Posted on 01/23/2007 10:25:48 AM PST by presidio9
AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.
AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seat belt upon takeoff.
"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.
Julie and Gerry Kulesza, who were headed home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, said they just needed a little more time to calm their daughter, Elly.
"We weren't given an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything," Julie Kulesza said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
The Kuleszas said they told a flight attendant they had paid for their daughter's seat, but asked whether she could sit in her mother's lap. The request was denied.
She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, Graham-Weaver said.
The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and the Kuleszas flew home the next day.
They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.
The father said his family would never fly AirTran again.
I agree.
I've witnessed some ugly tantrums.
They tend to feed on themselves, almost like the child is possessed. What is sad is what it actually takes for the parent to pick up and move a child who is this worked up, usually is seen as child abuse by liberal idiots in the crowd, when all the parent is doing is lifting and restraining. I know with a writhing, screaming child, sometimes all you can get ahold of is one arm and one foot.
They should make these little toddler travel harnesses with a lift handle on the back for quick lift of a squirming, screeching child.
and people just need to deal with it since you can't lock them in a closet or chain them up when you have business to attend to out in public.
I doubt THEY would be flying AirTran.
Before 9/11 my grandson was even allowed in the cockpit.
I read a hilarious article a few years ago about a woman who strongly disliked kids. She was traveling with another friend and a screaming 18 mo. old was seated behind them. In an attempt to cajole the baby the mother kept putting her up on the seat in front of her, which basically placed the baby on top of this other woman's head! She kept leaning to one side to get out of the way of the baby's butt and kept rolling her eyes about it. Finally, the friend turned around and blessed out the mother for sitting her baby on top of someone's head. The mother became the "teary-eyed wounded martyr." She said folks around her then got MAD AT HER FRIEND (the baby butt dodger), accusing HER of hating kids, being insensitive, etc. and she wasn't even the one who complained!
It makes you wonder who else their children hit with impunity. With my parents, any form of physical violence - hitting, kicking, biting, pulling hair - was a capital (i.e. spanking) offense, no matter who it was directed against. Contrary to what some people think, all that comes early and easily to children. It's natural for them. They need to be trained out of it. Taught, punished if that alone doesn't work - and it's likely not to.
Some kids just don't listen.
Parenting IS important, no doubt, but there are always those families that have three kids, and two of them are exemplary students, well behaved, and one is a major jerk, screws off in school, and is the black sheep and he/she was raised by the same two parents as the other two kids.
Nothing wrong w/spanking, but would I be terrible to suggest they should have given the kid some cough medicine or a sip of wine before boarding?
"Duct tape."that's two! :-)
Sounds like they got a great deal. What are they complaining about? I wish someone would offer me essentially a free flight and another free flight every time my kid doesn't cooperate!
If you cannot get your child to sit in a a seat and get the seatbelt on..then the child should not fly.
I have children and 4 grandsons..one that had tantrums. I removed him from the store and did not take him to feed the ducks that resided on a pond nearby when he threw a tantrum.
Spanking him was not a solution..only removing him from an audience and depriving him of a favorite thing or activity helped, if done consistently.
I understand the problem but I agree with the airlline's decision to remove them.
Some kids are harder to manage than others. I figure the Lord gives them the personality to do the work He has planned for them. You may have to invest more time and discipline in some but it pays off. That "black sheep" rebellious time is a learning curve IMO.
that applies to nutty immams AND little brats...
And you didn't answer my question(s). What specifically should the airline have done and how much longer should the flight have been delyed because of this one family and this one 3 year old?
That's essentially the question I asked, and I too am eagerly awaiting the answer.
I have a hard-to-control toddler, too. But I think the airline did the best they could under the circumstances. It would be one thing if they simply gave them the boot, but they didn't. They were very accommodating. My son has the highest-pitch squeal in the world and I just want to disappear when he gets unruly. If I can, I try to leave ASAP. Unfortunately, you can't do that on a plane.
"Actually, though, it's not hard to work up a scenario where these are all nice people, but everything goes bad all at once." I agree. That is probably the case. People are always quick to think the worst of the parents. We don't know how long they had been at the airport or what the circumstances are. That said, I think the airline was very understanding. You can't expect an entire plane full of people to endure that when there is an alternative.
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