A mom on a trip with her husband and two-year-old daughter claimed she was humiliated in public after a flight attendant berated and belittled her because of her baby's dirty diaper.
Farah Naz Khan, 34, who works as a doctor in Seattle, admitted that she disposed of the dirty diaper in the trash can at the airplane's restroom, and because of this, the flight attendant tagged her on the "no-fly list." Apparently, the flight attendant considered the dirty diaper as a biohazard.
Khan told NBC News that she went to the restroom at the back of the plane with her daughter midway through their flight to Houston from Montana. The small area had a diaper changing station, and she proceeded to change her daughter's diaper and disposed of the used piece inside a scented bag before throwing it in the trash.
However, a male flight attendant followed her back to her seat and asked her if she disposed of the dirty diaper in the restroom. When she said yes, the person said it's a biohazard, and she was told to retrieve the dirty diaper.
Khan said that she tried to explain to the flight attendant, but he yelled at the mom. She was also not given a garbage bag to keep the diaper she retrieved from the trash can.
Filing a Complaint
As soon as the plane landed, Khan reported the incident to Mesa Airlines's customer service hotline. The mom pointed out that she has flown with her baby many times before and has thrown dirty diapers at the airplane's trash can without any incident.
Following her report, Khan received a call from the airlines and believed it was the flight attendant who humiliated her. He further reiterated that she's on their no-fly list. However, the doctor said she has retrieved the "biohazard" and threw it in an outside trash can when the plane landed.
Fhan also told ABC News that the phone call was not professional and described the person at the other end of the line as "unhinged." The doctor said she has also filed complaints with United Airlines, the parent company of Mesa Airlines, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the police as she wants to know the name of the flight attendant. She is planning to file a case in court.
United Airlines released a statement saying that they were working with Mesa Airlines to investigate the incident. The company said that the behavior of the flight attendant, as described by the mom, "does not meet the high standards" of the company.
Disposing Dirty Diaper Inside Airplanes
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), soiled diapers are considered solid wastes and not hazardous or medical wastes. Solid wastes are commonly dumped in landfills along with other household garbage.
Aboard an airplane, passengers can dispose of dirty diapers using the airsick bag or their own disposal bag. Parents are expected to contain the offensive odor since airplane lavatories are too small and lack proper ventilation.
If the diaper has solid fecal matter, it would be better to dump and flush the fecal matter in the toilet and then throw the used diaper in a sealed bag. The passenger may ask the flight attendant to throw this in the trash receptacle found at the rear of the airplane. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a rule discouraging flight attendants to handle dirty diapers if they have yet to serve the passengers' food, so the parents might need to wait and hold on to the used diapers until they can request help.
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