Airline apologises to girl after staff mocked her name

Oh dear

Southwest Airlines has apologised after a member of its staff mocked a five-year-old girl's name.

Traci Redford said she and her daughter, named Abcde (pronounced "Ab-city"), were flying from Santa Ana, California, to their home in El Paso, Texas, a few weeks ago when a gate agent began mocking the girl's name. "The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees," Redford told ABC7. "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." The gate agent allegedly began laughing and took a photo of the child's boarding pass and posted it online. https://twitter.com/ABC7Veronica/status/1067923437446778881 In a statement to Buzzfeed News, airline spokesperson Chris Mainz said the employee's social media post "is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility" the airline expects. "We take great pride in extending our Southwest hospitality to all of our customers," the statement said. Mainz said they have followed up with the employee involved and are using this as an opportunity to reinforce their policies and emphasise their expectations for their employees. Vocativ reported there were 328 people named Abcde in the United States in 2014.