Posted on 05/11/2015 7:05:40 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
(CBSNews) An Oregon family traveling with a 15-year old autistic girl was kicked off a flight this week for what the airline calls a disruptive situation.
The family calls it an outrage.
Video shot by a fellow passenger and posted to YouTube showed Salt Lake City airport police removing the family from a United Airlines flight last Tuesday, after the pilot made an emergency landing.
The girls mother, Donna Beegle, was shocked when officers explained why.
He said, Well, the captain doesnt feel comfortable flying to Portland with your daughter on his flight, Beegle told CBS News.
The trouble began halfway through the flight from Houston to Portland. Beegle says her daughter, Juliette, was hungry and started to act up.
I know her. When she gets over hungry or over thirsty, she really struggles, Beegle described.
Her mother says Juliette is a picky eater, so she asked a flight attendant if she could purchase a hot meal from first class and says she was told no.
Well, I said, How about we wait for her to have a meltdown and then she is crying and tries to scratch and then youll want to help her,' Beegle said she told the flight attendant.
Beegle eventually got the meal and said Juliette calmed down. Then came an announcement from the captain.
We were shocked to hear them say, Were going to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City, we have a passenger in the back of the plane who has behavior issues,' Beegle said.
(Excerpt) Read more at 5newsonline.com ...
It took a hot meal to calm her. Which is what happened when the flight attendant brought her one.
From United’s website:
How can I request a special meal?
We offer special meals on select routes when a breakfast, lunch or dinner is scheduled. A special meal can be requested at the time of booking or by adding a request to an existing reservation.
If special meals are available on a flight, you will be able to make a special meals request during the booking process after signing in to your MileagePlus account. MileagePlus account holders can also add special meal preferences to their profiles for use with bookings made through united.com. When signed in to your MileagePlus account and making a reservation on united.com, if you have a special meal preference set in your profile, you should verify that the correct special meal has been assigned to the applicable travelers name prior to confirming the reservation.
If booking outside of united.com, a specific request must be made through the original booking channel for the available special meal to ensure it is included in the reservation, or by contacting the United Customer Contact Center.
“The woman said the girl posed a threat to the safety of the passengers and crew and hadnt been removed because of her autism.
She was maybe proposing some kind of threat to about 170 other people at 36,000 feet, which doesnt make anyone feel safe, she told KOIN6 News.
What if she got crazy and got up and opened an exit door at 36,000 feet?
She also claimed the airline staff had worked quietly with the family for about an hour before the emergency landing was executed.
There was a lot of howling, and we thought well, whats going on? And it never stopped, she said.
Mrs Beegle said she had filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration and is planning a lawsuit against United Airlines.”
“The number of people who wont read the article on ABC is astounding...”
That would violate the sacred ‘Post First, Read Maybe’ rule at FR.
asked if I can purchase something hot for my daughter and [the first class flight attendant] said no" she said. "I called him back over and I said to him, 'Please, help us out here,'" but he again refused. "He came back again and I said, 'I have a child with special needs, I need to get her something.' And he said, 'I can't do that,'" she explained. "I said, 'How about we wait for her to have a meltdown, she'll be crying and trying to scratch in frustration. I don't want her to get to that point.'" .
If you want a first class meal, buy a First Class ticket.
Other than that, I trust the pilot to keep the plane safe and not a mom.
Bottom line is her defective kid is not fit to be out in public
It's a teachable moment only if the subject is open to teaching, and depending on the severity of the autism that isn't always the case. It sounds to me like the mother knew that a melt-down was a possibility and instead of re-scheduling to another flight so that she could ensure her child did have a hot meal before hand, she rolled the dice and hoped the kid would make it through the flight they were already booked on. And when her plan went to crap then she expected the airline to save the day.
Why not just stay home?
That, too. I know one who does take a hot meal of some sort to quiet down. “Snacks” won’t do it.
I don’t know if you have kids, but can you possibly imagine a special unforeseen situation coming up during a long day of flying with a special needs child. This mom wasn’t asking for a college scholarship for her kid...just throw a meal in the microwave. BTW the most dangerous time for accidents in a plane are during landing and taking off. If the flight attendant accommodated the initial request this could have been avoided. Now we make an unscheduled landing and call the cops in to take a little crying girl off a plane.
Defective? God knit that girl in her mother’s womb. Why do you think He would make something defective?
What is a birth defect, if not defective?
Next time you can just buy the brat a 1st class ticket, hot food seating.
She isn’t a little girl. She is 15. And according to passengers, she was calm at the time the family was removed. I think the issue is the mother telling the flight attendant she might have a meltdown and start scratching. Imagine a crazed 15 year old running up and down the aisle, lashing out and trying to scratch passengers. This is probably what was running through the flight attendant’s mind and he informed the capt., who made the decision to remove the family. The mother brought on the situation and the airline employees reacted in a way to protect other passengers.
I find the mother to be a jerk looking for attention. Airlines make special accommodations if they are notified beforehand. The mother should have asked that a hot meal be prepared for her daughter if she thought she would need one. But the mother wants to blame the rest of the world. I for one am sick of the lack of personal responsibility in everyday actions. People like her cause a lot of grief for others.
It’s a lovely little description that desensitizes infanticide.
OK, so let's break that down and look at you post in another way.
Actually this child has traveled all over the world and not had a problem.
But the mother was aware of the childs past behavior, her preferences, and what happens when the girl doesn't have enough to eat, right?
Sounds like a chain of events(layovers etc) that led to the simple request for a simple hot meal to accommodate the special needs child on the last leg of a flight.
A simple request for something she did not pay for. If she wanted a hot meal on her flight then she should have bought a first class ticket. If she knew that her child had not had enough to eat and refused to eat during the previous layover then she should have rebooked to a later flight when her child had had a hot meal.
Notice that the mom was forced to beg.
From the story: "Well, I said, How about we wait for her to have a meltdown and then she is crying and tries to scratch and then youll want to help her,' Beegle said she told the flight attendant." That sounds more like she threatened the flight attendant rather than begged.
Once again it was a male attendant who escalated the situation by refusing to throw a meal in the microwave and then he runs to the pilot.
When one of the passengers says her child may have a meltdown and harm other people then yeah, I'd say the pilot should be notified.
I understand that the child may or may not be in control of her emotions or her actions. But the mother can control the situation by ensuring her child is prepared for the flight rather than expecting special treatment. She should have rebooked.
What is SN?
What little I know about this situation, I side with the airline. I don’t think anybody handled the situation well, and the mother was taking a risk flying with the child. Ultimately, the captain must do what is best for him and the flight.
That stated, one of the prayers I say everyday is thanking God for giving our autistic child to us and not somebody who thinks that he can be tortured into submission. I cannot spank the autism out of my son any more than I can slap the ignorance out of those who don’t understand the disorder yet insist they do.
Snake Noses.
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