AIBU to think cancelling the flight over a child was excessive

Yes and I can only imagine the 62% who have said the OP is NBU haven't read it either.

Mind boggling.

They probably thought the child would be okay once onboard. Of course the parents didn’t want this to happen… But, it’s what happened!

But surely that child had travelled in a car before or in a buggy if very young? The idea that you wear a belt couldn't have been new.

They usually give you a seatbelt to put around the parent which goes around the child as well. I had to do this once when my son who has severe autism was about 6 refused to keep seat belt on for landing. Luckily he’s very slim and the belt went around him easily. He soon settled on my knee and fell asleep. It was because our fight was at stupid o’clock and he had hardly any sleep. He was tired and wanted to lie down but couldn’t. I’ve refused to get an early flight since then not worth the stress.

Did you read it? It wasn't so much being badly behaved he was scared. Perhaps he was a little young

ive taken a flight before that was the last chance to see someone.
I’d have been devastated if my flight was cancelled due to this and missing my opportunity to say goodbye

The plane had left the gate. You can't just get off.

I'm sure it's been suggested and Ryanair have or are in the process of going through the courts for at least some of the costs associated with some diversions.

For context delays can cost in the hundreds if not thousands of £ a minute in some circumstances....

The child is described as “young” and able to hide under their seat. So about 3 or 4, unlikely to be 6ft.

The article says that the child was buckled in but would then slide out underneath.

I don't know why they weren't physically restrained to be honest. If a child is young and small enough that they can stand on the seat (per the article) then they're young and small enough that parents could link an arm each on either side and hold them in place with the seatbelt on.

I do think airlines should be able to heavily fine passengers (or their parents in this case) who disrupt a flight to the extent it's cancelled. It's incredibly expensive for all concerned, to say nothing of the disruption to other passengers.

They should introduce personal liability for causing delays to flights, either by drunken behaviour, smoking on board, children's tantrums, or anything else, with individual(s) concerned becoming personally liable for the costs incurred by the airline and the other passengers.

It explains, they did remove the parents and child but by then it was beyond the maximum take off time for that airport

It's not negotiable..child won't sit down and belt up 😉 then it's an offload.

Problem in the Canadian case wasn't crew hours, it was that they got clobbered by the airport night curfew.

A "child" could be a 6ft, 17 stone, mentally-impaired male. Remember Katie Prices son, Harvey? If he started throwing a wobbly, i doubt there's much anyone would be able to do about it.

Exactly. I flew last week and people were being very loud during the safety demonstration.

The head of the crew team actually said that the plane wasn't going anywhere until they had got through the safety demonstration uninterrupted, they were at risk of missing the slot and the police would be called to remove them from the plane.

We did get off in time but people continued to be noisy and there were also adults who wouldn't sit down when the seatbelt light was on throughout the flight and on landing. Unbelievable.

This is awful, I'd be so mad if I was stranded. To be honest I'd have much more sympathy with a little child experiencing overwhelm than with a drunk idiot starting a fight. That seems to happen often enough.

Do you read only headlines? They did exactly what you suggested - telling the parents that they’ll have to get off - but by the time the plane was able to unboard them and their luggage, it was too late.

Simple fact is, this is not anyone elses problem. If the child reacts so badly, the PARENT is responsible for picking them up and walking off the plane so everyone else isnt effected.

There's lots of rules in aviation which, for obvious reasons, need to be strictly adhered to. Timings are often very tight, slots get missed, airports close up for the night, crew run out of hours. If they had taken off without the child wearing a seatbelt and it had been a rough take off causing the child to be injured, that would obviously had been very serious.

They did remove parent and child and to do so had to go back to the terminal and then they missed their slot. No others available so flight cancelled

They did tell them to get off, but it's a long and convoluted process to deboard someone once the plane pushes back, its not like getting off the bus a stop early because your little darling is having a tantrum.

Why are you posting an article you havent even read properly? Embarrassing.

This needs to happen more and more and then eventually the airlines will take the next step of not pissing around when this type of thing occurs. Airline police board, ask them to get off the plane once. If they dont get off, physical restraint of parents and drag the whole family off.

Time to stop pandering to arseholes who effect everyone around them.

Parents need to parent. 🙄