United Airlines apologises after accusing gay dad of molesting son



United Airlines has apologised to a gay father after falsely accusing him of molesting his own son.

Henry Amador-Batten, from North Carolina, said he was flying to Durham International Airport with his five-year-old boy Ben last Saturday when he was greeted by a group of police officers.

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He soon learned that a flight attendant had seen him cuddling his son on the flight from New Jersey and felt that his hand rested too close to the boy's genitals.

The Huffington Post reports that he was caught off guard by the accusation but cooperated with police.

He explained to officers that Ben was afraid of flying and he simply placed his hand on his lap to comfort him as he fell asleep.

Amador-Batten was later released but spoke of being traumatised by the incident.

"That flight attendant's false accusation did not save a child, it put an entire family in danger," he said.

A United spokesperson said: "Our customers should always be treated with the utmost respect.

"We have followed up with the customers directly and we apologised for the situation."

Mr Amador-Batten's husband Joel took to Facebook to say: "This is not how anyone deserves to be treated."

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