Mark
Posted on 10/30/2009 7:54:02 AM PDT by SmithL
Pamela Root's 2-year-old son was screaming for the Southwest Airlines plane to "Go! Plane! Go!"
"I want Daddy!'' Adam shouted. Over and over again.
Despite her embarrassment, the stay-at-home San Jose mom remained confident that once the plane took off and she fed him, Adam would calm down and take a nap — just as he had on the half-dozen other plane rides with Mom.
The flight crew wasn't willing to find out.
Root and her son, Adam, were on their way home to San Jose when they were kicked off Monday's Southwest Flight 637.
"I left, rather embarrassed,'' Root said Thursday. "Then, I was so mad, I almost cried.''
Amarillo, Texas, and forced to buy a portable crib and diapers and stay another night with her parents. Still fuming, she wants Southwest to apologize and compensate her for the flight and things she bought. Adam's father, Mike Root, a software engineer at Symantec, who was waiting for them in San Jose, is also livid.
Southwest, with its fun and family-friendly reputation, immediately began looking into the matter on Thursday at the request of the Mercury News. Spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said it's "very rare'' to ask someone to leave a flight, and especially "unusual'' to remove a crying child.
Root, 38, said she thought she had a foolproof flying routine with her son. Wait until takeoff to feed Adam so his ears wouldn't hurt. Advertisement Then get him to take a nap on the flight. The routine always made him a bit cranky but never out of control, she said. There was always the bag of trucks and books about trucks for a backup.
Monday, Adam was more than a little cranky.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I hope they get zippity-doo-dah from Southwest. I see no reason why a hundred passengers ahould be made to endure torture for two hours because a mother can’t control her child (who is probably flying free as a “babe in arms”).
“Take my word for it ... he’ll be fine once we are in the air.” Yeah, and the check is in the mail!
After 9-11, I give my trust to the flight crew to decide which passengers are out of control or otherwise engdanger the safety and welfare of the other passengers and the flight.
Sumting tells me this was not just some “cranky kid” but a raging out of control kid with an uncooperative or helpless (”oh, isn’t he pweshus?”) parent. If your kid is out of control (like, REALLY) and you cannot or will not establish control, then get out of my business establishment- and that means my airplane.
excellent- tape the kid to the bulkhead
Absolutely agree. Some people should just use common sense and stay out of situations they don’t belong in.
Overindulged, bratty, screaming children that are the products of similar parents.
No time for such.
So she wants Southwest to apologize and compensate her for the flight and things she bought, eh? Was she planning on compensating all the other passengers for a miserable flight due to her child’s excessive tantrums that she expected them to put up with until she ‘calmed him down?’ This plan of hers didn’t sound like it would be quick, after all.
If you can’t get your two-year-old to behave in a public setting, then don’t fly planes or go to restaurants. It’s as simple as that.
Nowadays, this solution can't even be discussed without fear of drawing the attention of CPS.
Mark
I am a frequent domestic and international flier. While I personally have no problem with infants and small children crying and being a little disruptive because of the confinement, fear, and discomfort of flying I really resent the parents who believe that everyone on the flight needs to understand and respect that the sun shines out of little Billy’s butt. If you cannot control a two year old don’t take them on a flight.
Solution; Move the kid to the front of the plane just outside the cockpit door. Keeps the pilots from falling asleep & overshooting the airport.
Root admits he was pretty hysterical, annoying most of the passengers waiting on the runway for takeoff.
She wants the airlines to pay for the diapers the lad used that evening. Wouldn’t he have needed diapers anyway?
She had to buy a crib for him for an extra night at her parents house? The mom couldn’t figure out any safe place for him to sleep? Where had he been sleeping during the visit?
Just don’t expect free airfare if you need all this extra consideration!
This is great! Read the comments at the Merc link and whoa! Only a few libbie tard oh let the kid be a kid crap comments were made - amazing from the Bay area lib land. Most backed SWA all the way and said too many kids were NOT being parented - good luck to the mom if she sues - SWA should go with a jury decision....
Suddenly, they were being escorted off the plane by an attendant who told Root something to the effect of: “We just can’t tolerate that for two hours.’’
“He’ll be fine once we take off,’’ Root remembers insisting.
“We’ve heard that before,’’ the flight attendant told Root.
Like most other airlines, Southwest gives its flight attendants discretion in determining what constitutes a “safe and comfortable’’ flight, McInnis said. And they give attendants leeway in figuring out how to “resolve’’ situations.
We’ve raised 8 kids. Step 1 in carrying a 2 year old into any public space with other people is to make the child aware of his options.
Being disruptive is not one of the options.
I’m thinking of writing a follow-up to James Dobson’s book The Strong Willed Child. I’ll call it The Weak-Kneed Parent.
Parents that don’t bother to control their brat kids shouldn’t expect everyone to put up with them.
Sorry, but I think you’re heartless, too. Even crying babies have to fly sometimes.
It is for this reason that I refuse to take my boys on a flight until both are over age 4.
You’re exactly right. This is the kind of thread that gives conservatives a bad name. Oh my gosh...you had to sit near a crying baby for a little while...how does little yuppie suffer so!
Whatever happened to the idea of reaching out and giving a helping hand? I stand by my “heartless” comment.
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