It is a rather unusual one, to be fair.
A mum took to Reddit to reveal how she was travelling with her daughter recently, but was left reeling when a flight attendant openly made fun of her little girl’s unusual moniker.
As the mum and her five-year-old daughter handed their boarding passes to the waiting flight attendant, mum Traci swore she heard a giggle.
The next thing the US-based mum knew, the female Southwest Airlines employee started “pointing and laughing” at the little girl.’
The reason? Well, Traci reckons it was her little girl’s name on the boarding pass that did it.
Little Abcde – which apparently is pronounced “ab-city,” was boarding the flight from California to Texas early because she suffers from epilepsy when the mocking started.
“The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees,” the upset mum told ABC7.
“So I turned around and said, ‘Hey if I can hear you, my daughter can hear you, so I’d appreciate it if you’d just stop’.”
Why are they laughing at my name?”
Traci also said the ridicule only escalated from there with the agent posting a photo of the boarding pass on Facebook, which she didn’t know at the time, but was told about later as a friend had spotted the post.
Traci, who was naturally upset at this, says she contacted Southwest Airlines as her daughter has been left ‘traumatised’ by the unkind behaviour.
“She said ‘Mum, why is she laughing at my name?’” Traci said.
“And I said not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice – and it’s unfortunate.”
The airline has since issued a statement to the family, saying:
“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,” it read.
“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 emphasise our expectations for all employees.”
