Posted on 05/11/2015 7:05:40 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
(CBSNews) — An Oregon family traveling with a 15-year old autistic girl was kicked off a flight this week for what the airline calls a “disruptive” situation.
The family calls it an outrage.
Video shot by a fellow passenger and posted to YouTube showed Salt Lake City airport police removing the family from a United Airlines flight last Tuesday, after the pilot made an emergency landing.
The girl’s mother, Donna Beegle, was shocked when officers explained why.
“He said, ‘Well, the captain doesn’t feel comfortable flying to Portland with your daughter on his flight,” Beegle told CBS News.
The trouble began halfway through the flight from Houston to Portland. Beegle says her daughter, Juliette, was hungry and started to act up.
“I know her. When she gets over hungry or over thirsty, she really struggles,” Beegle described.
Her mother says Juliette is a picky eater, so she asked a flight attendant if she could purchase a hot meal from first class — and says she was told no.
“Well, I said, ‘How about we wait for her to have a meltdown and then she is crying and tries to scratch — and then you’ll want to help her,'” Beegle said she told the flight attendant.
Beegle eventually got the meal and said Juliette calmed down. Then came an announcement from the captain.
“We were shocked to hear them say, ‘We’re going to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City, we have a passenger in the back of the plane who has behavior issues,'” Beegle said.
(Excerpt) Read more at 5newsonline.com ...
she expected the airline to save the day.
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I am not sure microwaving a meal is too much to ask.
There are no more institutions. Or haven’t you noticed?
Done.
I don't believe food temperature affects its ability to raise or lower blood sugar one way or the other.
And if any of the other 150 or so passengers in coach demanded a meal, too, and threatened to act violently if denied? What then.
The mother had a reasonable expectation that her request to an airline that stated they'd be able to take such requests would be filled.
A hot meal. That was it. A nuked meal. That was all.
If a child needed to puke, would the airline steward bring a bag? Or refuse, and then turn the plane around?
Not fit to be in public because of one special need? Please start praying that you're never in a wheelchair or need to get to the bathroom in a hurry, or a million other things that might go wrong.
Autism isn't a cause/effect thing. Seriously? You live in the 21st century?
In your world, if instead a person was hypoglycemic or diabetic and found himself/herself without a snack. I'm sure dying on the plane would be a just consequence of imperfect timing.
It isn't. Airline service isn't what it used to be.
When was the last time you boarded a commercial airliner?
LOL
Two weeks ago, actually. And the service was terrible.
I guess you didn’t check the pocket in the seat-back in front of you.
It can be, I know that. And the mother knows her daughter better than any of us. So if she knew how her daughter tended to act if she hadn't had enough to eat or drink, and she knew that her daughter refused to eat prior to the flight, and she knew that she didn't have the kind of snacks that would placate her, then it sounds to me like the mother rolled the dice and hopped on the flight hoping to get through it without a meltdown. And when her scheme failed then she expected the airlines to bail her out. It appears that the mother put her wishes and her interest in getting home quickly ahead of her daughters well-being.
In your world, if instead a person was hypoglycemic or diabetic and found himself/herself without a snack. I'm sure dying on the plane would be a just consequence of imperfect timing.
Autism isn't life threatening. A person in diabetic shock isn't a threat to harm others. And giving someone a suger pill isn't the same as demanding special treatment because you had refused to plan ahead.
So it is safer to divert a plane full of people and make an added landing and takeoff, rather than give the kid a hot meal and see if that works like the mom said it would? BTW you can see that it did work.
You know, it is like warming a bottle for a crying baby. You just do it. There is more drama here than there needs to be. Airline stews are not what they used to be either.
But let’s say that the child was diabetic as well as autistic. Would the mother have thought about getting on the plane knowing full well that her child might go into diabetic shock and she had brought nothing that would have prevented it? If she had then what kind of mother would you think she was? Well, the situation is similar if not so life-threatening. The mother deliberately put her daughter into a situation where she likely would have had a melt-down and refused to take any steps that would have prevented it, instead relying on the airlines to save her butt.
Do you expect the airplane to provide the bottle as well?
There is more drama here than there needs to be. Airline stews are not what they used to be either.
There is a whole lot of blame that needs to be directed at the parent, instead of solely upon the airline.
I didn’t know that Hillary Clinton ever flew coach. Interesting.
Now that I have read here about it, heard the story on two separate news broadcasts, I think the Captain’s exercise of his judgment on his flight, is fine.
If the family cannot control the mentally disabled child better, they need to make different arrangements.
The mother’s quick threats to sue, are very revealing of her agenda.
I asked if I can purchase something hot for my daughter and [the first class flight attendant] said no" she said. "I called him back over and I said to him, 'Please, help us out here,'" but he again refused. "He came back again and I said, 'I have a child with special needs, I need to get her something.' And he said, 'I can't do that,'" she explained. "I said, 'How about we wait for her to have a meltdown, she'll be crying and trying to scratch in frustration. I don't want her to get to that point.'"
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