Mum left furious after flight attendant ‘mocked’ five-year-old daughter’s name

Her name isn't as uncommon as you think

Traci Radford and her five-year-old daughter were about to board at the gate at California's John Wayne Airport in 2018 when she reportedly heard a giggle from a member of the Southwest Airlines staff.

Radford claims a airlines employee made fun of her daughter's name - Abcde - pronounced 'ab-cidy'.

Abcde has epilepsy so the family were travelling pre-board in Orange County to their home in El Paso, Texas.

Radford said that the gate agent later posted a photo of Abcde's boarding pass on her Facebook page, where others joined in mocking the little girl's name.

She told ABC7: "The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees.

"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.'"

Radford further claimed that while she was standing there, the staff member took a picture of her boarding pass "and chose to post it on social media, mocking my daughter."

The mum said the post was brought to her attention by someone who had reported it to Southwest Airlines, who "after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn't done anything."

Radford recalled her daughter responding to the incident at the time: "She said 'Mom, why is she laughing at my name?' "And I said not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice and it's unfortunate.'"

At the time, Southwest Airlines said in a statement: "We extend our sincere apology to the family. We take great pride in extending our Southwest Hospitality to all of our Customers, which includes living by the Golden Rule and treating every individual with respect, in person or online. "The post is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility we expect from all of our Employees.

"We have followed up with the Employee involved, and while we do not disclose personnel actions publicly, we are using this as an opportunity to reinforce our policies and emphasize our expectations for all Employees." Although Abcde is a fairly uncommon name, it’s not completely unheard of.

In 2014, Vocativ reported that over the previous 30 years, 328 baby girls in the US have been given that name.

Related links:

• Travellers shocked as airline weighs woman on baggage scale before flight
• Man refuses to give up plane seat so husband can sit next to wife on birthday
• Woman calls for adults only flights after listening to a child cry during her journey
• Man kicked off plane for complaining about sitting next to obese man
• Woman makes little girl cry by asking her to move seats on plane – and no one thinks she is wrong