Hi Nicole,
Sorry to hear that the Disney vacation ended in anything far from magical.
Most of us reading your complaint are very familiar and grateful for the “bathroom rule” for the forward lavatory. We all know that this was implemented to protect passengers and stem from the terror attacks of 2011.
I read your story, and then I imagined that I was a fellow passenger. I imagine that I am sharing space (and one of two restrooms!) with you, your daughter, and the 130+ other passengers. It’s not easy sharing that space. This is especially true when you are unable to form a line in the front of the aircraft due to this FAA regulation. You sound like a reasonable mom. And a good mom, as you put the needs of your child before yourself. You wanted to fight for her and ensure that her needs were met. Based on your well-written complaint, I can only assume that you tried to find other arrangements such as using the rear lavatory and/or notified the flight attendant ahead of time that your daughter needed to use the restroom. Surely, the other passengers around have urgent biological needs too, and I can tell that you would understand that.
In any event, I would hate to witness the confrontation which you described. The flight attendant is not meeting her duties if she does not enforce the rule. She had to decide: let a little girl go to the restroom, or fail to follow a federal law and face those consequences. Granted she certainly could have said this much nicer. I would be very understanding of the mother, but a little less understanding if she said “no, you can either tell all these people that my daughter is next or you can call the cops”.
Regardless, I am disappointed to hear of the ending. No one really won in this situation. I hope that you returned to the Baltimore area and were able to remember the positive parts of your trip. I bet Southwest is investigating before they respond. When they do, please update us on the response.
Matt
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