Three cheers for AirTran Airways!

chrisg72

DinghyDog wrote:

driving's much more fun anyway and you get to see more next to the road! you can stop off at stalls next to the road, explore stuff you would never see on a plane... and by the time you have three kids the gas is cheaper than 5 airfares!

Exactly!

hippiemom

DinghyDog wrote:

i challenge everyone here to attempt flying on a family trip with a three year old daughter and then to reconsider their posts. sometimes no matter how good a parent the child cannot be calmed.

travelling with kids is extremely stressful.

we have a duaghter of our own, she's only 3 months and an absolute angel, and travelling with her, although very very stressfull, went really well.

on the one hand yes, i've thought in my head many a time "shut that f***** kid up" while flying with a screaming kid next to me. but put yourself in the parents' shoes. it must feel horrible.

i'm stuck in the middle of this too. i don't know the details but getting thrown off a flight seems a bit harsh. if i were the dad i would have took my daughter, picked her up and physically placed her ass in her seat.

ask me in three years again what my opinion is, hopefully our little angel still is an angel then touch wood

I've been a mom for 26 years. I've traveled with kids. There's a reason we're bigger than they are ... as you said, when sitting isn't optional, you pick them up and put them in their seat. How hard is that? They didn't get thrown off the plane because the kid was noisy, they got thrown off because she was violating regulations and the plane couldn't take off with her crawling under the seats.

Honestly, if your kid is three years old and has somehow gotten the idea that hitting you is an ok thing to do when she doesn't feel like doing what she's told, getting thrown off a plane is the least of your concerns.

DinghyDog

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jeffbr

hippiemom wrote:

I've been a mom for 26 years. I've traveled with kids. There's a reason we're bigger than they are ... as you said, when sitting isn't optional, you pick them up and put them in their seat. How hard is that? They didn't get thrown off the plane because the kid was noisy, they got thrown off because she was violating regulations and the plane couldn't take off with her crawling under the seats.

Honestly, if your kid is three years old and has somehow gotten the idea that hitting you is an ok thing to do when she doesn't feel like doing what she's told, getting thrown off a plane is the least of your concerns.

Words of wisdom, for sure! The airline did the right thing. I'm afraid that the parents, when presented with a valuable object lesson, decided to blame the airline instead of understanding what really happened.

chopitdown

benadryl

Purple Hawk

Abuskedti wrote:

Horse hockey.. flying is stressful.. there are a million things that may have happened to set the child off like that -

It is likely she would have been quieted in just a couple of minutes.

Next they will throw ugly fuckers off planes - and stupid people.

They SHOULD!

Have you ever sat next to an ugly person? or stupid person? It's even worse when they want to talk to you!

surferdude

DinghyDog wrote:

i challenge everyone here to attempt flying on a family trip with a three year old daughter and then to reconsider their posts. sometimes no matter how good a parent the child cannot be calmed.

Been there done that and was successful. It's the parents call to decide if their child can handle the stress of flying. No one forces the parents to make their child get on a plane. I'm sure the cost of keeping a plane on the ground runs at least $5,000 a minute. Then there's the additional risk faced by every passenger on that plane and surrounding planes by first a runway being occupied for an extended period of time, plus the rescheduling and juggling of all flight paths.

Sorry but if you cannot control your child don't fly.

even flow?

Wow, she was hitting her parents and what were they doing. "Please, stop that."? So this just is a little proof that the odd smack to straighten out your kid isn't a bad thing. Good for the airline. Imagine if she had a "Bush is a Tool" shirt on to boot.

Next to the guy or chick who hasn't used deodorant in the past couple of days. A screaming kid is the next best thing to have near or beside you on a plane.

chrisg72

even flow? wrote:

Wow, she was hitting her parents and what were they doing. "Please, stop that."? So this just is a little proof that the odd smack to straighten out your kid isn't a bad thing. Good for the airline. Imagine if she had a "Bush is a Tool" shirt on to boot.

Next to the guy or chick who hasn't used deodorant in the past couple of days. A screaming kid is the next best thing to have near or beside you on a plane.

It's funny because I was thinking about this...if they had tried to handle her or give her a little smack then the parents would have been called abusive.

even flow?

chrisg72 wrote:

It's funny because I was thinking about this...if they had tried to handle her or give her a little smack then the parents would have been called abusive.

Well I didn't quite mean right there and then. Although the kid seemed to be begging for one. I was meaning more throughout the kid's life. Obviously your child either knows to raise their hand to a parent or not. And this kid shows the signs that it may do this more frequently then a child should.

Collin

I agree with most of you but don't be too quick to judge these parents, even good parents sometimes can't control their children.

Who knows what really happened, maybe the kid wasn't afraid of flying at all and perfectly calm before boarding... something could have happened. I say, to call these parents incompetent because of one incident is a bit harsh.

I bet every parent has a moment that his parenting skills lack or seem to lack. You wouldn't want someone judging you as a parent based on that one moment, would you?

Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with what AirTran Airways did, nothing is more frustrating than a delayed flight (well except maybe a delayed flight with a screaming toddler).

Pacomc79

They made the perfect decision, the passengers didn't have to be subjected to a screaming child during thier flight and the people got their money back. Maybe they will be able to control thier child more effectively next time. The fact that you have a screaming child is not bothersome to me if you can fix it in good time. It happens. When you are in a flying cigar tube with 4cm of space between you and everyone else the airline has an obligation to remove people if they can who are causing great displeasure of everyone else who paid money to take the flight. The people got their money back and they will never fly Air Tran again. Awesome, two reasons I will continue to only fly Air Tran when I have a choice.

