Lindsay Jaynes, of Newport Beach, California, was getting ready for a six-hour flight when she tweeted Delta Assist: '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.'
But Lindsay was taken aback when the company tweeted back: 'Lindsay unfortunately you are not able to breastfeed if you don't have a cover up. I'm sorry.'
The tweet sparked a massive debate on the social networking site after Lindsay tried to explain to the company: 'My flight is six hours and he needs to eat every two hours. What do you suggest?'
When the company said she should pump milk into a bottle to use on the journey, Lindsay went onto explain that she's tried to feed her baby, Seamus, this way since he was born, but he won't take to it. This however seemed to go over the head of the airline's twitter handler.
After several exchanges with Delta Assist, Lindsay received a direct message saying: 'Thanks for the follow. I really am sorry about the misinformation. Is there anything that i can help you with for your upcoming flight? *TH' A response which the mother considered pretty meagre considering the furore their stance had caused.
'My flight is six hours and he needs to eat every two hours. What do you suggest?'
Delta have now apologised to Lindsay and said the employee dealing with the Twitter at that time has been informed of the correct policy. However, the young mum criticised the airline for not stepping up and using the opportunity to change company attitudes to breastfeeding in public - which is a legal right in almost all American states.
A Delta spokesperson made this comment on Monday: 'Our employees are well aware of a woman's legal right to breathed. We both support and allow customers to breastfeed on an aircraft…with a cover or with no cover. That is their legal right.'
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