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Original poster

Removed from flight.

342 replies

Madhatter24 · 05/12/2018 20:21

This is quite a long thread but I want you to get all the information as I am really confused and want to give my friend the best advice.

A friend of mine who was returning from holiday, she was travelling with her brother, his wife, their two young children and my elderly mother in law who is age 70+. They were seated separately on the plane, my friend was seated upstairs and everyone else was seated downstairs together. The niece was crying for my friend and she was becoming agitated as she is very attached to her and she is always with her, however as she was seated upstairs she couldn't sit with her. My friend asked the stewardess it was it possible for her to sit near her family and they said once everyone is boarded, if there's a way they can swap her with another passenger they will. She accepted this and was waiting patiently for the flight to board and take off. Another passenger on the plane complained to the steward and said that my friends niece is ill and should be checked over by a doctor before being allowed to fly (she was crying quite loudly and my friends sis in law was trying desperately to calm her).

The stewardess then goes over to the sister in law and asks if the child is ill. The sister-in-law explained that she's not ill and she is crying for her auntie and who is seated upstairs.

Another stewardess then goes upstairs and said that My friend need to go downstairs (she didn't say why and my friend thought it was because they found a seat for her near her family).
In the meantime My friend was not aware of this but the stewardess that was in charge was asking her family to get off the flight and get the child checked by a doctor within the airport. The sister-in-law and brother were saying that the child is not ill and that she is crying because she wants to be seated with her auntie. However they were refusing to listen and said that they must all get off the flight and get the child checked by the doctor within the airport. They were absolutely refusing to listen. They were trying to explain to them that they are travelling with an elderly person and to young children.

As they kept on trying to explain the situation to the stewardess and explain that the child is not ill and she is only upset because she wants to be seated with her auntie, they started getting increasingly rude and saying get out of this plane now. Eventually they had no option but to leave the flight. They went to the medical room and the doctor checked the child and said that there is absolutely no reason why the child cannot fly. They then went back to the check-in desk And they said that as they have missed their flight and that they need to pay a penalty of £200 each. Again they tried to explain the situation to the check in staff and said that they were removed from the flight due to no fault of their own and it was only because a another passenger complained that the small child was ill when she wasn't she was only crying because she wanted to be sat next to her auntie. However once again they were not being reasonable and would not listen to our side. They eventually had to pay £100 per person as a penalty for missing the flight.

When they arrived back at Heathrow, a few pieces of luggage arrived however the reminder of the luggage arrived in dribs and drabs over the next few days delivered to the home address.

My friend has been completely and utterly broken by this whole experience. It has caused her to become ill and she is unable to work because the of the stress this whole situation caused. What would you do in this situation? I was thinking of tagging the airline (emirates) on a Facebook page, however thinking a bit deeper was thinking maybe write to them and see what their response is.

She saying it's not just about the financial loss that they incurred, it's about the stress and ordeal they had to go through with two young children and elderly mother-in-law. All because another person just said that the child was ill. This has completely ruined her holiday and she has just become a recluse and feels like a complete failure for not having managed the situation better at the time. I'm sorry this is such a long post but I just want to get all the details in.

WWYD.

OP posts:
UbiquitousDust · 05/12/2018 21:55

OP - I don't get so many things about this story but I'll echo others who are saying that if someone has had such a strong reaction to this they really should be seeking some support. X

ReflectentMonatomism · 05/12/2018 21:56

No, Emirates don’t have premium (at least not on 380 and 777s). They do have economy upstairs on a lot of their two class 380s but in my experience they only use it if the plane is full. I fly business on emirates a lot, mostly from regional airports, and the upstairs economy in front of business is empty more often than not.

GassyAss · 05/12/2018 21:56

I fly regularly with my SEN DD. There is no way on earth I would think of flying without making sure we’d booked seats together (and near loo). It’s not a risk I’d take.

If the OP is true, I’d just chalk it off to experience and be better organised in future. If it’s not true, WTF!!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Flying Holidays
Thejezebel · 05/12/2018 21:56

Well since we're all being incredibly violent here today, I can see how your friend might have overreacted slightly. Were the cabin crew violent too?

viques · 05/12/2018 21:56

Si know airlines get a lot of stick for poor customer service, but when you read stories like this my sympathies go to the airline staff who have to deal with flakey grabby families like this.

Flowers for the Emirates staff.

