Emily France said she feared for her 4-month-old son's life.
The mom whose baby went limp in her arms on a stifling plane last month is speaking out about the day she thought she was losing her 4-month-old son.
Read: United Apologizes After Toddler Bumped From Flight Has to Sit on Mom's Lap for 3-Hour Journey
“The plane was an oven with wings,” Emily France told Inside Edition.
Her ordeal started when she and her baby, Owen, got on a United Airlines flight at the airport in Denver headed to El Paso.
They were going to meet her husband, Kevin, who is an astrophysicist.
“When I boarded I noticed how hot it was immediately and I started putting wet wipes on Owen to try to keep him cool,” she recalled. “They kept assuring us we were gonna take off (and) it would cool off as soon as we took off.”
But after about an hour, the plane was still on the ground and there was no air conditioning.
She says she was allowed to take her son off the aircraft for a while to cool down, but when they got back on, the cabin was still stifling.
“They closed the doors, we were taxiing, the heat was unbearable inside the plane, especially for an infant ... (they) can't tolerate the same heat adults can,” she said.
“No one ever gave us an explanation. I heard the flight attendant say a million times ‘It just won't cool off 'till we're in the air’,” she said.
As the delays continued, the heat in the plane got worse.
“A mother knows, I heard a cry from him I have never heard before and I saw a skin color I’d never seen,” she said. “And then he just stopped crying and went limp in my arms.
“The flight attendants were bringing ice in garbage bags to hold against his body and ice wrapped in napkins and passengers were helping me and saying strip his clothes off.”
The photo of the concerned mother at the open door while she waits for an ambulance made headlines around the world.
“That is the worst moment of my life and it was just complete chaos around me. It was clear that they didn't know what to do,” she said.
She did believe she was going to lose her son.
Read: Woman Feared for Son's Life After He Passed Out on Hot Airplane: "The Worst Moment of My Life'
“I was standing in front of the open plane door stuck on the tarmac and I just thought please don't go,” she added.
The ambulance arrived and rushed Owen to the hospital and is now back home.
“I know he lost consciousness ... I'm hoping for the best. We're really scared. I'm watching him,” she added.
United told Inside Edition in a statement "this should never have happened. We are profoundly sorry to our customer and her child for the experience they endured. We are actively looking into what happened to prevent this from occurring again."
