Posted on 05/04/2017 6:16:50 AM PDT by Red Badger
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A Southern California family says they were kicked off an overbooked Delta airplane because they refused to yield a seat held by their young son.
The Schear family of Huntington Beach says they were flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles last week when airline staff asked them to give up a seat occupied by their 2-year-old son and carry him on their laps for the duration of the flight.
They tried to refuse and argued with airline staff, but say they were threatened with being sent to jail.
"You have to give up the seat or you're going to jail, your wife is going to jail and they'll take your kids from you," Brian Schear recalled the airline staff telling him.
Despite feeling they were in the right, that threat was terrifying, said Brian's wife, Brittany Schear.
"As a mother, you have a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old - it doesn't matter whether that's true or false. It put fear in me," she said.
They filmed the encounter with airport staff and posted it on YouTube.
VIDEO AT LINK.....................
“It is NOT the fault of the passengers to overbook a flight,...”
True enough but it IS the responsibility of the passengers to see the tickets are REGISTERED properly and my guess is this particular rule is a requirement of Homeland security and is an effort to be able to know exactly who is on every aircraft and where they are seated.
I doubt a lawsuit will be forthcoming in this particular instance although the Airline will make some accommodation to these folks.
And one of those seats was assigned to “Mason” so unless the “assignee” Mason is in that seat Delta can do as they wish with it after Mason passes the boarding period.
And the Agent didn't give enough of a rat's patootie (typical), to communicate this to the employees on the plane, who when informed of this, went into Nazi stormtrooper mode when challenged (also typical) and threw the family off the flight.
Lesson learned, citizens! Do not - repeat - do not challenge ze flight attendants! Rulz Iz Rulz! Sieg Heil!
I agree to a point.
However, first off, don’t simply believe the story of the “family”. People exaggerate what happened, especially innocently in the heat of the moment. Sometimes, they flat out embellish.
2nd, why suddenly this rash of stories on airlines? Do you really believe nothing much was happening until the Chinese doc was dragged by security from United? Something stinks. It’s the media, making stories.
As someone pointed out on another thread of another incident, there are thousands upon thousands of flights and millions of people each day. Even if true, these stories are still a tiny % and conversely, with so much flight activity, there HAS to be something adverse that happens sometimes.
My adversities have always been due directly to the airport (TSA, etc), not airlines so much! I hate flying for this reason, especially since 9/11 when they treat all like criminals rather than picking on the obvious suspects.
I can't remember the company but we chartered a plane. Yes, the whole plane. All the seats were ours and ours alone. But could we sit where we wanted or with our children who had never flown before? Oh, heck no! The airline randomly assigned seats... on a chartered plane... and refused to let us sit where we wanted and comfort our kids if they got scared. They're all a-holes and I'll never fly again. I'd rather drive for three days across the country or just stay home.
“”Schear says Grayson flew in his own seat on the original flight out to Hawaii without a problem. He says Delta knew he was planning to use the seat for his younger son when they boarded their return flight.””
I don’t understand - Grayson is apparently the child who was occupying the seat that the older son didn’t take..he had his own seat on the flight to HI - what happened to that seat and ticket?
Only the person who is named on the ticket has the right to travel on the ticket. That ticket from the airline’s view belongs to Mason not Mason’s father. It is possible, sometimes, to change the name on a ticket but it is lengthy difficult process.
They paid for Mason to fly in that seat. When Mason didn’t claim his seat it reverted back to Delta. I could tell Delta I’m going to Honolulu instead of JFK on my flight today does that obligate Delta to fly me there?
Did you know that the safest place for your child on an airplane is in a government-approved child safety restraint system (CRS) or device, not on your lap? Your arms aren't capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) strongly urges you to secure your child in a CRS or device for the duration of your flight. It's the smart and right thing to do so that everyone in your family arrives safely at your destination. The FAA is giving you the information you need to make informed decisions about your family's travel plans.
https://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/
A two-year-old MAY be held on a parent's lap, there is no restriction anywhere, in fact, it is encouraged, that they ride in a safety seat to take advantage of safety belts. When we flew, up to 2-years-old could ride in the lap without paying for a ticket. We bought a ticket to accommodate a safety seat, as our just-under-two-year-old was too big (tall) to hold comfortably on a cross-country flight.
