight attendant took custody of the baby; however, police from Albuquerque International Sunport say McCurley did take custody of the child to deescalate the situation. Who do you believe, the police department, who should be making the official version of the situation, or Southwest, who is probably afraid of a lawsuit?
“What you read about the flight attendant taking the baby is not the case. She did it as a ‘Would you like me to bounce your baby for you?'” said Southwest spokesman Whitney Eichinger. “The family on board was having an altercation and their young child was upset. Our flight attendant offered to the parent — offered to hold the child on board. Our attendants do that from time to time just to soothe the crying babies because they are used to walking up and down the aisles.”
The parents and child were eventually allowed to continue on to their destination, and no charges were filed. The girl was reported to have a black eye, but parents said the cause was her uncle’s dog, rather than the parents’ violence.
Tags: Southwest Airlines, baby taken from parents by flight attendant, baby taken from parents on airplane flight, domestic violence, Albuquerque International Sunport, Lee Ann Cid, Joseph Cid, Beverly McCurley, domestic disputes, Whitney Eichinger
