Delta Sends A New Mom A Ridiculous Tweet And The Internet Goes Nuts

The Internet exploded this weekend after Delta answered a mother’s tweet inquiring about breastfeeding policy with an answer she didn’t like.. Lindsay Jaynes, the mom of a 10-week-old son tweeted the following to @DeltaAssist:

“What’s your breastfeeding policy? I’ll be flying with my 10 wk old son and he won’t nurse with a cover or take a bottle. Thanks.”

According to an interview Jayne did with 11Alive’s Julie Wolfe, she was trying to plan ahead for a flight in the coming month. A few hours later Delta answered her tweet with:

“Lindsay unfortunately you are not able to breast feed if you don’t have a cover up. I’m sorry. *SD”

This is the part that baffles me. Jayne told the news station that she was already well-aware of Delta’s past issues with mothers nursing without a cover (issues I obviously fin problematic as a mom who breastfed three kids):

“I was shocked. I was expecting a link to their policy I could print out just in case there were any issues. I heard about the woman who got kicked off a Delta flight for breastfeeding without a cover.”

She was referring to a 2006 incident in which Emily Gillette was asked to leave a flight for nursing and refusing to cover up (even though according to witnesses no one could actually see any of her breast). In that particular case, Gillette eventually reached an undisclosed settlement.

Jayne exchanged a few more tweets with Delta, and yes, the whoever the Delta rep is who was manning their twitter account should definitely get some sensitivity training, but I think the whole thing was an exercise in futility on Jayne’s part. She obviously knew the company’s history on the subject as well as her own legal rights? Why even bother to tweet at them, then? I would have planned to nurse the way I needed to nurse and perhaps brought some literature about the law to show a wayward flight attendant if there were any issues with it.

By the end of their exchange the Twitter-sphere (isn’t that an annoying term?) had picked up on it an more than 1,200 people had tweeted at Jayne’s handle, @ClassicHippie. In true big business fashion, Delta eventually recanted their original stance. Another rep tweeted this at Jayne:

“Delta welcomes breastfeeding mothers and babies on our flights. We apologize for the misinformation earlier. *TH”

Jayne says that while she did receive an apologetic phone call from Delta, she doesn’t feel like they are taking her seriously.

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