United Airlines back to doing United things...

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A Hawaii woman is hopping mad after yet another United Airlines screw-up left her having to hold her 27-month-old son – for whom she had bought a ticket – for a flight of more than three hours.

Last week’s incident came after the airline sold her son’s seat to a standby passenger on the last leg of their trip from Honolulu to Boston.

"He and I, we had both our tickets scanned, we both went on board no problem," Shirley Yamauchi, told Hawaii TV station KITV about the boarding process in Houston.

That’s when a man approached them and showed them he had the same seat number, 24A, as the boy, Taizo.

"It was very shocking. I was confused. I told him, 'I bought both of these seats.' The flight attendant came by, shrugs and says 'flight’s full'," Yamauchi said.

Yamauchi, 42, told the station she didn't want to cause a scene, remembering recent United incidents such as the Kentucky doctor, David Dao, who was violently dragged off his flight in April.

"I'm scared. I'm worried. I'm traveling with an infant. I didn't want to get hurt. I didn't want either of us to get hurt," she said.

"I started remembering all those incidents with United on the news,” she told news website HawaiiNewsNow.com. “The violence. Teeth getting knocked out. I'm Asian. I'm scared and I felt uncomfortable. I didn't want those things to happen to me."

Instead, she sat with her son on her lap – or with him standing between her legs – for the entire flight.

"I had him in all these contorted sleeping positions,” she told KITV. “In the end, very sadly, he was standing up between my knees."

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The ticketing guidelines on United’s website state, “Once infants turn two years old, they are required to have a purchased ticket and occupy a seat.”

In addition, guidelines on the FAA’s website strongly advise against a child sitting on someone's lap: "Your arms aren't capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence."

The airline issued a statement to news media: “On a recent flight from Houston to Boston, we inaccurately scanned the boarding pass of Ms. Yamauchi’s son,” it said. “As a result, her son’s seat appeared to be not checked in, and staff released his seat to another customer and Ms. Yamauchi held her son for the flight. We deeply apologize to Ms. Yamauchi and her son for this experience.”

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