By Kevin Murphy

(Reuters) - JetBlue Airways on Saturday apologized to a mother who said her child had to urinate in her airplane seat because a flight attendant would not let her use the restroom while the plane sat on the tarmac at a New York airport.

”Our team reached out directly to the customer today to offer an apology for her experience,” said a JetBlue statement issued by spokesman Sebastian White.

Jennifer Devereaux told WBZ-TV in Boston on Friday that she was denied a request to let her 3-year-old daughter use the bathroom while the plane was delayed in taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport on a flight to Boston.

After a half-hour wait, the toddler urinated in the seat.

“It wasn’t about bad customer service, it was about human decency,” Devereaux said of the incident on a Monday flight.

JetBlue said the airline was following Federal Aviation Administration regulations that require all passengers to remain seated while a plane is on the taxiway because of the risk of sudden movement.

”The crew made a safety and FAA regulation-based decision,” the airline said.

In addition to the apology, JetBlue gave Devereaux a $50 credit toward a future flight and offered to give $5,000 to her favorite charity, White confirmed.

Devereaux could not be located for comment on Saturday but White directed a reporter to a statement she made on Twitter about JetBlue's response. “Happy tears,” she wrote, adding that “a really nice lady apologized to me!”

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Eric Walsh)