Chinese mother kicked off flight for breastfeeding

The mother is pictured struggling with her son as police watch on and her parents stand by in a photograph taken by another passenger who said they were 'disgusted' by the ordeal.

Los Angeles (People's Daily) -- Mei Rui, an acclaimed Grammy-nominated concert pianist and cancer researcher, was kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight along with her elderly parents and two-year-old son for “non-compliance” in failing to adhere to the airlines' no breastfeeding policy.

Rui and her family boarded flight Spirit Flight 712 from her Houston home to Newark on Friday. When her flight was delayed she started breastfeeding her son, hoping it would help him sleep during the three-hour flight.

While the plane's cabin door was open, a flight attendant told Rui to stop feeding her son and put him in his seat as they were about to take off. Rui asked if she could wait a few minutes so her son could finish before they closed the plane’s door, but flight attendants refused and said that she and her son must sit in separate sits with their seatbelts on. When Rui stopped breastfeeding her son and put him in his seat, he started crying and didn't stop for almost half an hour.

Her son is seen above with his grandparents after being 'forced' into his seat by his mother. She says that 25 minutes afterwards, they were thrown off the aircraft.

Rui and her family were removed from the plane. Her elderly father later collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.

Spirit has since offered to refund the family's tickets, while defending their no-breastfeeding policy and removing Rui and her family from the flight.

“If this happened to your family,” Rui said before she was cut off by an airline represemtative who said, “It wouldn’t happen to my family, I can assure you.”

Rui is a Yale graduate with degrees in molecular biophysics, biochemistry, and music. She has been playing classical piano since the age of 10. She was nominated for a Grammy in 2015.