Toddler's temper ousts family from plane

Associated Press via Yahoo News ^ | January 23, 2007 | Jim Ellis

[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.

[Charlespg]

she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat"

BRAT

[ShandaLear]

Oh boo-hoo-hoo! The problem is obvious, the parents think the world should revolve around them and have tuaght their daughter well.

[John D]

I think the airline should be ashamed of itself and deserves every bit of the criticism that will be forthcoming on the web.

---

I doubt if there will be much if any criticism of the airline. If the parents can not control their child they should be kicked off the plane. What I can not figure out is why they were offered free tickets.

[linda_22003]

There was a LONG thread on this story yesterday, and one of the first posts said:

"Best. Flight Crew. Ever." :)

[GatorRN]

Because the parents threw a temper tantrum and the airline attempted to console them.

[GatorRN]

Because the parents threw a temper tantrum and the airline attempted to console them.

[Alouette]

I used to fly with my daughter and in those days she could sit on my lap. Have those rules changed now, I wonder?

Over 2 years old must have own seat.

[prairiebreeze]

I don't recall my daughter having any difficulties or tantrums either. Even when one flight was so full that she HAD to sit on my lap and I wasn't even able to raise the tray table to accept the tray of food and hence wasn't able to feed her.

I entertaind her the whole flight and we got by.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Sounds like a great scam. Get 3 tickets, tell your kid to behave like a spoiled brat, get 3 free tickets anywhere in the world.

Anybody here believe they won't use the free tickets?

[CindyDawg]

I don't think traveling adults have a right to expect children not to cry or scream. It happens and you should just appreciate the quiet trips. That said, an unrestrained child is a different matter. Most kids cry themselves to sleep if held or locked in their car seat. Are they not allowed to bring them on any more? We used to fly with my grandson when he was little and carried it on board.

[Gay State Conservative]

I won't miss them.........I've had enough of unruly kids in airplanes........

You've never lived until you've taken a 15 hour,non-stop,nighttime flight on a 747 containing about 100 screeching kids.I've done it several times (from Los Angeles to Sydney Australia).

[tcrlaf]

As a million-miler with other carriers, and an ex-airline employee, may I be the first to say THANK YOU AIRTRAN!!!

Can you imagine how grateful the other passengers on the flight were?
Or is that no longer a consideration in our ego-centric world anymore?

[go-dubya-04]

I will be certain to use AirTran in the future.

[prairiebreeze]

Oh that's right, there is an age limit. It's been a good many years...I'd forgotten that.

[GoRepGo]

Her mom thinks it may have been because of the ear surgery Elly underwent earlier this month, and perhaps her memory of the discomfort and ear pressure she endured during the plane’s descent into Florida. For whatever reason, when they got on the plane, Elly started to cry and wouldn’t stop. Nor would she sit down — she plopped herself down on the floor in front of her seat and proceeded to throw a temper tantrum.

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070121/COLUMN01/701210459/1008/NEWS02

Oh, our kid just had ear surgery! Lets fly to see Grandma and Grandpa in Florida! Yeah!

They just fell out of the running for Parents of the Year, IMO.

[auto power]

"I won't miss them.........I've had enough of unruly kids in airplanes.."

Stay out of grocery stores, malls, bookstores and restaurants.....these bratty kids know how to push their parents' buttons to get what they want....and they usually do.....

[CindyDawg]

Do you let your 16 month old hit you?

[Alouette]

They should make the parents with the crying children sit next to the imams. We'll see what is louder, the yodeling to Allah or the toddler tantrum.

[Red Badger]

I've had a 8 hour flight from Paris to Atlanta with a kid that cried for most of the trip..........3 year olds should be put in checked baggage.........

[Lunatic Fringe]

There was a comedian some years ago with a bit about wearing seatbelts on a plane.

"I'm in a hollow metal tube with wings on it under the command of a guy named "Bob" traveling in excess of 400 MPH descending at a 45 degree angle straight for the earth and I'm pretty sure we're not gonna MISS... but I'm not worried, cause I got my seatbelt on."