Toddler's Temper Ousts Family From Plane

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:32pm

"ORLANDO, Fla. (Jan. 23) - AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.

AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seat belt upon takeoff.

"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

Julie and Gerry Kulesza, who were headed home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, said they just needed a little more time to calm their daughter, Elly.

"We weren't given an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything," Julie Kulesza said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The Kuleszas said they told a flight attendant they had paid for their daughter's seat, but asked whether she could sit in her mother's lap. The request was denied.

She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, Graham-Weaver said.

The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and the Kuleszas flew home the next day.
They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.

The father said his family would never fly AirTran again."
Link

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:35pm

"The father said his family would never fly AirTran again."

I'm sure every future Air Tran passenger is very happy to hear that.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:36pm

All children young enough to cry or whine should be sedated--heavily--before boarding any plane I'm flying on, with additional doses administered on long flights.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:41pm

Then I guess they won't be using those free round-trip tickets...

Maybe they can use the reimbursement money to get that kid the help it needs to function properly in public.

[DG]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:43pm

"get that kid the help it needs to function properly in public."

I'm not so sure it's the kid that needs the help.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:44pm

"They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said. "

I am more than willing to take them! I use airtran all the time.

[D2]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:49pm

Good for AirTran!

[MotorTink]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 10:52pm

I heard this on the radio during my drive home. I'm happy AirTran took a stand.

[Anakela]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 11:00pm

"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

AirTran delayed a flight- affecting the other passengers on the flight, affecting the plane's schedule at other airports, the crew's schedule, the takeoff traffic at the airport, etc.- and this family still couldn't get their kid buckled in, and the *family* thinks they were wronged somehow? seriously.

ps- y'all are awesome, I love this board. There are some other boards I hang on where the posts before mine would've all been of the "how could they be so meeean," "she was just a chiiild," "you were a kid once," etc. variety. It warms my heart to come in here and find a bunch of 'good for AirTran' posts. :)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 11:04pm

On PalJoey Airlines...

...flight attendants will silence crying children with the ball gag.

[MotorTink]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 11:06pm

that is awesome PalJoey! Can we get restraints for their legs so they don't kick the back of the chairs as well?

[Liverpool]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 11:07pm

YEah, i got to side with the airline on this one. flights in this country are ALWAYS late as it is without having to delay for a child's tantrum. The rest of the people on the plane shouldn't have to deal with it.

[D2]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 11:13pm

My father worked for Pan Am, and there was no question about how I was to behave on a plane, no matter how young I was. If I had pulled that kind of crap, my parents would have picked me up and carted me off that plane pronto. I distinctly remember the start of a temper tantrum in a restaurant when I was about 3 or 4. Just the start of one, because my father shocked the hell out of me by just picking me up and carrying me out of the restaurant. He didn't say a word, but I knew he meant business. I wish more parents today acted as decisively.

So once again, good for AirTran. Too bad they had to do the parent's job for them.

[Anakela]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 11:22pm

I just clicked on the story link, and there's a poll there! The results right now:

With whom do your sympathies lie most?
The other fliers 69%
the airline 18%
the parents 10%
the kid 2%
total votes 266,425

can't believe that 'the parents' number- I would totally feel for the kid before feeling for her parents.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 11:28pm

Hoo-ray! Let's hear it for Air Tran-Continental, are you listening?

[singingwendy]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 12:02am

This is fantastic!

Don't get me started about parents who have no control over their children. I teach in an elementary school...I could go on for days!

And even most kids know other kids should behave. We were writing rules of how to behave at a school concert that would be put on the back of the program and the 5th graders came up with "Keep small children with you and under control".

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 12:09am

Parents have no control over their children anymore. Hell, I have flown cross country with a number of kids with autism and it's always the typical children who are annoying as hell.

[James885]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 12:13am

I completly agree with the airline on this one. Why should the other 112 passengers be inconvenienced because these two parents can't manage to control their child? The flight was already delayed, they had some nerve asking for more time to calm their child down. I would have kicked them off the plane too.

[Anakela]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 12:20am

And even most kids know other kids should behave. We were writing rules of how to behave at a school concert that would be put on the back of the program and the 5th graders came up with "Keep small children with you and under control".

That's awesome- kids totally know the score. My sister, about age 7, watching two kids running around in the store: "Ugh- little kids can be *so* annoying sometimes!" Said completely with heavy sigh and eyeroll- I laughed.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 12:44am

If I got out of line when I was little, I would have gotten poppped. Maybe that is the problem now.

[etoile]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 2:09am

I disagree with this part of how the airline handled things, "They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies..."

Did the parents offer anything to the other passengers?

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 2:13am

Good for the airline. People need to start taking responsibility.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 8:04am

I agree, good for the airline.

I can't believe GMA actually had this family on its show yesterday. Gee, let's give these people their 15 minutes because their child was unruly. Great message.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 8:19am

Too bad Jerry Springer's not still around - the audience could have thrown stuff at them.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 1/24/07 at 8:23am

Just knowing the kind of sh!t my mother has taken from being a flight attendant for the last 30 years, I am totally and completely on the side of AirTran

Kudos to them for standing their ground