A mom and her two-year-old son were forced to endure a three and a half hour flight together in just one seat after United Airlines gave the toddler's seat to a standby passenger.
Shirley Yamauchi, a Hawaii teacher says she and her son, who weighs 25lbs were forced to share a seat after a United Airlines stewardess told her the seat she paid $1,000 and was purchased three months ago, was given to someone flying standby.
Yamauchi says she bought the airline tickets for a teachers conference in Boston. Because children over the age of two are required to have their own seat, she purchased a ticket for her son, Taizo - paying $1,000 for each ticket.
More shocking yet, the standby passenger paid just $75 for his ticket.
The Kapolei Middle School teacher says they were sitting on the plane in Houston when a flight attendant came to check if Taizo was present.
"I told him that I bought both of these tickets and he tells me that he got the ticket on standby. Then he proceeds to sit in the center," she said.
She says she told the flight attendant about the problem, but the woman just shrugged, said the flight was full, and walked away.
"I had to move my son onto my lap. He's 25 pounds. He's half my height. I was very uncomfortable. My hand, my left arm was smashed up against the wall. I lost feeling in my legs and left arm," she said.
Yamauchi and her son were on the final leg of their 18-hour flight from Hawaii to Boston.
Yamauchi said she wanted to speak up, but was afraid of retaliation, the Daily Mail reported.
"I started remembering all those incidents with United on the news. The violence. Teeth getting knocked out. I'm Asian. I'm scared and I felt uncomfortable. I didn't want those things to happen to me," she said.
"It was very shocking. I was confused. I told him, I bought both of these seats. The flight attendant came by, shrugs and says 'flights full'," Yamauchi said.
Yamauchi says she didn't want to cause a scene, remembering the recent United incidents like the Kentucky man who was violently dragged off his flight in April.
"I'm scared. I'm worried. I'm travelling with an infant. I didn't want to get hurt. I didn't want either of us to get hurt," she said to KITV Island News.
"I had him in all these contorted sleeping positions. In the end, very sadly, he was standing up between my knees," she said.
The FAA strongly advises against a child sitting on someone's lap, saying to passengers "Your arms aren't capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence."
"What happened to my son was unsafe, uncomfortable and unfair," Yamauchi said.
With no help from staff aboard Flight 2047 - Yamauchi searched for help. She spoke to agents at the gate, who directed her to customer service. Who then directed her to a hotline number.
When she finally reached someone on the phone they told her she couldn't be refunded right away or it'd cancel the rest of her flight arrangements home.
Flights home for an adjusted ticket price would be additional expenses on top of the $1,000 ticket that her son did not use.
"It's worrisome. Everyone who has helped me so far has contradicted each other. With their suggestions, this needs to stop. United has made errors that make national headlines, yet, it continues," Yamauchi said.
Five days after the flight, the airline is finally issuing an apology. A spokesman for United says because gate agents inaccurately scanned Taizo's boarding pass, their system showed him as not checked in, so his seat was released to another passenger.
The company said, "We deeply apologise to Ms. Yamauchi and her son for this experience.
We are refunding her son's ticket and providing a travel voucher. We are also working with our gate staff to prevent this from happening again.'
Yamauchi says the incident makes her nervous about flying United again.
"I had bought both of these tickets way in advance. We did the two hour check-in time before boarding. I had my receipts. I had my boarding pass. Yet this happened," Yamauchi said.