United Airlines issues an apology after giving away toddlers seat

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Hawaiian mother claims she was put in a dangerous situation by United Airlines, after her toddler's seat was taken on a recent flight.

Shirley Yamauchi said after she was seated, a man showed her his ticket, which featured the same seat number as her son.

She said the flight attendant only shrugged at the problem and told her the flight was full.

Yamauchi says she did not want to cause a scene and was forced to hold her son on her lap for three and a half hours of an 18-hour flight, from Hawaii to Boston.

"I had him in all these contorted sleeping positions", Yamauchi said. "In the end, very sadly, he was standing up between my knees."

United Airlines said toddler's boarding pass was not scanned correctly causing his seat to be released to another customer. They have since apologized and plan to refund the ticket by providing a travel voucher.

The airlines say it is working with gate staff to prevent this from happening again.