Family Kicked Out of Plane with No Parachute

Posted on 01 24, 2007 under The Manual by schneidermike | View Comments

manual_030306Did I forget to mention it was still on the ground?

You have probably already heard about how a Massachusetts family was booted off of a plane the other day because they could not control their three year old toddler .
This certainly is an issue that could potentially polarize our loyal readership, but let's look at the facts here.  The kid refused to take her seat. The father and mother were unable to control the kid. The airline was 15 minutes late for departure already.


There were 112 other people on the plane who expected to arrive at their destination on time.  Air Tran's staff absolutely did the correct thing by kicking them off of the plane**. I know that kids can be troublesome, but as a parent you need to be able to at the VERY LEAST get your kid in their seat on time.

This is the primary reason that people traveling with small children are allowed to pre-board*. The airlines understand that it is difficult to travel with children. Now what is not clear in the situation is how much time the family had to board. It's not clear whether they were given any time to calm down the kid. The article says that the plane was already 15 minutes late, but not that the family caused the tardiness. 

{mosnooad}

The airline also offered the family FREE tickets to fly anywhere. A
move that I think most people would have said was extraordinarily
generous given that they were in the right. Guess what happened
    The family was:
    A) Gracious in accepting the tickets.
    B) Turned down the tickets and apologized to the airlines and to the other 112 paying customers for the toddler's tantrum.
    C) Said they would never fly the airline again.

The answer is C.  This guy needs noodad.com more than anyone. In the words of my father-in-law "You can't make it up!"

*I do not know if they preboarded.

**I am assuming that the family caused the delay. 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Posts

  • foodad
    I bet that didn\'t happen in Canada.
  • Jiff
    Air Tran was right by booting them off the plane. I DO NOT agree with Air Tran that they wanted to offer them a free set of round trip tickets. You don\'t reward people for bad behavior!
  • foodad
    Nuts to CNN and FOX! Noodad and I care deeply about Canadian parenting, eh! So much so, that I declare today, CANADIAN PARENTING DAY!!
  • Ladydragonflagg
    Foodad,

    I found an article that says that a 6 year old was kicked off an Air Cananda flight back in September for the same reason. But probably didnt hear about it because it wasnt US news.
  • Harry
    Does anyone know if it was a case of they couldn\'t get her in a carseat brought on the plane, or couldn\'t get her in a regular airplane seatbelt. Either one appears completely unacceptable and I completely agree that they needed to be removed. As a parent of two youngins and a frequent flyer since they were born, I find it ridiculous that they couldn\'t somehow convince (bribe) this 3 year old with something somehow. Also, between the TWO of them they couldn\'t figure out a way to hold her in the seat at least for taxi and take off? My children may have screamed and howled from here to California numerous times, but they did it in the safety of a seatbelt in their seat.
  • foodad
    I actually think it may be. If a precedent had already been set, would this be news? Maybe someone with more time than I could scan the web. :eek
  • Ladydragonflagg
    I totally agree. I did see on one article where the mother had asked the flight attendant if the child could sit in her lap for take off. I also read in the same article that two different flight attendants came over to them, so I am sure they had plenty of time in between to try to calm the girl.

    I am betting this isnt the first time a family with a small child had been kicked off a plain for the exact same reason.
blog comments powered by Disqus