Crying Child and Her Parents Removed From Flight

ABC NEWS ^ | January 23, 2007 | ABC News

[WV Mountain Mama]

I have three kids, is that enough? If the choice is flying and sticking a three year old child off by him or herself so mom and dad can sit together or not flying, then the parents are too stupid that this was even a choice and shouldn't have anymore chldren. If there are more kids involved and the oldest is 3 and forced to sit by themselves and is having a screaming hissy fit on the floor, then don't complain when the family is asked to leave the flight. Why should 100 + people have their flight ruined and may not use the airline again rather than have the three removed? Just from a business perspective that mkaes no sense.

[Elyse]

How hard could it be for the flight attendant to ask the person sitting in the same row with the parents to switch seats?

How hard could it be for one of the parents to switch seats with the child? I'm not giving up my aisle seat so the little family, who obviously didn't plan ahead, can sit together.

My reservations are usually made months ahead and I request an aisle seat. I check the website seating chart ahead of time to make sure I have an aisle seat and I show up at the airport early in case there is a problem, so it can be corrected before all the seats are assigned. These people could have done the same thing to insure they were seated together. The only reason I can think of that one of them didn't sit beside their child is that their two seats were in an exit row, but you usually have to ask for those and rarely get them randomly.

Whatever seating issues they had it doesn't matter in the end because their child wouldn't stay buckled down in a seat and they weren't unfairly removed from the plane, so they need to just shut up and get over it.

[Riptides]

I love screaming three year-olds....medium rare.

[luckystarmom]

Sometimes you don't have a choice about flying. You have to fly because you are moving or a relative is sick or dying.

I can see how a "normal, good" child can have a tantrum.

I also understand why the child was removed. The child wouldn't stay buckled up. It's a safety issue.

My child used to get out of her carseat, and I would have to pull over and we wouldn't go anywhere until she got buckled up. Even if we had a doctor's appointment to go to.

I don't know that the crew did everything to help, but I don't know that the parents did either.

I don't agree with the parents making a big fuss about the situation.

If it were me and my child threw that kind of a fit, I would have apologized about the situation and gotten off the plane. Then I would have waited (even standby) for another flight.

My daughter is special needs. I understand about tantrums, and I don't think it makes a child or parent bad. I also understand that there are consequences to tantrums, like missing a flight.

[angcat]

I have one for you. Mine is always crying! I would never take her on a plan, I don't even like to go out to eat much. It is too stressful!

[ridesthemiles]

There is no way the kids ears could be popping and bothering her when the plane was still sitting on the ground.

I got the distinct impression the kid was being a monster, and the parents didn't seem capable of dealing with it.

If I had been on that flight, I would have told the flight attendants that either the kid and her family were going back into the airport, or I was. Either way, I cannot imagine the attitude the family is taking against the airline and the other 112 passengers, who all have "rights" also.
Kudos to the airline crew for taking a stand, and eliminating what would have been a dreadful flight for all the other passengers. IMO, the family should be blacklisted from all airline flights....at least until the kid is 30 or so...