Mother: United Airlines suggested pet relief area to pump breast milk

WASHINGTON - A Boston mother says United Airlines suggested that she use an indoor pet relief area at Dulles International Airport to pump breast milk.

It happened as Liz Meagher Cooper, the mother of a 4-month-old, was changing flights on Monday. Via Twitter, she says she asked for a private area to pump, and a female employee gave her two options.

"She said, 'You can go to the bathroom.' And I said, 'The bathroom is not sanitary,'" Cooper recalled. "She said, 'We also have a pet relief center.' And I just looked at her. So she said, 'There haven't been a lot of dogs in the airport today.'"

A spokesperson for Dulles International Airport says they are in the process of creating four designated rooms for nursing mothers, but they currently have no such areas.

Meanwhile, United Airlines says they will apologize to Cooper:

Although many of the airport terminals where we operate do not have dedicated private spaces, we welcome nursing mothers to breastfeed or pump on our aircraft and in our facilities. We are reaching out to Ms. Cooper to apologize that we weren't able to provide her more suitable accommodations.