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.
Once, on a very full flight, I had an obese man sit next to me, but he was so big that he took up about half of my seat as well. Thankfully, I'm a small person, or I wouldn't have even fit in what was left of my seating area. I was seated all the way in the rear of the plane in a seat that wouldn't recline (the lavatory wall was behind my seat). To make matters worse, the person in front of me reclined his seat all the way. I felt like I was on Candid Camera or something. I was traveling to a military event on official orders, or I would have complained and got off the plane. I flew the entire 4.5 hour flight leaning to an angle because of the obese guy and my back hurt for days afterward.
Needless to say, I HATE to fly commercially and will do almost anything to avoid it.
“Its not all about you.””
Too bad some parents think it’s ‘all about their children’.
IMHO, all children under the age of 12 should only be allowed on airplanes as checked baggage.
Is there a follow up to the article that I am missing? I thought the child was just saying "bye bye plane." Are you advocating Benadryl to stop the child from talking? If so, is there a rule for complete silence on the plane? I'm sure you, like most travelers, have been exposed to some pretty tiresome adult conversation on planes, too.
The article linked in Cecily’s post #279 gives much more information. Another passenger gives her side of the story there, too. All the evidence points to this flight attendant simply abusing her power.
P.S. This story reminds me of a nurse who called security on me when my father was in the hospital after I let her have it one day. Long story short - she really had it coming. A few minutes later, a big burly guy appeared with the nursing supervisor. She’d called them and told them that I was being “aggressive”. Within minutes, they were agreeing with me and asking me if I wanted to file a complaint against her. Some people get a little bit of power and it goes to their head.
I was referring to both this thread and previous posts, where you include value judgments on other posters’ opinions. Just leave off the judgmental tone and we’ll get along just fine.
By the way, FOX reported that the child was repeatedly interrupting the stewardess’ safety speech. It sounds as though the mother thought it was cute. The stewardess disagreed. I think that the fact that the kid was big for his age and may have been perceived as older than he really is, may have contributed to the disagreement.
The fact that the other passengers may not have been bothered by the fact that the child was interrupting the stewardess’ safety speech is irrelevant. They probably weren’t interested in listening, anyway.
Thankfully its not about you either. ;^)
.
That's exactly right. Trying to piece together this situation from the reports, and if the mother's story is honest, I think I'm understanding what happened. The mother said the flight attendant came over after she gave her little speech to the passengers. What I'm surmising is the little boy was gabbing during the speech. Probably some passengers were laughing at his interruptions which only irritated the flight attendant further. She's up their giving her spiel and probably most people aren't paying attention anyway and then this poor little toddler decides he's going to chat through it.
Hadn’t heard Fox was reporting that—but that’s what I pieced together from last night’s reports. See my previous post.
It’s so hard to know. I’ve met more than my share of parents whose little serial killers in training get greatly offended should anyone dare to comment on their child’s behavior.
If the other passengers weren’t bothered by it and corroborated the mother’s account, the the flight attendant was out of line.
OTOH, chances are SHE wasn’t having the best day either. Unfortunately for her, she’s in an occupation that does not allow the luxury of irritability on the job.
"And she said, no, she was tired, she'd been stranded at the airport all day, and she did not want to hear it."
Well, I can’t blame her for that.
Sounds like everyone was having a bad day except the kid.
POSTED: 9:12 am EDT July 13, 2007 UPDATED: 2:30 pm EDT July 13, 2007
NEW YORK -- The Gwinnett County mother kicked off an airplane with her 19-month old son tried to tell her side of the story Friday morning, but her son's crying and whining drowned out the interview.
Garren Penland, 19-months old, got so unruly during his mom's chat with 'Good Morning America' anchor Diane Sawyer, co-anchor Chris Cuomo had to take the toddler off the set.
While Kate Penland explained her child was well-behaved on the Continental Express flight, little Garren kicked, wiggled and squirmed out of his mother's arms.
At one point he climbed up on a coffee table and rifled through Sawyer's scripts.
When Sawyer handed him a model Space Shuttle to distract him, Garren knocked it to the floor.
Kate Penland said she and Garren were booted from the flight last month by a flight attendant who suggested she use benadryl to calm her son down.
From the GMA article:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3371901&page=1
“It just seems to me that a flight attendant made a decision that was a bad one,” aviation consultant Mike Boyd said. He said that the flight attendant might have had a bad day and overreacted to the situation. “They’re human too? They’re just like the rest of us.”
Kind of ironic that a trained professional can get out of control because she’s tired and had a long day, but a 19 month old is supposed to be perfectly behaved. Maybe the
flight attendant needed a blankie and a nuk.
And a double dose of Benadryl.
See post #293. Sounds like the precious one should have been in checked baggage.
Yea, I just saw that link to the video but couldn’t pull it up on my computer. Maybe it will be on Youtube. He’s 19 months old so I don’t see his behavior as abnormal. Babies and toddlers have energy and little discretion and self control. It’s funny that he was that wild though—doesn’t help the mother’s case much in the eyes of the people that have already sided against her.
I wouldn’t say that I have sided against her, but I did hang on her use of the word “bubbly” that she used in the original interview. To me using that word makes me wonder if the kid was doing a little more that just saying in a baby voice, “bye, bye, plane”. But who knows, I am never the less amazed that this thread has run this many responses. I guess we all have not much to do. LOL.
See this post dug, its still not about you. ;^)
I guess we all have not much to do.
:)--You would think so. It's just one of those kinds of stories that people like to argue about and debate. Thanks for bringing me back to reality though. I've got a ton of housework to do. Better get to crackin'.
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