Mum’s fury after airline worker name-shamed her daughter, Abcde

A furious mum has accused an airline worker of laughing in the face of her five-year-old daughter, simply because of her name.

A mum has claimed her daughter was mocked to her face and then on social media by airline staff because her name is Abcde.

Traci Redford alleges a Southwest Airlines gate agent at John Wayne International Airport in Orange County, California, laughed after reading her five year-old daughter’s boarding pass, The Sun reported.

She says the agent even posted a photo of the boarding pass on Facebook for others to join in the mockery, ABC7 reported.

Abcde — pronounced “ab-city” — and her mother were catching a flight home to El Paso, Texas a few weeks ago when the incident happened.

Traci Redford and Abcde, 5. Picture: ABC TV

The girl suffers from epilepsy so are given priority boarding but her mother says the agent began laughing at her daughter.

“The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees,” Ms Redford said.

“So I turned around and said, ‘Hey if I can hear you, my daughter can hear you, so I’d appreciate if you’d just stop.

“While I was sitting there, she took a picture of my boarding pass and chose to post it on social media, mocking my daughter.”

The airline worker allegedly found the girl's name amusing. Picture: ABC TV

She said the Facebook post was brought to her attention and she complained to the airline.

Redford said her daughter was hurt by what happened.

“She said ‘Mum, why is she laughing at my name?’ And I said not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice and it’s unfortunate.”

Southwest Airlines said the employee in question has been spoken to but refused to say if any disciplinary action has been taken.

“We extend our sincere apology to the family.

Abcde's mum was not impressed. Picture: ABC TV

“We take great pride in extending our Southwest Hospitality to all of our Customers, which includes living by the Golden Rule and treating every individual with respect, in person or online.”

The Facebook post “is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility we expect from all of our employees”.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission