A mother said she was left feeling “humiliated” after easyJet gate staff tried to charge her extra for a small bag full of breast milk and pumping equipment.
The incident occurred when mother-of-three Daisy Crawford was travelling on a short easyJet flight from Bristol to Belfast on Sunday 27 April.
Ms Crawford was not travelling with her children at the time, but is currently breastfeeding her son, so she took a breast pump, storage bags and a cook bag with her so she could pump milk while she was away and return with it, she told The Independent.
The UK government’s travel advice states that you can carry breast milk in hand luggage even if you’re not travelling with a baby, while both easyJet and the government say that there is no legal limit on how much you can travel with, providing it fits in individual containers that are up to 2L in size.
However, when Ms Crawford arrived at the gate, she found herself being stopped and questioned as to why she had an additional bag with her, and the airline tried to charge her £48 for the extra bag.
The mother explained to staff that her extra bag contained breast milk and breastfeeding equipment. She claimed: “They said it doesn’t matter, you still need to pay now.”
EasyJet later said in a statement that they “do allow customers an additional free-of-charge bag for a breast pump and milk” but ask to be told in advance.
When reading easyJet’s baggage policy, Ms Crawford spotted that you are allowed to bring one standard carrier bag of items you bought at the airport, such as duty-free shopping.
Meanwhile, Ms Crawford said her additional bag, which was a small tote, was smaller than that of some airport shopping bags.
“Breastfeeding is protected by law, and if you’re charging me to carry this when it’s medically essential, you’re effectively financially penalising me,” she told The Independent.
“Regardless of whether you breast or formula feed your baby, there shouldn’t be any barriers in place externally [to] whatever way you choose to do that.
“If you’re breastfeeding and you’re expressing milk, which is essential for my health, there shouldn’t be any barriers to keeping that with me.”
“If you don’t pump, not only can it affect your supply, but also you’re more likely to get mastitis,” she added. “You get engorged, and mastitis is…
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