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This is the “problem” that seems to keep happening over and over.  Last week, it was Delta seating a 4 year old 11 rows from her dad.  Then a few weeks ago, we had a family kicked off of a flight after their autistic daughter was deemed “disruptive”.  We’ve even had people kicked off a plane for TWEETING!

Now, we have another family kicked off of a plane, this time because of a “fussy” toddler.  Emily Kaiman from St. Louis shared the story on her Facebook wall.

This past Sunday I was traveling with my 4 children (preschool age and under), and my mother. After our 1st flight, we had a layover in Charlotte, NC. US Airways, delayed us for 3 hours, with no explantion. Eventually we boarded a different plane. As we were boarding, multiple passengers commented on how well behaved my children all were. We began taxiing, and my son (17 months old, traveling as a lap baby), was somewhat fussy and fidgety on me. He kicked his legs over the armrest into the aisle. A flight attendant came over and told me he could not do this, so I moved him toward the inside of my seat (closer to my daughter). He was calm, but every so often would fuss/fidget/cry. The flight attendant came over again and asked that I hold him tightly on my lap. I told her I was doing the best I could, and would make sure he was safe and secure. At this point we had been taxiing for at least 20 minutes. I began nursing him, and he was calm. I then noticed that we were heading back to a gate. Security boarded the flight, and told me, my mom, and children that we needed to deplane, that the flight crew had decided they would not fly with us, because of my son. I am honestly still it shock that they would kick a nursing mother and 4 small children off a plane for a *somewhat fussy/fidgety toddler

Now I understand that we may not have the whole story here and that parents might tend to downplay their own involvement, or the culpability of their own family.  I mean you’re talking to the guy who once had another passenger tell him that he was “the type of person that should not have children“, and I’m sure if the other lady in that story ever tells what happened, her account sounds different than mine.  BUT – I think we’ve seen repeated stories along this vein to know something else is going on.

Flight crew power trips?

Let me preface this by saying that most flight crews that I have encountered have been pleasant and nothing but professional.  Still, all these stories just seem to cry out to me as a few bad apples abusing their power.  Some of the recent laws passed have given the pilots and flight crew of aircraft unlimited power to do anything they can to ensure the “safety” of the crew, and at least in my mind, it’s gotten OUT OF CONTROL!

Regarding the story of the family kicked off of a flight after their autistic daughter was deemed “disruptive” – I have a mutual friend of someone who was actually on the plane.  She shared on Facebook

My friend was on this flight – Only a couple of rows away and heard the whole thing. She said it was so ridiculous and that the girl was not disruptive at all.

She said not one person on the flight complained-no one thought the girl was a threat and no one was uncomfortable

I think some of these flight attendants are on power trips just like some law enforcement, attorneys, etc because they (and the pilots) are in a position to kick someone off their flight

I could not agree any more.  I mean I have heard of families making goodie bags for fellow passengers, but I didn’t realize we had to bribe the flight attendants TOO!?!??! What do you think?  Do you have experiences with similar pilots or crew that have gone over and above what was necessary?  Or on the flip side, maybe you want to think about the nicest thing you’ve seen a fellow passenger or crew do for someone else?

Are flight crews out of control? This family was kicked off flight for having a fussy toddler!


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