Anyone Else See This? Mom and Toddler Kicked Off Plane

[elizabethkott]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070712/ap_on_re_us/toddler_booted

WTH?!

Can the flight attendant actually have suggested that the mother drug her child because he kept saying "Bye bye plane"?! What is going on with flight attendants lately?

Grr.

[ShanaMama]

That is pretty crazy. Hold on to your seats & wait for the backlash. Remember the boycotts of American Girl? You ain't seen nothing yet.

[supercalifragilous]

I saw this earlier today and was going to post this too...

In the article I read (see below), apparently mom & toddler had been sitting in the Houston airport for 11 hours. That flight attendant was lucky he wasn't throwing a fit! Besides, it was just an hour flight - it probably took more time to turn the plane around and deboard mom & toddler than it did to just take off and go. The language she used was rude ("shut your baby up?" *Excuse* me?) and the fact that all the passengers were in support of mom says a lot.

I hope this gets more publicity and causes Continental to lose more customers. IME, their customer service has been consistently rude *every* time I have had the misfortune of flying them. I am not surprised in the least that one of their flight attendants acted this way.

I HOPE they sue...and WIN! :D


http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=99986
Talkative Toddler Kicked Off Plane
by Josh Roseman

Edited to remove text - copyright infringement. Click link to see article.

[julieakc]

Really, I am a nice person, but this kind of stuff makes me want to hunt that flight attendant down and give her a good kick in the butt! I hope she gets fired.

[himom]

I think this woman deserves to pay a huge fine and even have a little jail time. Charge her with messing with national security. IMO if we are going to give flight attendants the kind of power to turn planes around in the name of security, then they damn well better take it seriously and learn that abusing that power will come with serious consequences. They are not gods and they need to stop acting like it.

I realize that most flight attendants are normal, intelligent people who are working hard at making a living. But women like this who throw hissy fits and insist on swinging their big sticks around have no place in the industry. They are themselves a threat to our security because as more of these incidents occur, there will be more of a tendency to simply ignore the instructions and instincts of the good flight attendants. Since they're probably the ones who will spot something amiss on a plane, this could lead to tragedy. It'll be just like "the little boy who cried wolf."

I really hope she gets fired. I can't stand it when grown-ups have temper tantrums.

[gatorsmom]

I couldn't have said it any better. This story shocks me, to say the least.

Lisa
Mom to Gator July 2003
And Cha-Cha July 2005
and surprise! twins due 11/07!

[tarabenet]

Amen!

I saw the mom and child on GMA this morning. she said the attendant even got mad when others on the plane said the child wasn't bothering them. She said something like "I don't care! This is MY plane!"

The airline needs to make an *extremely* public showing of firing the attendant and apologizing to that family. They should beg forgiveness. But you know what is happening right now: a bunch of corporate suits are locked in conference room, debating whether alienating families allows them to really (seem to) cater to business travel and increase profits that way. They'll wait until the polling data come in before they do anything. I just hope it's an even bigger PR nightmare for them by then.

[pb&j]

>I saw the mom and child on GMA this morning. she said the
>attendant even got mad when others on the plane said the child
>wasn't bothering them. She said something like "I don't care!
> This is MY plane!"

Oh, heck no! As a former airline captain, any FA of mine who ever said anything like that would have been written up personally by me, and been given a good long dressing-down, also personally by me. The Pilot In Command is in charge of the aircraft, per FAA regulations. It is most certainly NOT the FA's aircraft.


-Ry,
mom to Max, age 1.5
and my girl in heaven

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/37124.gif

[scoop22]

i saw this and thought wow my son would have done the same thing. he is so into the bye bye whatever.. i hate that this happened to this lady. i have yet to fly with ds and i dread the day that i do. i hope she gets things situated. what a horrible flight attendant.
http://b2.lilypie.com/XbITm4.png

[nov04]

I was pretty stunned with this. I hope she's fired.

[mamicka]

Ditto & Ditto.

Allison
Surprise #3 due 7/07

[punkrockmama]

What?....Wait, WHAT? Now that is some bullshizz of the HIGHTEST order. You know, I've been getting the vibe lately that more and more people are starting to trash kids in public for being kids. There are lots of names I'd like to call this flight attendant and none of them are nice and I think atleast two of them would get me kicked off of here. So I'll just say I hope this lady gets her story out everywhere she can, the *&^%$#$% gets fired, and the airline takes some responsibility and action. Hrrrump!

