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.
2007-01-23 08:39:13 · 16 answers · asked by Faceless 4 in Travel ➔ Air Travel
Personally I just have no respect for parents who DONT CARE if their kids misbehave. It's obvious this little kid was out of control, so why should everyone else on board have to suffer the delay?
Parents who have bratty spoilt kids should not fly until their kids can behave properly.
That's my opinion, what's yours?
2007-01-23 08:40:57 · update #1
Apparently the parents did purchase a seat for the child to sit in the middle between them, but the child simply refused to be seated, let alone buckled in.
2007-01-23 08:47:59 · update #2
The airline did the right thing and the parents are making fools of themselves by going on national tv putting down the airline and snubbing their generous offer. They were lucky the airline didn't call in the police.
People who have bratty out of control children with no manners ought to drive places until which time their children behave properly so as not to be a complete disgrace and embarrassment to them.
2007-01-24 10:28:35 · answer #1 · answered by ♥Enya♥ 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, that's a good question. Everybody who has kids knows how temper tantrums can be. The airline probably handled the situation very professionally. I assume they must have asked the parents several times to put their child into its seat and asked the parents to calm the child.
Maybe it was a good thing that they had to leave the airplane, so that the child could calm down.
Of course in the parents eyes they wanted to get from A to B and oh my...what a hassle to deal with such an enormous temper tantrum plus the stress of dealing with the threat of having to leave the plane and all the people sitting there watching & yelling at them. What an awful situation!
Well, I think everybody needs to obey the rules by the airline.
As sorry as I feel for the family I think it was probably the better choice for them (plus they got reimbursed for their loss)
and the child had a chance to calm down from whatever upset her so much in the first place.
2007-01-23 09:06:31 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I agree with the airline because they have obligation with other passengers. If the parents can't control their child then the next best thing is to kick them out. The airline can not delay flights because of one child or adult for that matter. The family was fairly reimbursed and then was given three free tickets to anywhere, I say that's a good deal.
Yeah for the airline, if I was on this flight I would not be happy if the airline wait for the child to calm down...It can take hours before a child calm down. The last thing the airline want is here complaints from other 112 passenger.
2007-01-23 08:56:24 · answer #3 · answered by stiletto 4 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I agree that the airline ousted them from the plane, how long are you going to wait for them to get the child seated and buckled in, the aircraft has a schedule to keep,passengers do not want to wait around on the pan for another flight slot.
I have sat in front and behind badly behaved children and have been glad when the plane landed.Why do people take children on board planes when they will not behave and could not control them.
I think they did very well in getting reimbursed for the tickets and the offer of three round trip tickets.
How long in total was the plane delayed? what compensation did the passengers get for being delayed through no fault of their own?
2007-01-24 02:24:40 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
because Im a flight attendant i lately got here up with this sitiation the position 2 little ones were crying truly loud and woke each and each of the passengers dozing. because we were already as a lot as 30,000 ft. me and my flight crew couldn't like truly kick the family members off the airplane. instead my flight crew and that i tried our perfect to convenience the little ones and requested the father and mom if the little ones had any well being themes and ithe crying is primary or strange. in any case we landed like 20 minutes in a while a 2 hour flight so a minimum of we did no longer have too listen the crying by ability of the finished flight. If i turned right into a passenger enable's purely say i'd be type of annoyed yet i doesn't truly blame the family members- reason you cant truly administration little ones. If we were on the floor i'd exceedingly a lot want the family members kicked off.
2016-10-16 00:14:03 · answer #5 · answered by filonuk 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So, they wont fly Air Tran again? Hmm, next time I fly I will have to look into Air Tran flights! I think the airline was totally justified. This was also a concern for the safety of the child. Children of that age need to be strapped in.
You know if airlines wanted to provide a REAL service they could do a crying room like some churches have! A sound proof area for parents with babies/toddlers.
2007-01-23 10:37:36 · answer #6 · answered by sngcanary 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Having been allocated a seat next to three spoiled kids on a 7 hour flight, I feel the airline was extremely generous. One spoiled 5 year old holding up 112 passengers and a multi-million dollar aircraft - Its outrageous.
2007-01-23 21:58:50 · answer #7 · answered by David W 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree that the child and the parents should have been removed from the plane. If I pay for my ticket I expect a certain level of comfort and quiet there is nothing worse then having someones child throw a tantrum. Parents need to take more responsibility for their children instead of thinking they can get away with anything.
2007-01-23 08:44:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I don't see anything wrong with what the airline did.
I've a 5 year and a 1 year old. Still I agree with what the airline did. Fifteen minutes is probably enough. And if you still need more time, well the airline just did that by deplaning them. Infact it was appreciable that the airline actually refunded them the cost of their tickets which I sure was demanded by the father.
2007-01-23 08:43:47 · answer #9 · answered by MSC 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
AirTran did the right thing. That makes me want to fly AirTran if they are going to kick off irresponsible parents. At least I can fly on a quiet plane. I would have been beaten by my parents if I would have done that at that age.
2007-01-23 11:26:25 · answer #10 · answered by ironchain15 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