What began as a father's in-flight game of peek-a-boo over the South Pacific ended with a flight attendant's firing for briefly hiding a 17-month-old boy in an overhead bin, according to reports from Down Under.

Virgin Blue airlines said it fired the male attendant and offered Natalie Williamson two free trips for the incident, which occurred three months ago, the Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun reported.

Williamson said her son, Riley, has been suffering anxiety and withdrawal and has seen several specialists. She said the child was inside the closed compartment for about 10 seconds during the flight from Fiji to Sydney.

"My husband, Shayne, was standing one meter behind my son, Riley, when the air steward picked him up and placed him in the overhead compartment," she said. "I stood up and there were people laughing and then I said, 'Get my son out of there now,' " she told the Sunday Herald Sun. "I was devastated. I was absolutely devastated. "I was crying. My husband was in shock. For days on end I was crying."

Williamson said she and her husband are now estranged.