Here is Delta's guideline on that. http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/special-travel-needs/children.html
If the child is under two, he or she may sit in your lap, but there is no restriction against buying a ticket, or using a ticketed seat for a child under two.
Incrementally over the years it appears a growing portion of posters on this site are unconsciously drinking the kool-aid of not questioning authority and accepting whatever fate is decreed.
From the mouth of the FAA:
Did you know that the safest place for your child on an airplane is in a government-approved child safety restraint system (CRS) or device, not on your lap? Your arms aren't capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) strongly urges you to secure your child in a CRS or device for the duration of your flight. It's the smart and right thing to do so that everyone in your family arrives safely at your destination. The FAA is giving you the information you need to make informed decisions about your family's travel plans.
https://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/
“The name on the ticket was for Mason, their 18-year old son who flew on a flight the day before.”
I didn’t see anywhere in the article where this was validated.
From another article, on the same topic....
Initially the two youngest children were going to sit on their parents’ laps, but when their teenage son opted to travel on another flight - having had a seat booked - they seated Grayson in his seat instead.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4473152/Delta-staff-tell-couple-jailed.html
....the 18 year old went home early on another Delta flight, so why would not Delta completely understand what the family was doing and change the name on the ticket?
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Because it is against FAA laws. Read upthread regarding post 9/11 transferring of ticket laws.
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Agree that you don’t ‘treated people with jail’.
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Again, FAA rules. Safety....so you don’t just purchase a ticket in your/your son’s name....and then ‘kindly’ give it to Mr/Ms Terrorist.
During my working career, I traveled all over the world. Europe, Asia, Australia. I was a “gold card” FF with United flying 100,000 miles per year. This was all before 911 and the TSA. Back then, flying was a pleasure, and the airlines treated you like you were a valued customer. Since I have retired, we've taken one trip to Hawaii, but because we refuse to accept the abusive practices of the TSA, we now drive when we go somewhere which, severely limits where we go. I guess that there are still enough people who need to fly, that the airlines have a captive clientele that is more than sufficient to fill their planes, so they have an attitude that they can be abusive and since people have no alternatives, get away with it. As I see it, only market forces will force them to change, and there are none in the foreseeable future. An occasional lawsuit from a disgruntled passenger is probably factored in to their cost structure.
I'm betting the airline wins this one. That seat was NOT for that child.
According to Mr. Schear's logic, he could have put his mother in the seat.
You are making this up out of whole cloth. The Dad specifically said he bought an extra seat for the 18 year old on an earlier flight so he could have the baby fly in the car seat & be safer & sleep, as child did on the way out.
There was no refund and no game being played.
Dad asked when he bought the son’s ticket for the earlier flight and got the OK. These attendants knew nothing about that when they got themselves where they felt they couldn’t back down.
He said he told the agent...wanna bet??
Oh, of course! He's a damned liar! Absolutely! The airline ALWAYS tells the truth!
They said the son went on an earlier flight so I would guess he got his money back from this flight.
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Info is lacking but I agree with you if he did cancel the reservation for
his son then he didn’t any longer own the seat so they put a standby in the vacancy.
“They cannot get a name change because the ticket was already used! The ticket holder flew on another flight using that ticket. Unless they paid for a new ticket on the other flight that ticket was no longer valid. I am betting they did not tender the ticket when boarding. They tried using the invalid/used ticket to claim the seat. They may have been scamming Delta by having the older son change flights at the last minute so as to greatly increase the chances of his seat going unfilled and thereby keeping it open and allowing the father to use it.”
I’m enjoying reading all the opinions on this situation but this one is really stretching. Too elaborate and complicated.
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