Stand with Noah: Help our fight against UA Discriminating

My name is Melissa Sotomayor. I have created this GoFundMe to help raise funds for an attorney. I’m not sure what it’ll cost as I don’t have one yet.

United Airlines discriminated against my disabled son, Noah, who is 21 months old. He is dependent upon a trach and ventilator. He has a portable oxygen concentrator and g tube. On Saturday, March 8, 2025, we flew United to return home to NJ. We flew United on March 2, 2025, to Tampa with no issues.

Flying home, several flight attendants and the captain tried to demand that I remove my son from his vent and portable oxygen concentrator until we reached a safe altitude. I told them all that those pieces of medical equipment are keeping my son alive. They told me if I didn’t take him off of those pieces of equipment until takeoff our seats would be moved.

The captain of flight number UA1349 tips me my son shouldn’t fly even though his equipment met FAA guidelines. He taxied the plane for an hour and told me he would let me know if we could continue on his flight. Instead of coming back to me with an answer, he announced over the speaker that the plane was ready for takeoff. He tried finding a reason to prevent us from flying with my son. All required documentation plus some was provided way ahead of the flights and I worked with their accessibility department. We were humiliated and degraded by the flight crew of flight number UA1349 on Saturday, March 8, 2025, with a departure time of 8:09am