United Airlines apologize to gay dad falsely accused of molesting his own son on flight

United Airlines is catch up in yet another scandal after a gay father was falsely accused of molesting his young son.

Henry Amador-Batten was flying home with five-year-old Benjamin last Saturday when the captain told police flight attendants had observed the dad's hands "near the genitals" of the boy.

When the plane landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, in the family's home of North Carolina, Mr Amador-Batten, 53, was met by armed officers.

He was pulled aside and questioned by police, who proceeded to lay out the accusations against him - in front of the little boy.

In a Facebook post for their gay parenting blog DADsquared, Mr Amador-Batten's husband Joel wrote: "This is not how anyone deserves to be treated.

"This is not something that should have happened in front of my son. This is not something that anyone should have to worry about happening to them on a flight just because someone might not like the looks of them.”

A Raleigh-Durham International Airport police report shows flight attendants on a flight from Newark told officers they observed a male passenger with his hands resting "near the genitals" of a boy.

Mr Amador-Batten told authorities that his son was afraid of flying and that he had his hand on the boy's lap to help him feel secure and go to sleep, according to the report.

The "visibly upset" father was fully compliant with police and was released and the case was closed within 45 minutes, CNN reported.

United has since apologized to Mr Amador-Batten for the "misunderstanding".

A statement to CNN said: "In this instance, the crew believed it was appropriate to ask authorities to meet the plane and interview the customer.

"After speaking with the customer, authorities determined that no further action was necessary.

"Our customers should always be treated with the utmost respect and we have followed up with our customer to apologize for the misunderstanding."

But the Amador-Battens slammed the "mean-spirited and completely unacceptable" and vowed to protect their family from allegations of paedophilia.

Writing on Facebook on Thursday, Joel continued: "We feel it's important to stand our ground.

"We are sharing (our) story in an effort that no one else feels like they can make these sorts of despicable allegations without regard for the potentially far-reaching legal ramifications of being accused of something so heinous as impropriety with one's own child."

The Amador-Batten family are now considering taking legal action against the airline, their lawyer Kenneth Padowitz told CNN.

"He felt absolutely mortified. He was humiliated in front of his son," Padowitz said.

"This is just outrageous conduct. It's not OK, and the flying public is sick and tired of being treated like this by airlines."

-Daily Mirror UK.