rjque

I didn't read the post as supporting the decision to offload this family, but that's not really the issue I was posting about. Anyone who suggests that a toddler in the middle of a tantrum can or should be reasoned with clearly doesn't understand toddlers.

This is certainly an unusual case. I suspected that the OP's post was inaccurate when this was first posted, but US Air's response in the linked article makes it sound like it was accurate. Crews conduct safety demonstrations while children cry all the time, so this must have been quite some crying, or perhaps there is something else going on here.

crossc

I actually have 6 children of my own. What caught my attention was when the poster said, "the minute my son heard we would have to get off the plane, he stopped crying" (not an exact quote). It did not make sense that the child could suddenly control himself.

rjque

The OP wrote

I interpreted that as the child stopping the tantrum upon the change in scenery. You're right that it doesn't make a lot of sense if it happened on board, but even if it did, I'm not sure I would say that this is evidence that the parent had any control over the crying.

theddo

Last time I checked it was still called US Airways and not US Nannys, so if you cannot control your offspring that may be reason for intervention, even if unloading a family is a severe intervention). However can the safety video not be played I actually think unloading is reasonable. Parents do, at least they did when I was a child, have the responsibility to ensure their kids can travel.

CDTraveler

According to post #1, the kid was strapped into a car seat, how much more "control" do you want?

The OP acknowledges the child was began making noise, i.e. "tantrum," after the flight attendants moved him and his seat to another row - maybe the FA's precipitated the problem by the way they approached the child? However, if making excessive noise is now a criteria for offloading people, the airline needs to be consistent and start offloading loudmouthed adults, too. You know, the ones shouting into their cell phones long after being told to shut them off...

Offloading should be reserved for those whose actions endanger, not annoy, the other people and the aircraft.

nux

Also the OP stated that a flight attendant grabbed at their child while in the car seat, whereas in the article this changed to a passenger picking them up while she was configuring the car seat..

As well stating they were denied travel that day, then later stating they were offered free of charge to be put on the next flight or a full refund (which was left out of the article..), although the airline states they refunded their ticket in full.

OP here states they tried to book a US Airways ticket the next day, whereas in the article they say they did not want to go on US and booked another carrier.


Doubt we'll hear from them again though.

rjque

Agreed, and I think that no airline is going to want to take a delay to offload unless there is some real safety issue. That leads me to believe that this was not just the run of the mill tantrum, or that the parent's behavior was partially responsible for the offload.

Lovethecabin

I don't know that it would be possible to pick up a child of that age, strapped into a 5 point harness, in such a confined space.

ETA - Ok, now I read the article and see that she changed her story to a passenger picking up her child.

Hot airport? Surely it had AC?

I am a parent that flies a couple of times a year with our son, starting as infant so I am not without sympathy but I do wonder how much of the mother's behavior played into the off-loading.

I have seen parents lose their ability to process information on planes. I witnessed an incident where parents tried to use some bizarre square bucket (for lack of a better term) to hold their infant (est. age 10-12 mo.) in a middle seat. The FAs repeatedly told them they could not use the bucket and even it is was FAA approved, it could not go in the middle seat.

This went on and on and on (we were seated two rows behind) until the surrounding passengers got irritated and started in on the couple to remove the bucket. This was a flight to STT and the fellow passengers where simply NOT tolerating any b.s. that would delay their vacation.

At that point, the FAs got the captain who marched back and said something along the lines of "remove that baby bucket/carrier or the three of you will be getting off this plane."

They decided to gate check the carrier.

jlh9s

Wow, some of you members are harsh!

I've flown with small kids. It is no walk in the park. And the pressure to try to keep kids as well behaved as possible is also hard. It's made us avoid trips where we have to fly long distances. But sometimes you have circumstances where it can't be avoided, such as a family emergency.

I too might have been skeptical years ago about this story. But on Allegiant Air, we had an experience two years ago where I was nursing our baby on the plane. We had paid to check all our luggage so that we would have more space, paid for assigned seats, etc. In order to have more room for nursing, we put a laptop bag in the overhead. The flight attendant said the overhead was only for roller bags, and when my husband tried to explain that we had no other bags and just wanted to put that one up there for more space, she took the bag out of the overhead and threw it at him. She then started yelling, "You're not in control here. I'm in control!" The other passengers were staring, dumbfounded at her. She yelled for us to get off the plane. Other passengers were protesting. We stayed completely calm and resisted the urge to yell back or get excited. When we got off the plane, the security person looked shocked when he saw how calm and harmless we looked (who knows what she told him was going on). The security personnel talked to the pilot and they overrode the flight attendant and told her we were going back on board.

Ironically when we got back on the plane, the only seats left were bulkhead (where you can't store luggage under your seat). My husband just handed her the laptop bag to stow above. She didn't say a word to us for the rest of the flight.

But yes, flight attendants can have bad days like everyone else. That is the only bad experience we have ever had on a plane, but it did amaze me that a flight attendant has so much unchecked power that can be abused. It did make for a good story.

crosscountrytravlr

from Customer Relations:

"Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. As we discussed, we did receive a report from the flight attendants and I was advised that you were moved due to airbag safety requirements on the aircraft. US Airways has retrofitted most of these planes with airbags in the bulkhead seats. The flight attendant mistakenly assumed the aircraft had airbags which would prohibit car seats for safety reasons. After you were moved the flight attendant realized her mistake; in that this aircraft had not yet been retrofitted; however, by this time your children could not be calmed.

As you were advised, our agents must also discern between situations reasonably resolved and incidents which may escalate once in the air. When there is any question as to a passenger's behavior, the Captain has the authority to deny travel. We have an obligation to all our customers to provide them with professional service carried out in a safe, secure environment and able to hear all safety announcements. The decision to deny you boarding was in accordance with Tariff Rule 35, based solely on the behavior your children displayed, the crew felt they were interfering with the safety of the aircraft. "

jacobitetraveller

yes everyone can have a bad day

BUT on this occasion the FA did not just have a bad day more like a near breakdown there may well have been reasons for this but that sort of behaviour in the service industry cant be acceptable
if this had happened whilst dealing with unreasonable customers then I can understand it but dealing with reasonable people as you appear to have been is totally out of order
I am not the sort to shout compensation compensation compensation but on that occasion I would have been looking for a written apology and some sort of compensation for the incident

rjque

Well, that takes care of my speculation that your behavior had something to do with this. Must have been some tantrum!

jlh9s

I meant afterwards to write a letter to the airline with the TA's name. Not because I wanted any compensation (after all, we got on the flight, and ultimately it was just a very bizarre incident), but I figured if she had a breakdown with someone else, it would probably be a good thing to put in her file. But kids and time, and all else intervened, and we never got around to it. Still, I figure either it was an isolated incident - maybe she had some horrible family news that morning - or else her personality is just like that, in which case I am sure someone else will have written in a complaint by now.

I was just surprised to learn afterwards that there are very few limitations on a TA's ability to kick a passenger off a flight, and almost nothing the airline owes the passenger in turn.

theddo

Which was why I stated that only after the disturbance became à safety issue should the unloading begin.

Adults using their phones are offloaded, there's a video of that on here from a couple of months ago.