Pacomc79

hippiemom wrote:

I've been a mom for 26 years. I've traveled with kids. There's a reason we're bigger than they are ... as you said, when sitting isn't optional, you pick them up and put them in their seat. How hard is that? They didn't get thrown off the plane because the kid was noisy, they got thrown off because she was violating regulations and the plane couldn't take off with her crawling under the seats.

Honestly, if your kid is three years old and has somehow gotten the idea that hitting you is an ok thing to do when she doesn't feel like doing what she's told, getting thrown off a plane is the least of your concerns.

brilliantly articulated as usual HM. I bet you are an excellent mommy.

chrisg72

Collin wrote:

I agree with most of you but don't be too quick to judge these parents, even good parents sometimes can't control their children.

Who knows what really happened, maybe the kid wasn't afraid of flying at all and perfectly calm before boarding... something could have happened. I say, to call these parents incompetent because of one incident is a bit harsh.

I bet every parent has a moment that his parenting skills lack or seem to lack. You wouldn't want someone judging you as a parent based on that one moment, would you?

Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with what AirTran Airways did, nothing is more frustrating than a delayed flight (well except maybe a delayed flight with a screaming toddler).

I agree, I don't see anything wrong with what the airline did especially since the flight was delayed. It was delayed because the child wouldn't sit not because she was screaming; unfortunately she has the right to be there just as anyone else does. If she decided to sit and scream the whole time there is nothing anyone can do about it. I've been on a flight where a kid screamed the whole time and you just have to listen to it. I also think that there is no such thing as a perfect parent. I think cutting them some slack is appropriate, I am sure they were embarrassed about the situation.

NMyTree

The Airline personel did the right thing. This was a situation unlike your typical grocery store tantrums or bad behavior.

It's obvious these parents are completely clueless and negligent in their parenting. Any parent who allows their kid to hit them and throw tantrums without anything more than the response reported in this news story; are negligent, soft and irresponsible.

Allowing one's three year old's bad behavior to disrupt, delay and inconvienance 100+ fellow passenger's schedules and day; is selfish, self-absorbed and rude.

You get off your ass and physically get a hold of the kid, place her/him in the seat and fasten the belts. Then you spend a majority of the filght reminding the kid how that behavior is unacceptable, has consequences and will result in further descipline upon arrival at home or whatever destination.

Then again, if they were responsible parents, this incident would not have gone as far as it did, to begin with.

JaneNY

Like Dinghy Dog and Ahnimus I am somewhat torn, and I wasn't there to see what the parents or the child was like. My first question would be did the parents do everything they could to help the child be comfortable before getting on the plane? The kind of tantrum described is often from hunger and/or the child being overtired. I have a child who used to completely melt down if she was at all hungry, so I learned to always have a snack and make sure she was fed, as she had a very low tolerance for discomfort. That's a physical thing, not simply poor behavior, especially at the age of three. Overtired is another physical thing. A child who is three needs his/her rest, and internal controls deteriorate quickly and significantly if the child hasn't rested, and its the parents' job to make sure the child gets rest.

With these things in mind, I wonder the following - was the airline on time or were there delays? Were the parents made to throw the childs' snacks away because of security (or unable to access any for the same reasons) and then forced to wait quite a while before the flight, making the child hungry AND tired, when getting on the flight?

If the parents neglected their part for making sure she was fed and rested, then yes, the parents are largely responsible. If on the other hand, external conditions were in place making it difficult for the parents to keep the child happy, due to circumstances outside of their control, then the airline holds some responsibility.

This all being said, I have taken many flights, including seveal of 10-20 hours of flying at one time, with children as little as 5 months and really didn't have any big problems. Dramamine is quite helpful for air sickness, which we all have in our family, and the beneficial side effect is it makes kids a little sleepy!

yield2me

I think there should be flights that are "children free" and charge the passengers a bit more...I'd fucking pay more to not sit next to some snot nosed brat! I hate kids...

DinghyDog

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rearviewmiror

I have seen some obnoxious things from kids on planes. I bet that most here have too, and that's whats fueling the intensity. Mainly though I am not bothered by a parent who seems helpless to stop their children but try, it's those that are oblivious.

I have seen it several times, including a child walking up an aisle and trying to go to the bathroom on final approach. The flight attendant had to risk her neck to put the child in its seat, the parents didnt care at all. That's the true crime, the kids are just a product of their parents. And when all the parents are giving is indifference or the belief that their child is perfect, the results are never pretty.

Porch

yield2me wrote:

I think there should be flights that are "children free" and charge the passengers a bit more...I'd fucking pay more to not sit next to some snot nosed brat! I hate kids...

unless it was eddie vedder's kid right?

i am disgusted by this thread and some of the postings in it... obviously some of you are not parents...or some of you must be the perfect parent... I am one of those people that get looks in a store EVERYTIME I go to a store...people look at me like i am a shitty mother because I am not controlling my kids properly...well I invite any of you to take my 2 autistic kids to target for a shopping trip...it would be all my pleasure to watch... sometimes you dont know crap about other people's situations... minding your own business would be nice:)