Posted on 01/23/2007 7:35:25 PM PST by don'tspeak4me
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Flight attendants often deal with obnoxious passengers who won't listen to instructions by kicking them off the plane. But a Massachusetts couple think AirTran Airways went overboard by treating their crying 3-year-old daughter in much the same way.
Julie and Gerry Kulesza and daughter Elly were removed from the flight when the girl refused to take her seat before takeoff, airline officials said Tuesday. But her parents said they just needed a little more time to calm her down.
The Kuleszas planned to fly home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers after a four-day visit with the girl's paternal grandparents. She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.
AirTran officials say they were only following Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seatbelt 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," Graham-Weaver said.
But Julie Kulesza said: "We weren't giving an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything."
"Elly was sitting in front of our seat crying," she said in a phone interview. "The attendant motioned to a seat and asked if we purchased it for her."
They had paid for the seat. Gerry Kulesza said another attendant then approached the family and told him: "You need to get her in control and in her seat."
The couple told the attendants they were trying. Julie Kulesza said she asked the attendants if Elly could sit on her lap, but they said no.
The family flew home the next day.
The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.
But that's too little, too late for the Kuleszas. The father said they would never fly AirTran again.
These permissive parents are the cause of so many problems in today's society. Their offspring grow up without accountability, maturity, probably morality, and gosh knows what else.
If my kid was having a tantrum, I'd take him into the latreen, give him a hard smack on the hiney and plant him in his chair, and to top it all off, give him the "look".
I think these parents need to get their hands on a copy of "How to train a child" by Michael Pearle".
The Boomers were coddled so they have no spine in raising children. I saw this developing 20 years ago. The current kids are going to be nightmares as parents, but then Fat Teddy did dope with his own kids.
There are many Blackhawk parents, who fly in and attack anyone who dares to discipline their children. I mean mothers who hold a permanent grudge against anyone who corrected their honey-bunch.
One nice little kid was treated this way. He got more sullen and behaved worse than ever. The last time I saw him, he had a pregnant girlfriend but he was not willing to marry her.
"These parents are pathetic! I'd be ashamed if my child acted like that. ASHAMED AND HUMILIATED."
kids have a way of humbling a person.
I've had 7. One of them would be capable of giving me a run for my money - he simply has a different temperament than the others.
I would think if I knew I had caused the delay of a flight, I would consider leaving and trying it again later after feeding the child and giving him a chance to take a nap.
poorly behaved kids aren't always brats - sometims they are hungry, tired, sick, or afraid of something.
We took our toddler to have his picture taken. He fell asleep in the car and woke up crying. The photographer said it would never work. My wife took him in the bathroom and washed off his face with cold water. He came out beaming and took a beautiful set of pictures. Some parents are helpless and hopeless.
We had parents of a baby at our house. He cried and cried. Finally his patent attorney father said, "Do you think he is wet?" This was their third child.
If your children grew up to be great teen-agers, they probably felt your firmness and love the whole time. You are right that some kids can be wild. All kids are wild, disgusting, or rude at some point. The moment they think they have the upper hand, the parents are doomed.
I think your children proved your parenting skills.
We had three children, two with special problems. We had to make up things to keep the two younger ones from crying and having seizures. Eventually every bad thing was turned into something fun. An oxygen tent was "camping." A trip in an ambulance was a great adventure. Almost hitting a truck hauling glass was so funny that the youngest entered the hospital (no harm done) laughing her head off. My wife was very creative.
I did. In a store. ONCE.
I quickly discovered that my mother was not about to be embarrassed publicly by allowing me to attempt to embarrass her into getting my way; she much preferred to unabashedly give me a lesson never forgotten.
Emotional blackmail ("tantrums") were very quickly ruled out of my behavioral repertoire
I used to tell my daughter ... Would you like to go to the ladies room
... she got to know that if she went their she'd get a spanking so she never gave me any trouble
wreaks. Learn to spell. ;)
That is pretty much the point I was making.
"Idiot parents alert. AirTran should put them on a No-Fly list."
I say the whole airline industry should put the family on a No-Fly list.
In the old days, the parents would be angry at the little brat for causing them to get kicked off. Today, the parents get angry at the airline for kicking them off because of the little brat's antisocial behavior. If that isn't a sad sign of changing times (for the worse), I don't know what is. Self-indulgence rules these days - and I've seen this kind of thing up close and personal, with parents who think that raising a kid means letting them do whatever they want without any kind of interference and having whatever they demand whenever demanded. Yes, it makes me sick.
That's the way I read it. I'm not sure if this is a control issue or if the 3 year old was just terrified on the plane. I think one of the parents should have sat with the kid.
To be expected from Trans Air. They should have give tne family seats together. Did they think to ask another passanger to trade seats?
The behavior starts EARLY and must be controlled by parents. Or this kid WILL grow up to be a real brat.
I for one am glad they got thrown off the plane. Maybe next time, they'll control their kid a LOT better. AHEM.
I went off the res when I was a teenager and wasn't doing the world much good in my twenties either. But I finally quit that in my late twenties and those early lessons learned provided a basis for ethical self-guidance that still informs my life today.
LOL.... yet another use for duct tape: taping bratty kids down to sit in airline seats during takeoffs and landings!
I had seen my chance. Dad had taken an overseas job, so I "only" had Mom to worry about. Turned out, she was more than enough worry. Never again.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary
reek (rçk) Pronunciation Key
v. reeked, reek·ing, reeks
v. intr.
1. To smoke, steam, or fume.
2. To be pervaded by something unpleasant: "This document ... reeks of self-pity and self-deception" (Christopher Hitchens).
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wreak /rik/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[reek] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
verb (used with object) 1. to inflict or execute (punishment, vengeance, etc.): They wreaked havoc on the enemy.
2. to carry out the promptings of (one's rage, ill humor, will, desire, etc.), as on a victim or object: He wreaked his anger on the office staff.
""I grew up in the 50s and 60s."
My ol' man could reach back over the seat of our '41 Plymouth and unerringly smack whichever one of us three boys was acting up without ever taking his eyes off the road. To this day I've never figured out how he did that. He's been dead for some 40 years, now. I hope one day to ask him.
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