By Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY
Australian carrier Virgin Blue says it fired a flight attendant after he closed a passenger's baby in an overhead luggage bin, the Sunday Herald Sun of Australia reports.
The flight attendant says the incident was in good fun, part of a game initiated by the boy's father.
But that's not how the boy's mother viewed the incident. Natalie Williamson claims the incident -- which happened about three months ago -- has left her son suffering from anxiety disorder.
Williamson's son Riley was 17 months old at the time of the incident, which occurred on a Virgin Blue flight from Fiji to Sydney.
Williamson says the attendant closed and latched the bin, leaving her son there for about 10 seconds.
Virgin Blue has confirmed the incident, but clarified the incident by saying the attendant joined in on a game of "peek-a-boo" that Williamson's now-estranged husband was playing with Riley.
Still, Williamson claims the incident has affected her son, saying she's taken him to several specialists to treat him for "anxiety and withdrawal," the Sunday Herald Sun writes.
"He won't leave my sight now. He sleeps with me. If I'm not in the same room as him, he will scream and yell 'Mum, mum, mum'," Williamson tells the Sunday Herald Sun.
A Virgin Blue spokeswoman tells the paper: "We have expressed our sincere apologies to the guest and have provided them with a credit for the full amount of the two return flights."
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Posted Mar 8 2011 3:39PM
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