I've spent the last decade of my life jet-setting across the globe. In that time, I've seen some truly strange and remarkable things: drunk passengers, crazy turbulence, etc.
Perhaps naively, I'd thought I'd seen it all. That is until I came across a story of a woman who refused to stop breastfeeding her pet cat while on a Delta Airlines flight.
Being a passenger on a plane means having to put up with a lot. In all my years of travel, I've come across everything from drunken disorderly passengers to crying babies.
For the most part, this can be accomplished by equipping yourself with a half-decent sleep mask and a good pair of noise-canceling headphones. But every once in a while, you come across something you just can't ignore.
Before you begin throwing around mom-shaming accusations, it should be noted that this young woman wasn't breastfeeding a newborn baby, but rather a hairless Sphynx Cat.
The acronym stands for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System. This is what airline pilots use to relay short text messages from the plane to ground control.
The message also requests that the situation be handled by Delta Airlines' Red Coat team after the plane disembarks. The Red Coat team is a special group of customer service agents, specially trained to handle exigent circumstances.
"This woman had one of those, like, hairless cats swaddled up in a blanket so it looked like a baby," Ainsley Elizabeth said. "Her shirt was up and she was trying to get the cat to latch and she wouldn't put the cat back in the carrier."
They reprimanded the woman and gave her a stern warning that she was never to do that again β unless she wanted to risk receiving a lifetime ban from flying Delta Airlines.
"Delta fully supports a woman's right to breastfeed onboard Delta and Delta Connection aircraft and in Delta facilities," the airline's policy reads. "Breast pumps are allowed on board, at the airport, and if you prefer β many airports do offer private lactation rooms or spaces."
Small cats and dogs are permitted within the cabin but must be stored in a ventilated carrier kennel. At no point in time are passengers permitted to remove their pets from their enclosure.
After some passengers began requesting that their peacock, duck, snake, and even their horse be allowed to fly with them βthe Department of Transportation ruled that only trained dogs could qualify as service animals.
Once again, let me reiterate that a woman should never be shamed for breastfeeding her human child, regardless of where she happens to be. However, if she attempts to start nursing an animal outside her own species β all bets are off.
