Fair warning: If you've ever flown with a baby or a small child, the following story is probably going to enrage you. An unlikely mom, Farah Naz Khan, a 34-year-old physician, said she was traveling on Mesa Airlines from Montana to Houston. She was with her daughter, who isn't even 2, and her husband.
Of course, there are bound to be some diaper changes on any flight longer than, say, an hour. But when Farah disposed of a soiled diaper in a scented bag, a male flight attendant was quick to harass her about it. It's entirely confusing, because what else was she supposed to do with the diaper? Put it in her carry-on? Wear it as a hat? How about no.
Farah spoke with Today about how it all went down on what quickly became a super-crappy flight. "When I walked back to the front holding my diaper wipes container and, like, the pad that we used to change my daughter's diaper on, the flight attendant accosted me and said: 'Did you just dispose of a diaper back there? That's a biohazard.'"
It just gets worse and worse, though. Farah said the flight attendant was simply awful. Not only did he refuse to let her explain (not that she needed to!), he had her go and get the poopy diaper from the trash!
Farah said she felt completely humiliated and for no reason. Of course, this flight attendant was not following proper diaper protocol. That fact was soon proved when Farah said she asked another flight attendant for a garbage bag so she could throw it away and, perhaps, hold onto it for the remainder of the flight — gross.
That flight attendant informed her that she had done absolutely nothing wrong in the first place.
Here is the absolute creepiest part. When Farah got off the plane, she filed a customer service incident report. Yes, mama! But then, a few hours later, she got a really disturbing phone call from none other than the horrible flight attendant.
Not that there would be any appropriate reason for a flight attendant to be calling a passenger after a flight, but no, he was not calling to apologize. He was calling to harass her a bit more, even telling her she was now on the no-fly list. He also told her, "You people bring your children everywhere. Don't you know that some people just want a peaceful flight and don't want to listen to your effing children?"
Farah says she put the call on speaker. "I hear your obnoxious daughter in the background," the flight attendant said. The call lasted about three minutes, she said, and ended when she hung up on him.
Clearly, Farah was not placed on a no-fly list, as she flew back to Houston with no issues. But she's still really concerned over what happened. "I'm legitimately worried about this person," she said. "Over a diaper if he's able to call me and say those things, what else could he be capable of?"
Farah says that no one from Mesa has contacted her family, but she has gotten two pretty lackluster calls from United Airlines. She said no one would tell her how this person got her phone number or if he's been disciplined.
People on Twitter are certainly talking about the situation, though. And, like Farah, they want answers from the airline.
