American Airlines apologizes for forcing female passenger to throw away breast milk

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- American Airlines issued a statement Thursday, apologizing for trying to charge a passenger from Mesa, Arizona an extra fee at the gate for carrying frozen breast milk, forcing her to leave the breast milk behind.

Sara Salow, a 30-year-old mother, said she was humiliated as airline staff said that she had too many bags and must pay 150 U.S. dollars for the small cooler filled with eight bags of frozen breast milk, according to the local ABC 15 channel.

"It was humiliating, they kept telling us it was because we were basic economy passengers. It really felt demeaning," said Salow, who was traveling with her husband and their 13-month-old son from Boston to Phoenix on Dec. 7.

When she started crying, other passengers offered to take the cooler but the airlines employees denied all requests. She had to dispose of the cooler and breast milk eventually, Salow told ABC.

"The customer should have been allowed to fly with the breast milk and we apologize that a mistake was made in this case. We have clarified our policies with our team members," the American Airlines said in the statement.

When boarding the plane, Salow and her husband had altogether four items, including a stroller, diaper bag, backpack and the small cooler with breast milk.

Salow said she had called the airlines in advance and confirmed that they were allowed to take one carry-on bag per person, while strollers, diaper bags, breast pumps and breast milk containers would not be counted as carry-on items.

The disagreeable service of major airlines of the United States has come under intense fire many times this year, especially over issues of overbooking and luggage policies.

United Airlines, for example, has sparked global outrage in April for violently dragging a passenger off an overbooked flight, when the man refused to give up his seat. Enditem