Posted on 07/12/2007 9:10:39 AM PDT by Abathar
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- A Georgia mother said she wants answers and action after she and her baby were kicked off a plane.
Kate Penland said she was glad to board the plane in Houston to visit her father in Oklahoma after an 11-hour delay. But she said a rude and aggressive flight attendant caused her to get to Oklahoma a day late.
Penland thinks her 19-month-old son, Garren, has a bubbly personality. But Penland said when they were aboard a Continental Express plane, a flight attendant became annoyed by Garren's personality when he kept saying three words.
"As we started taxiing, he started saying, 'Bye, bye plane,'" said Penland. "At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, 'It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up.'"
In disbelief, Penland asked the woman if she was kidding. It was then, Penland said, the flight attendant went too far.
"She then said, 'You know, it's called baby Benadryl.' And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight,'" Penland said.
Penland said when the other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, the flight attendant got angrier and soon announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.
"I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, 'What am I going to do? I don't have anything with me. I don't have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk," said Penland.
The mother said she later learned the flight attendant told the pilot that she had threatened her. Penland said that never happened.
Express Jet Airlines released a statement that said, "We received Ms. Penland's letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents."
A fellow passenger told Atlanta TV station WSB that none of the other passengers had problems with Garren and that Penland never threatened the flight attendant. Penland said she is considering legal action.
“She is not very attractive, either. I knew there had to be a connection between looks and bad parenting.”
Video of the mother(below) show her to be rather nice looking. It also, in my opinion, backs up her story and makes the flight attendant sound more than a little overwrought. Maybe you were joking about looks and parenting, but I’ve never heard that being unattractive makes you anymore a bad parent than being a stunning beauty makes you a good one.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=5472927
Don’t have children, get a cat instead. This way when you go out of town, you can just leave it at home.
Benadryl can have to opposite effect on some children, Dr. Spock. It makes the HYPER.
I quit flying with my kids, and not because of their behavior but because of the airlines. I’ve had the 11 hour delays, have gotten bumped off of my flight and once I booked a flight, drove to a different state so it would be a direct flight. Because there would be no layover and the flight was supposed to be 90 minutes, I didn’t pack the stroller and other things. After getting dropped off at the airport when I went to check in I found that they changed my flight to one with a 3 hour lay over in Charlotte. I was so mad. I asked why they did not call me and explain the situation to me so I could have made different arrangements and they said they don’t do that.
Uhh, I think you may need some benadryl.
LMAO tell yourself whatever you want. They use Benadryl at work for adults who are having trouble sleeping. And its the same ingredients used in Tylenol Pm.
:) I always appreciate a funny post, especially on a thread like this one.
So I take it you would just sit there and let your kid scream his head off? Would you do anything to try to calm him at all? Or the rest of our ears just be d*mned?
Saying "bye, bye, plane," repeatedly does not qualify as bad behavior. The fact that he wasn't screaming and crying from exhaustion after an 11-hour delay tells me that as a parent she did her job well to keep him calm and comfortable.
After being delayed for 11 hours, most children (and adults) would be irritable, to say the least. I would rather hear a child say, "Bye, bye, plane," over and over again than have to listen to some boring guy drone on and on about his career while I'm trying to sleep in the next seat.
As long as the airline is selling seats to parents and children, you're going to have to fly with them. Deal with it. It's not like the kid was running up and down the aisles. If you don't like to listen to children's voices, take a private plane. Airlines are the public transportation of the skies - I made the decision not to fly anymore because I don't like that sardine-in-a-can feeling. You can make the same choice.
The mother remarking that she would not drug him just so the FA could have a pleasant flight makes me wonder who else she would have said that to and what else wouldn’t she do...
If anyone ever suggested that I drug my child, my reaction would not be so calm. My response would be: "You sold me the seat. You said my child could fly. And then the flight was delayed 11 hours. And you want me to drug my child?! Since when are flight attendants qualified as doctors?" You don't know what kind of reaction a child will have to a medication.
Not one passenger complained. Only the flight attendant had an issue. If she can't handle stress on the job, she should get another job.
That works for me, if they obviously arent' bothered by their own kids screaming, they won't be bothered by other people's kids doing the same.
I used to work for an airline. Back then, in the 80's, each airline had a reputation for their flight attendants. TWA stewardesses were well-known for being attractive but snobby. I witnessed a few being rude to passengers for no reason at all. American flight attendants were known for being more friendly and bubbly. I can't remember what reputation Delta had...
On the contrary, most parents I know have seriously considered it.
And it is but this comment by the mother is the real clue as to what her child is like....
Penland thinks her 19-month-old son, Garren, has a bubbly personality.
She probably thinks it's cute and everyone who is annoyed by her out of control kid is baaaad. That way she can feel nice and vindicated and persecuted by the world.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Good catch, I think the mom’s use of the word, “bubbly” gives a clue that there might be more to this story than is being told.
Motion sickness medicine is Benadryl. Same active ingredient.
Gee, I thought that described most drunk college aged males I've encountered.
yeah, sure. the males. they’re the worst ones.
There is more about the passengers sticking up for the mom in the article at the link. I think the pilot was a little foolish to put this woman and her child off the plane too. Nobody corroborated the flight attendant’s story about being threatened.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=99986
That hadn’t occurred to me. Hmmmm . . . adds a new twist!
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