This airline asked a breastfeeding mom to cover up and sparked a viral conversation

In America, mothers have the right to breastfeed their child in public, but what about when you’re on an airplane? That’s the issue one California mom, Shelby Angel, brought to light after she had a bad experience on Dutch airline KLM.

In a Facebook post that has gone viral Shelby explained:

“Before we even took off, I was approached by a flight attendant carrying a blanket. She told me (and I quote) “if you want to continue doing the breastfeeding, you need to cover yourself.” I told her no, my daughter doesn’t like to be covered up. That would upset her almost as much as not breastfeeding her at all. She then warned me that if anyone complained, it would be my issue to deal with (no one complained. On any of the flights I took with my daughter. Actually, no one has ever complained to me about breastfeeding in public. Except this flight attendant).”

Shelby’s post gained traction but soon the conversation spread to Twitter, where another woman, Heather Yemm, asked KLM to explain its breastfeeding policy.

The airline responded, “To ensure that all our passengers of all backgrounds feel comfortable on board, we may request a mother to cover herself while breastfeeding, should other passengers be offended by this.” Twitter users didn’t like this response and even started asking other airlines about their breastfeeding policies.

British Airways confirmed it welcomes breastfeeding onboard and a Delta rep tweeted that the airline’s policy is to “allow a breastfeeding mother to feed her child on board in a manner she feels comfortable with.”

That sounds like a good plan to us. Southwest was also questioned by Twitter users and confirmed that “Southwest does indeed welcome nursing mothers who wish to breastfeed on the aircraft and/or within our facilities”.

This important online conversation underscores how vital it is for airlines to have supportive policies in place and train staff on those policies. Back in March, a Canadian mom made international headlines after an Air Canada call center representative told her to nurse in an airplane bathroom (a suggestion that is contrary to Air Canada’s own policies).

It’s time for every airline to recognize that breastfeeding needs to be welcomed and that all staff members need to understand this. Whether a mother uses a cover or not needs to be up to her, not a flight attendant or other passengers.

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