Posted on 10/30/2009 7:54:02 AM PDT by SmithL
Pamela Root's 2-year-old son was screaming for the Southwest Airlines plane to "Go! Plane! Go!"
"I want Daddy!'' Adam shouted. Over and over again.
Despite her embarrassment, the stay-at-home San Jose mom remained confident that once the plane took off and she fed him, Adam would calm down and take a nap — just as he had on the half-dozen other plane rides with Mom.
The flight crew wasn't willing to find out.
Root and her son, Adam, were on their way home to San Jose when they were kicked off Monday's Southwest Flight 637.
"I left, rather embarrassed,'' Root said Thursday. "Then, I was so mad, I almost cried.''
Amarillo, Texas, and forced to buy a portable crib and diapers and stay another night with her parents. Still fuming, she wants Southwest to apologize and compensate her for the flight and things she bought. Adam's father, Mike Root, a software engineer at Symantec, who was waiting for them in San Jose, is also livid.
Southwest, with its fun and family-friendly reputation, immediately began looking into the matter on Thursday at the request of the Mercury News. Spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said it's "very rare'' to ask someone to leave a flight, and especially "unusual'' to remove a crying child.
Root, 38, said she thought she had a foolproof flying routine with her son. Wait until takeoff to feed Adam so his ears wouldn't hurt. Advertisement Then get him to take a nap on the flight. The routine always made him a bit cranky but never out of control, she said. There was always the bag of trucks and books about trucks for a backup.
Monday, Adam was more than a little cranky.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Man: Oh, great. I always end up sitting next to a damn baby.
Stewie: What? What did you just say?
Lois: Stewie, stop fussing.
Stewie: Not now, Lois. Hey, big man, turn around. If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face! Oh, you can’t hear me now? All right, that’s it. I was going to watch the movie, but forget it. For the next five hours, you’re my bitch. [Crying] My ears are popping, and there’s no way to console me! I’m hungry and possibly teething! Maybe I’m wet. Who knows? I’m a baby. [Continues crying]
This almost sounds like one of Southwest’s ads.
“Wanna get away...?”
She couldn’t though, because of her kid.
I also fly a few times a year.
I could come down on either side, on this one. There are few things more miserable than sitting close to a poorly behaved child, on an airplane!
Jesus! What kind of heartless bastards are these people?! I’ve sat on many a plane with a crying child. Each time I just say a little prayer or even offer a little help if I can give it.
I hope this mom gets a ton of comp. from SW Air!
They can take 'em tall, they can take 'em small, they can toss them to the front, they can toss them to the back, but if the baby cries, they'll stick it in the rack!
Or, off the plane.
I did check first to see if this happened after the plane was airborne or before ~ they have done worse!
Moms and Dads don’t call it, “THE TERRIBLE TWOS” for no reason....
I have to come down on the side of the flight crew. If a mother cannot keep a child from yelling when the plane is on the ground, she probably cannot control him once the plane is in the air. It sounds to me as if she is one of those “parents” who simply let their kids decide what they want to say and to do and how they want to behave. I suggest Southwest ban the entire family until Adam is 18 years old.
Man, I hope they were given parachutes!!!
I guess this is what happens to societies with below replacement level birth rates. We don’t recognize children’s behavior. Is a crying kid annoying, yup? Should we suck it up and deal with it because we don’t all want to end up dhimmis....hell to the yeah.
One of the reasons we never traveled except by car during those years. We also never visited Disneyland or any other place while the children were in strollers.
Now with older children we see all these tried parents, frustrated and pushing strollers and crying babies and simply not enjoying the place and we’re glad we just stayed home.
A two-year-old can be made to sit still and be quiet.
I think it was entirely justified to remove the mom and kid.
No compensation from Southwest’s decision.
I used to hate sitting next to Moms with babies, then I had kids. And now I see them, and just imagine my wife struggling to keep one of our kids quiet on a packed airplane - and I will happily sit next to them.
Her routine failed.
Sitting between two morbidly obese adults comes to mind ...
Just hope she wan't on planning breast feeding the tike!
Two year old’s can get a cold from flying and it has been a practice in the pass for some to provocative measures to prevent this.
It’s the Southwest’s fault for not sound proofing the overhead baggage compartments.
They should have taken a truck.
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