BDCWire
Emily Anderson

Liz Cooper of Newton, Massachusetts was at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on a layover and wanted a private place to pump her breast milk. After deeming the bathroom too unsanitary, Cooper asked if she could go somewhere else.

That’s when a United Airlines employee directed her to the pet-relief room, reports the AP.

“There was no door and there was a red fire hydrant in there for dogs to pee,” Cooper said of the pet-relief room during an interview with WCVB-TV.

Cooper, who works in marketing and communications at MassBay Community College, was also denied access to the United Club Area because she is not a member, WCVB-TV reports.

According to a 2014 paper in Breastfeeding Medicine journal, only eight percent of airports surveyed had a facility that met “minimum requirements” to deem it a suitable lactation room (laymen’s terms: place to pump). Sixty-two percent, however, said they were “breastfeeding friendly.”

United’s Media Relations department told FOX25 in a statement, “Although many of the airport terminals where we operate do not have dedicated private spaces, we welcome nursing mothers to breastfeed or pump on our aircraft and in our facilities.”

A spokesperson for Washington Dulles International Airport told FOX25, “Our teams at Washington Dulles International Airport are working to develop dedicated lounges to accommodate nursing mothers, which will be in place later this year. Currently, we do not have dedicated nursing areas at the airport.”

That doesn’t seem to be enough for Cooper.

“It’s pretty much ridiculous [that] in the year 2015 we have to talk about this,” Cooper told WCVB-TV. “I really think it’s a teachable moment and people can learn from this experience.”

For the record, Logan International Airport has changing stations and private rooms for nursing moms, MassLive reports.