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Girl Kicked Off Plane After Tantrum
Associated Press ^ | Jan 23, 2007 | JimEllis

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.


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To: From many - one.
Heck, I'm a grown up and I would kick and scream if a bearded male with tattoos or Muslim with headgear sat next to me.
61 posted on 01/23/2007 8:27:01 PM PST by This Just In
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To: art_rocks

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?




I was wondering that too. One of us adults would have sat alone. Our child would have sat with one of us. Maybe these parents couldn't stand sitting to their kid either!


62 posted on 01/23/2007 8:27:29 PM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: This Just In

That strikes me as a tragedy waiting to happen. Thank God for your relative.


63 posted on 01/23/2007 8:27:33 PM PST by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: RetiredArmy
"I grew up in the 50s and 60s. A very different time I guess. Because, simply, it only took a look from my Dad or Mom to shut you up and straighten up immediately. My Dad only had to spank me one time as I ever remember. I was about 9 or 10. I still remember it and never forgot that I DID NOT want to travel that path again. He did not beat me or was he brutal. But, the lesson learned then is a lesson I carry with me today. My parents, grandparents, etc. practiced corporal punishment. However, no one in my family has committed mass murder or mayhem because of the ass whoopings."

I RELATE!

One LOOK would do it! I KNEW what the consequences were for bad behavior ... today there are NO consequences but reason me silly stuff - it's a joke!
64 posted on 01/23/2007 8:30:04 PM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) .)
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To: don'tspeak4me

You should search again. This is probably the tenth time.


65 posted on 01/23/2007 8:31:01 PM PST by streetpreacher (What if you're wrong?)
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To: art_rocks

That's how I read it too.


66 posted on 01/23/2007 8:31:47 PM PST by lp boonie (Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement)
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To: Grizzled Bear



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).





67 posted on 01/23/2007 8:32:39 PM PST by This Just In
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To: trimom

Bingo. The kid is a brat and the parents are spineless, clueless whimps. Good for AirTran.


68 posted on 01/23/2007 8:33:55 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth ("I'll build the g--d---- fence if they want it." -- John McCain, A Modern Profile In Courage)
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To: streetpreacher
"You should search again. This is probably the tenth time.

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?

69 posted on 01/23/2007 8:37:57 PM PST by don'tspeak4me
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To: GovernmentShrinker; lastchance
the airline also refused to let the family fly again for 24 hours

Wait, the article says only that they flew home the next day. I don't know who decided which flight the family would take.

70 posted on 01/23/2007 8:40:14 PM PST by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: don'tspeak4me

Give or take eight.


71 posted on 01/23/2007 8:40:29 PM PST by streetpreacher (What if you're wrong?)
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To: don'tspeak4me
[ Girl Kicked Off Plane After Tantrum ]

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..

72 posted on 01/23/2007 8:42:00 PM PST by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: This Just In

YEah She she have been seated withone onf the parents and this would not have happened...


73 posted on 01/23/2007 8:44:23 PM PST by ARA
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To: metmom

asking for a translation of one of sevenofnines' haikus?

in the words and voice of george takei: "oh my...."


74 posted on 01/23/2007 8:50:35 PM PST by isom35
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To: don'tspeak4me
"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. "

If you can not control your children then drive to your destination.

"reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said."

What a deal. You still get to fly and now you get an extra ticket because you are dis functional parents and your kid is a brat.

I would not have given them a dime, and sent them a bill for the fuel wasted while sitting there idling.
75 posted on 01/23/2007 8:53:59 PM PST by JSteff
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To: don'tspeak4me
I remember back in the day...my momma would have opened an industrial-sized can of whoop ass on me if I even hinted at acting this way.

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.

76 posted on 01/23/2007 8:56:15 PM PST by TigersEye (If you don't understand the 2nd Amendment you don't understand America.)
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To: don'tspeak4me

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.


77 posted on 01/23/2007 8:57:24 PM PST by gogogodzilla (Republicans only win if they are conservative.)
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To: GovernmentShrinker

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.


78 posted on 01/23/2007 8:58:53 PM PST by Postman
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To: don'tspeak4me
Okay, I'm bored but here's two with over a 160 posts each:

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.

79 posted on 01/23/2007 8:59:14 PM PST by streetpreacher (What if you're wrong?)
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To: TheBattman

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.


80 posted on 01/23/2007 9:05:30 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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