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.
I think the parents are idiots.
They bought a seat for their daughter. It appears they had two seats together and one separate. Why did they put their daughter in the separate seat. Why wasn't the daughter with one parent and the other parent in the single seat.
Did I read it wrong?
That strikes me as a tragedy waiting to happen. Thank God for your relative.
You should search again. This is probably the tenth time.
That's how I read it too.
What's interesting is that the child was well behaved and calm. One must wonder if the girl is used to this. If I walked onto a plane, plopped my child next to a total stranger, although a very sweet looking stranger, my child would surely be thrown off the plane for kicking and screaming(For the record, I would NEVER do this to my child).
Bingo. The kid is a brat and the parents are spineless, clueless whimps. Good for AirTran.
Oh really? Ten times? Gee, must be a pretty popular article having just been published today and posted ten times already. Do you have access to some super-duper search function that is not available to me? Ten times, huh?
Wait, the article says only that they flew home the next day. I don't know who decided which flight the family would take.
Give or take eight.
CORRECTION...
Brat from Hells parents were kicked off a plane before takeoff because they could not or would not put their frankensteins monster under control..
YEah She she have been seated withone onf the parents and this would not have happened...
asking for a translation of one of sevenofnines' haikus?
in the words and voice of george takei: "oh my...."
I never pulled that kind of cr@p in the first place but if I had...my dad would have given me one look and I would have been as quiet as a tomb.
Airlines oughtta make it a regulation that would state,
"If a unruly child cannot be brought under control, the child will be removed from the plane and shipped via animal carrier on the next available flight."
IE - If a child acts like an animal, it'll be treated like an animal.
To the parents of tantrumy threes and their apologists, the counter for TS cards is over there on the left. As I read it both parents were seated together and the kid was to sit by itself. If this is the case, I can see why the poor kid pulled a tantrum....probably a first flight...very scary for a 3 year old....nothing in the story about whether they tried having the kid sit with mommy or daddy and if that is the case, it comes directly back to parents who care about themselves and NOT about others on the plane and probably elsewhere. Also, flight schedules are tightly coordinated and I hate to think about the ripple effect that did happen as a result of allowing this child to continue its tantrum. In this situation I think the airline was being very generous.
Toddler's temper ousts family from plane
Associated Press via Yahoo News ^ | January 23, 2007 | Jim Ellis
Posted on 01/23/2007 10:25:48 AM PST by presidio9
3-year-old unnerves airline [Girl taken off flight for crying too much]
Telegram.com ^ | 01/21/07 | Dianne Williamson
Posted on 01/22/2007 10:51:57 AM PST by MotleyGirl70
Anyway, at the rate your thread is moving, interest has obviously not died down.
I'm normally not one of the "posting police" but you made the mistake of saying that you "did a quick search". The word "plane" would have been enough to alert you to the last one.
If you're ever in doubt again, just private message me and I'll run it by the proper authorities.
So the airline goes and rewards them for bringing a brat on the plane. Meanwhile, all of us parents who have well behaved kids get to pay for our next flight.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.