"Just got kicked off a @united flight because my son was crying really loud," Sarah Blackwood from the band Walk Off the Earth wrote yesterday on Twitter, accusing the airline of hating mothers.
"Apparently my little two-year-old crying son was a big threat."
Canadian music award-nominated Walk Off the Earth gained international fame recording covers such as Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball," Pharrel Williams's "Happy," and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off," and original tunes.
Blackwood, who is also seven months pregnant with another child, was booked to fly late yesterday from San Francisco to Vancouver with her son Giorgio.
"Despite numerous requests, the child was not seated, as required by federal regulation to ensure passenger safety, and was repeatedly in the aisle of the aircraft before departure and during taxi," the airline said in a statement defending its decision.
Fellow passengers, however, denounced the move on United's Facebook page, saying the mother tried her best to calm her son and that the flight attendant had been "unprofessional, unreasonable and insensitive."
By the time the jetliner reached the gate, they noted, the toddler had fallen asleep.
Dozens of supporters reacted angrily on Twitter.
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