[mariza]

I am not, nor have I ever been a Captain or FA, but I did work for a major airline for many years, incuding working in flight operations. I now work for DHS, so I am somewhat informed yet still can't wrap my brain around this:
What Captain of any aircraft would in their right mind just up and turned a flight back based on the words of one FA?
Wouldn't s/he at least ask for other crewmember opinions if not speak to the passenger themself? I think the FA should be fired, but the Captain needs to explain the decision to turn around and remove the family, since it is ultimately his/her decision.
This is just wrong on many levels. Like previous posters stated, the FA should also be charged with creating a false security incident.

Mariza
Mommy to my "Thing 1" DD 1/05
and "Thing 2" DS 9/06

[tylersmama]

>What Captain of any aircraft would in their right mind just up
>and turned a flight back based on the words of one FA?
>Wouldn't s/he at least ask for other crewmember opinions if
>not speak to the passenger themself? I think the FA should be
>fired, but the Captain needs to explain the decision to turn
>around and remove the family, since it is ultimately his/her
>decision.

It was a regional jet, so I'm pretty sure there was only one FA.

Every time I hear a story about something like this, I'm amazed at the sheer stupidity of people. Did the FA really think that the story wouldn't get out? She really should be fired.

[gatorsmom]

"There are lots of names I'd like to call this flight attendant and none of them are nice and I think atleast two of them would get me kicked off of here."

LOL. so funny. but yeah, sadly, I've been getting the vibe too that people tolerate kids less and less. Wait, let me rephrase that- people love to listen (for the most part) and look at smiley, happy, kids (mainly babies) and look at you like you should go to jail if your kids are screaming. I relish the day my kids are really behaving badly and someone has the gaul to say something to me. Hmmmm, I LOVE putting people in their places....(insert evil snicker)

Lisa
Mom to Gator July 2003
And Cha-Cha July 2005
and surprise! twins due 11/07!

[pb&j]

>I am not, nor have I ever been a Captain or FA, but I did
>work for a major airline for many years, incuding working in
>flight operations. I now work for DHS, so I am somewhat
>informed yet still can't wrap my brain around this:
>What Captain of any aircraft would in their right mind just up
>and turned a flight back based on the words of one FA?
>Wouldn't s/he at least ask for other crewmember opinions if
>not speak to the passenger themself? I think the FA should be
>fired, but the Captain needs to explain the decision to turn
>around and remove the family, since it is ultimately his/her
>decision.
>This is just wrong on many levels. Like previous posters
>stated, the FA should also be charged with creating a false
>security incident.


I was wondering the same thing myself. I never kicked anyone off a plane, but I did go back to the cabin once or twice to mediate a "discussion" between an FA or CSR and a customer. Even on an RJ with 1 FA, it would have taken some really extraordinary tall tale to make me go back to the gate.

-Ry,
mom to Max, age 1.5
and my girl in heaven

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/37124.gif

[Marisa6826]

LOL. The last time somebody gave me a hard time about having kids in a restaurant I really laid into them nicely. It was almost fun for *me* ;)

-m

[tarabenet]

According to the mom, the FA told Captain that a passenger had threatened her, sort of invoked all the new post-9/11 fears and guidelines. Other passengers (again according to the mom) have already gone to the airline to say they witnessed the whole incident and the mom did no such thing.

[megs4413]

i hope that family gets a nice settlement out of it. what bullshiznit.

and maybe the FA just really wanted to go back to the gate for something? LOL!!!! i mean, seriously...what possessed this woman to do such a thing???? unbelievable...

[mariza]

I didn't realize it was a regional, I just skimmed the article and saw the pic of a big 747 next to the article. Still suprises me though that the pilot would just turn around like that.

[StantonHyde]

A child shrink (I work in a psych hospital) gave me a good one: Walk past the people with the screaming child and say, yes I'm a terrible parent, let me give you my card and you can call me about it tomorrow. Worked well as I carried my tantruming child out of the library :-)