ASimpleLampoon · 05/12/2018 21:56

@Madhatter24 wow some really bitchy replies. I am sorry this happened to you and I'm sorry about the bullying on this thread. I am sure the haters would LOVE that to happen to them. I am autistic and have an autistic child and I know how drained I would feel after an experience like that. I would contact the airline and obtain a copy of the complaints procedure - then make an official complaint, and request compensation for the extra money you had to pay. If this is not resolved escalate to the next level. (Ombudsman perhaps). If you are feeling brave then you could use social media Twitter etc to make a fuss, or contact the press if it's not resolved. In spite of some of the nasty remarks made here I think most normal decent people would feel sympathy for you.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 05/12/2018 21:56

If they had known that they could potentially be kicked off the flight due to a crying child ...they would have swapped seat

But I thought you just said the child was crying because all the family weren't together, and that she'd have done the same if it had been someone other than the auntie upstairs?

If that's so, what difference would a seat swap have made?

OrigamiZoo · 05/12/2018 21:57

Reading between the lines, the crying child was very very disruptive indeed and that is why the family were removed. Whatever the cause of her chaotic behaviour, it was deemed to be enough to disturb a whole plane of people.

Your friend needs to accept that and not take it personally, as it wasn't, it was for safety of everybody concerned.

RippleEffects · 05/12/2018 21:58

This whole situation doesnt make sense to me. I travel regularly with my DH and our three DC. One autistic, one NT, one with an on going diagnosis currently social communation difficulties. It requires extensive forward planning just to negotiate the travel to and through the airport.

We contact airlines in advance, pay to book seats (but some airlines offer them in advance to disabled families free). All airlines we've flown let us advance board and get settled before the bulk of passengers board.

The tickets and online systems, even with the budget airlines, are flagged with the passengers seat numbers that have potential additional needs and flight crew tend to be particularly attentive and double check we're settled.

We have had the odd unsettled issue and have an action plan where I leave/ stay behind with unsettled child. We also have specially underwritten travel insurance with the children's conditions named in the policy.

I don't understand why it got to the point that everyone was forced to leave.

TwiceMagic · 05/12/2018 21:58

Oh FFS there’s no bullying on this thread. What we have is a histrionic OP and a very convenient massive drop feed.

thinkful · 05/12/2018 21:58

I've been on an emirates flight with an upstairs. The upstairs on this flight at least (Manchester to Dubai, but I was going to Delhi on a field visit) was just business class.

Perhaps the OP's friend is a celeb and everyone witnessed the commotion and now she's feeling humiliated.

Thejezebel · 05/12/2018 22:00

The reason the OP isn't tagging Emirates in this tale of woe is because she knows damn well that the airline will reply with the exact reasons why the entire party were booted off the flight.

dippledorus · 05/12/2018 22:00

Maybe someone should tag Emirates then. And get the right story.

LoveManyTrustfew · 05/12/2018 22:02

Good Lord, you couldn't make it up.

LovesLaboursLost · 05/12/2018 22:02

Look, if this story is real then everyone is being absolutely shot about the OP/her friend. She has two SEN kids under five, so she’s under enormous pressure already. Basically this experience confirmed loads of her fears about the impact of her kids’ very recent diagnoses. Her mental health was probably already fragile and this was the final straw.

bimbobaggins · 05/12/2018 22:03

Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean it’s bullying.

Aaaahfuck · 05/12/2018 22:03

@greendale17 yeah she can if she wants to live in the past. Have I managed to find the mums netters who are fine with using outdated naming conventions to differentiate men and women in their job roles.

treaclesoda · 05/12/2018 22:03

Well, there's an awful lot of information in that second post that was mysteriously missing from the first one. Hmm

But as to 'WWYD'? I'd keep out of it. Partly because it sounds - - far fetched and made up-- as if you might not have got the whole unfiltered story and partly because the airline aren't going to be able to enter into discussion with some random friend of an aggrieved passenger.

ReflectentMonatomism · 05/12/2018 22:05

The OP was bloody lucky not to get arrested in Dubai. The UAE police are rather more robust about disruptive passengers than the Met.

Thejezebel · 05/12/2018 22:05

LovesLaboursLost
The 'friend' is the aunt, not the mother.

Feefeetrixabelle · 05/12/2018 22:05

Why didn’t your ‘friend’ prebook seating if that’s a requirement of the family? Like you said they are wealthy

Thejezebel · 05/12/2018 22:06

Maybe she was arrested, which has caused her such concern. Maybe she got everyone arrested.
Because there sure as hell has to be a lot more to this story than what I've read in 2 posts

Thejezebel · 05/12/2018 22:08

FFS. Walk a day in my shoes OP and you'd realise what stress is.

Pinotwoman82 · 05/12/2018 22:09

Ooh I wonder if someone who was on the flight may read this and tell us what really happened

TwiceMagic · 05/12/2018 22:09

It’s the aunt that’s become a recluse and cannot work, apparently @LovesLaboursLost.

You don’t think it’s a bit... convenient... that the children’s autism read only mentioned when the thread didn’t go the OP’s way. Because that seems much more relevant to the situation than the paragraph about luggage.

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