Airline Agent Mocked 5-Year-Old's Name, Mom Says

A woman says a Southwest Airlines agent in Southern California mocked her 5-year-old daughter's 'Abcde' name when they were preparing to board a flight home to Texas.

Thursday, November 29th 2018, 2:38 pm

By: News 9

Airline Agent Mocked 5-Year-Old's Name, Mom Says

A woman says a Southwest Airlines agent in Southern California mocked her 5-year-old daughter's 'Abcde' name when they were preparing to board a flight home to Texas.

KABC-TV reported late Wednesday that Traci Redford accused a gate agent at Orange County's John Wayne Airport of laughing at her daughter's name and posting a photo of her boarding pass on social media.

The girl's name is spelled with the first five letters of the alphabet and is pronounced "AHB-sih-dee."

Redford says the family was pre-boarding because her daughter has epilepsy.

She says she asked the agent to stop and that someone saw the social media post and notified Southwest.

Southwest issued a statement apologizing to the family. The airline says it has followed up with the employee.

","published":"2018-11-29T20:38:42.000Z","updated":"2018-11-29T20:38:42.000Z","summary":"A woman says a Southwest Airlines agent in Southern California mocked her 5-year-old daughter's 'Abcde' name when they were preparing to board a flight home to Texas.","affiliate":{"_id":"5cc353fe1c9d440000d3b70f","callSign":"kwtv","origin":"https://www.news9.com"},"contentClass":"news","createdAt":"2020-01-31T19:43:16.829Z","updatedAt":"2025-04-01T20:19:53.072Z","__v":21,"breakingNews":[],"entities":[{"_id":"6244c6a26880e45323b11ce5","text":"Traci Redford","type":"PERSON","__v":0},{"_id":"623b75b06880e4532377c8a8","text":"Southern California","type":"LOCATION","__v":0},{"_id":"6238f6db6880e45323d5070f","text":"Texas","type":"LOCATION","__v":0},{"_id":"62421eaf6880e45323a9e21e","text":"Orange County","type":"LOCATION","__v":0},{"_id":"623cbc266880e453234a14db","text":"Southwest Airlines","type":"ORGANIZATION","__v":0},{"_id":"6244bb036880e45323a36dea","text":"KABC-TV","type":"ORGANIZATION","__v":0}],"hasBeenCheckedForEntities":true,"openInNewWindow":false,"rendered":20,"peerReviewer":"5c7850eac1778925af4208da","show":true,"link":"/story/5e348354527dcf49dad7700e/airline-agent-mocked-5yearolds-name-mom-says","hasSchedule":false,"id":"5e348354527dcf49dad7700e"};