(CNN) Southwest Airlines has apologized after a mother claimed its staff mocked her five-year-old daughter, called Abcde, over her name.

A gate agent laughed at the name -- pronounced 'Ab-si-dee' -- and posted a picture of her boarding pass online, the girl's mother, Traci Redford, alleged.

"The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees. So I turned around and said, 'Hey, if I can hear you, my daughter can hear you, so I'd appreciate if you'd just stop,'" Redford told ABC News.

The incident allegedly took place at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, as the mother and daughter boarded a flight to El Paso, Texas.

She added that she later found out the picture of her daughter's boarding pass had been posted to Facebook.

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