United Airlines apologized to a woman who claimed the crew asked her to remove her son's life support device

United Airlines reportedly apologized to a woman who claimed crew members asked her to remove her young son's life support device during a flight to another region.

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Melissa Sotomayor posted a video on TikTok in which she explained that the crew attempted to take away the life support device and tracheostomy tube of her 21-month-old son, without which the baby depends, for storage during the flight.

'Message for United Airlines,' Sotomayor said in the video. 'Your treatment of my son when we were returning home from Tampa to Newark was absolutely ridiculous.'

A United Airlines representative apologized to the customer and expressed condolences for any inconvenience she may have experienced.

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Sotomayor feels that the airline's apology is not 'sincere.'

In a nearly 10-minute video that has been viewed over 1.2 million times, Sotomayor stated that her son is 'medically complex' after being born at 22 weeks of gestation.

Sotomayor mentioned that she received a medical waiver and documentation stating that her son can safely fly from the airline and his doctors - a pulmonologist and a pediatrician. She noted that they had no issues flying to Tampa, the problems arose only on the way back home.

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When one of the crew members told her to disconnect her son from the devices, Sotomayor said she could not do it because 'they keep the baby alive' and provided documentation.

A second crew member approached her and said that if she did not agree, she might be moved to another row. The mother sent the documents again and explained that her seats were selected by the airline's accessibility department before the flight.

Then a third crew member told her to remove the devices, saying that her son 'will be fine as long as we are high enough in the air.' Sotomayor refused.

A nearby passenger intervened and apologized for how the crew treated her, Sotomayor reported.

However, the flight attendant later contacted her and said that Sotomayor is 'being difficult.' According to the mother, the captain spoke to her, calling her 'difficult,' in the video Sotomayor reported.

Sotomayor said she showed the documents to the captain, who continued to assert that her son's medical equipment posed a danger to other passengers and to the son himself, and that she was not complying with the requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

According to Sotomayor, the flight was delayed by more than an hour, and she reported the incident to United.

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'I felt such disregard from the airlines, well, United Airlines,' she said. 'And I will never fly United again.'