...oh, wait a minute, that's just for their women...
Posted on 03/12/2003 7:54:53 AM PST by eyespysomething
Toddler tantrum grounds jet By James Sturcke, Evening Standard 12 March 2003 Like any two-year-old Marcello Ferrand is prone to the occasional tantrum.
So when an aircraft crew tried to make him wear a seatbelt he panicked and sat under the seat - the kind of scene any parent will recognise.
However, for the staff of a British Airways flight from Milan to Heathrow it demanded immediate action - which resulted in the police being called and Marcello, along with his grandparents, being hauled off the plane.
The airline's ground staff then refused to let the elderly couple and Marcello, who lives in Kensal Rise, travel on a later flight. They then had to pay £300 for tickets with Alitalia to get home.
Marcello's grandmother Mariella DeNatale, 70, said the cabin crew had completely overreacted and had been responsible for scaring the toddler in the first place.
She said: "The police came aboard, checked our passports and then took us to a waiting car. I have flown all over the world and never had an experience like this. I felt like a Third World citizen."
The Airbus A319 with about 100 passengers was further delayed while the family's luggage was removed. It arrived at Heathrow 45 minutes behind schedule. Ms DeNatale, a former fashion editor for Vogue in Italy, added: "We were treated like rubbish. The captain told us he was not prepared to take us to London. It was a very bad experience. I will never buy another ticket with BA."
The scene took place as the aircraft was taxiing to the runway on Sunday morning carrying Ms DeNatale, her husband Peter Van Schalwyk and Marcello.
The couple boarded the 11.45am flight with their grandson, who had been staying at their Milan home. Marcello went to Milan with his mother, Margherita Gardella, 39,
deputy fashion editor of Harpers & Queen, who was attending fashion shows. Ms Gardella then flew to France for Paris Fashion Week, leaving the grandparents to bring Marcello back.
Mr Van Schalwyk, 64, a retired advertising director, said: " Marcello was in the seat between Mariella and myself. We had trouble getting him to put on his seatbelt. Three cabin staff crowded round him. They were quite aggressive. When one appeared with a special child seatbelt, Marcello took fright and hid under the seat. He was scared. He cried a bit but he was not screaming madly or anything. It's not like he was Dennis the Menace taking the plane apart."
Marcello's father, Nick Ferrand, 41, who owns an architect and interior design firm, said: "I was waiting in arrivals at Heathrow for over 90 minutes and no one told me anything. As a dad you fear the worse.
"Of course two-year-olds have tantrums but Marcello doesn't have any more than any child his age. Eventually I was informed they had been removed from the flight. I know airlines have to be careful but throwing an elderly couple and a two-year-old off the flight was ridiculous." A British Airways spokeswoman said: "It is absolutely imperative for all passengers to be wearing a seatbelt during take-off, landing and when the fasten seatbelt light is turned on. This is for their safety.
"The captain was called and reinforced the importance of being strapped in the chair. After speaking with the accompanying adults he made the decision to off-load the family."
As first language or second? Truthfully though, since the country of Italy is non-English speaking (officially) and they are allies of ours that would make the citizens of that country third worlders.
...oh, wait a minute, that's just for their women...
And why is a two year old on an airplane, anyway? He needs to be at home with Dad or Mom, playing.
By your own standard, the "Third" worlder beats the stuffing out of the "First" worlder.
In this particualr case yes. But the "world" designations were never meant to rate individual people, they rate countries. Some people from even fourth world countries are worthy of living in the US. Some people in the US aren't worthy of living.
Don't fly BA! Their staff is composed of martinets. I have seen how they treat people. One elderly woman got up to ask the steward a question and he barked at her to sit down or he would have her removed from the plane. You should have seen the shock on her face. We weren't taxing and the doors were still open. The steward just wanted to push her around.
Exactly. But surrogate parents (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) often have trouble forcing a child to behave. It's a constant problem when my wife's sister keeps our 5-year-old. She'll tell us "He wasn't ready to go to bed." It's not his flippin' decision.
I still shake my head over the time the same sister and her (and wife's) parents were at our house with our then 8-year-old and his new puppy. Because they ~couldn't~ find the key to the back door (same as the front BTW) and becasue the 8-year-old said "the dog has to be trained only to go out the back door," they let the dog pee on the carpet.
Not the dog's fault. We rubbed their noses in it...
"I would have had my butt popped a few times, and that would have definitely shut me up."
Does that still work for you?
I'm no opponent of spanking, but what do you think that child is going to do in that situation when you spank him? That's right, scream louder.
I recall that even as a toddler, I intuitively knew that "stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about" was a totally illogical statement.
Actually, I Find this whole story sickening. I hope it is not true. Airline workers are vicious, nasty people, as bad as the TSA. A bunch of brownshirts, all of them.
My 2 year old grandson will lock his knees so we can't bend them to sit him down. He has also been known to hold his legs together so we couldn't change his diaper. But trust me, we find other ways of "convincing" him to do as he he is told. We are the adults, after all.
You're not going to accomplish that with a two year old. Heres an idea, don't take a two year old on an airplane!
Ten to one says the little brat is never belted in when motoring.
Just another way to undermine western society. All about making you feel guilty for doing the right thing.
Once the child is strapped in you can do the warm fuzzy stuff, "this plane's pretty scary, huh?", etc.
What ever happened to the idea of doing the hard things first and fast, getting the pain over with instead of dragging it out until it's 10 times as bad as it would have been in the beginning? Seems to happen constantly. Must be that refusal to take responsibility until things are almost beyond repair, or worse.
heh-heh. They think they're so smart but we can always out-wit them. If we try.
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