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 like ATA radio commercials. this would be as annoying as the passenger who communicates by singing opera.
"the father said his family will never fly air tran again."
might be good news for the two or three hundred people who fly on the next air tran flight.
I hope they buy the little precious a nice American Girl doll, an X-Box, and a shiny new car. /s
The fact is that there's no way to criticize the airline. They could not take off until the child was seated and buckled. The child refused to be seated and buckled. The parents claimed they could not get her to stay seated.
The airline had already delayed takeoff, which in itself is surprising, and it couldn't make 112 people sit there indefinitely waiting for them to calm their child down.
So they removed the problem, refunded the money, AND OFFERED A FREE FLIGHT to all of them. Quite generous.
Watching the show "Airline" on A&E, I've seen adults regularly banned from planes for less than what the child was doing. The airlines don't take off with passengers that can't be counted on to behave during a flight, because once you are off the ground you are stuck.
If you can't get the kid to sit quietly during the 15 minutes of boarding, there's no way you can guarantee the child will sit quietly in her seat during the landing, or if they hit a bumpy spot, or while they are trying to serve drinks. They can't guarantee she won't run up and down the aisles, try to open the cockpit door, hit other passengers, and generally make life miserable for everybody.
I can walk out of grocery stores, malls, bookstores and restaurants. It's kinda hard to leave an aricraft at 39,000 feet and it's -80°F outside.........
GOOD! Then if I fly Airtran I will have no risk of sitting next to these two obnoxious a$$holes and their vile ill controlled brat.
The issue wasn't a crying kid... the kid was hiding under her seat before takeoff (although I don't know how, I can barely fit my laptop bag down there).
I agree. I haven't flown with my 3 year old daughter yet because I've seen her become overtired, and no amount of "beating" or anything else is going to improve the situation. When a three year old is tired and throwing a fit, there is nothing you can do but put them in their bed and close the door. Having said that, I wouldn't have complained a bit if we got thrown off of a flight. It's just part of having a three year old. No harm, no foul. The airline did the right thing. They can only wait so long.
Yup.
"BRAT"
You said it! She was hitting her parents? One of my kids tried to hit me one time. Let's just say he never tried it again.
This child, like her parents and so many others in our society, is desperately in need of discipline. Good on Air Tran for throwing them off. Air Tran just became my airline of choice.
One swat on the bottom and the admonition, "Straighten up!", always did it for mine.
Instantly quiet, maybe a few sniffles but that's it.
It's all in how you raise them, and you can't start raising them too early. (Early for them, not you)
Presuming you're not being sarcastic, Try controlling your brat. People like you make me sick thinking that the whole world should revolve around your child.
Horay for airtran! There were 100+ people on that plance who could have missed connections because of the dismal lack of parenting skill these two r-tards exhibited. Putting them off the plane was EXACTLY the right thing to do.
It sounded like a jammed pack vacation and I wonder if the child was throwing a tantrum because the parents were worn out. We traveled with my 2 y/o grandson to Florida once. His parents were bickering about who was going to do what. My husband and I went to the back of the plane. I could still here him crying. I went and got him and he was a charmer the entire trip. Staff and passengers entertained him. One attendant did get angry though. I saw her going thru all the overheads and looking in seats. She walked up to us and threw her hands up and turned around. I found out later that she demanded to know where the baby was and my son told her he put him in one of the luggage racks.
I have 3 kids. This is what cars are for.
Its not right to subject everyone to my toddlers
noise if it can be helped.
That works for me.
It would be like them letting their dog crap in my yard...which I hate.
Regardless, I think that the airline handled the situation very poorly and deserves criticism over the matter.
1. I don't believe your "always."
2. Although your kids are no doubt very polite and nice, not all kids are like yours.
We may not agree on the prison terms for our border patrol agents, but we sure do agree on brats on airplanes.
HAHA post of the day!
I have two kids, and flew on planes with each of them when they were young, and I support the airline.
I don't have kids but I've witnessed MANY tantrums of the children of relatives.
One such incident that stands out was the child of one cousin. The boy was 3 or 4 and wanted to come into my room and climb onto my bed to watch television while wearing dirty shoes. I calmly told him to take off his shoes before coming inside. He told me NO and tried to come in without doing it. I grabbed him and pushed him back into the hallway and repeated my instructions. He stood there a minute, got an evil grin and RAN past me and launched himself onto my bed.
I caught him in mid-flight and carried him back into the hallway and closed the door to my room. He went BALLISTIC.
He screamed, cried and yelled and threw himself repeatedly into my bedroom door. This went on for about 8 minutes until his grandmother came to intervene and found him kicking and screaming. He launched into her when she tried to calm him and he got so worked up he started vomiting. I've never witnessed such a fit. He isn't a "special needs child" either, just a brat. He's now an adult (age 20) and SUPRISE, he REFUSES to get a job, work around the house or go to school and mooches off his mother. He lays around, plays with his PS2 all day, eats, and gets fatter and fatter. I'm sure he smokes weed all day while his folks are out.
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