Removed from flight.

[Madhatter24]

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.

Nothing else going on. This is the full story. I have personally flown with Emirates many times and they have been lovely with my children. They gave my children a little goodie bag and the staff were really nice. I was told that there was no fight or argument. Just a disagreement about the child being ill or not (she wasn't). I know you all have your opinions but seriously the majority of you are being really nasty. I'd hate to know you in real life. I am a good friend to the auntie and she asked me what can be gone about this situation. This is why I started this thread.

I think the best course of action is

To get the fuck over it

What to do? Well you can email to the customer service, they might give you some miles. That's what airlines normally do if they want to get rid of a complaining customer.

Massive drip feed.
But, even with the dripfeed, this simply doesn't add up.
If you have to take 2 dc with autism on a flight, you'd handle this completely differently.
If - as you said the family are wealthy - you are booking a flight, you'd pay to pre-book seats together
If (even if you hadn't pre-booked flights and ended up with one adult having to sit in a different part of the plane) you wouldn't make it the adult who the child 'needed' for their comfort / security
The 'only being able to swap once everyone was boarded' would have meant asking if another passenger might be willing to swap, not that the family couldn't choose amongst themselves which one sat apart.
The whole party wouldn't have had to get off even if the child and guardian had to
If you have 2 dc with autism, and you have to travel on a plane, you talk to the airline first and they will allow you either early boarding or late boarding, depending on what works best for your family.
If you completely break down and are unable to work or live your life normally after an unfortunate incident, then there is a lot more going on with your mental health than this one unfortunate incident.

Well what they should have done then is asked to booked a flight where they could all sit together. Or prepared the child to anticipate they wouldn’t all be together. Child gave impression of being ill- hysterical tears and refusing to calm, parents could provide no reason for this and so for the safety of other passengers they were removed.

Emirates weren’t in the wrong. Sorry to disappoint op.

How were they wronged?

What do you propose the airline should have done?

If a child is hysterical and vomiting and there is a chance they are ill (or are showing signs of being ill) of course the plane cannot take off.

How long do you believe the plane should have sat on the runway, delaying the rest of the passengers and the rest of the flights on that runway due to take off?

If there was no fight or argument, then why is your friend traumatised and unable to work because of a bit of inconvenience and expense?

And why on Earth didn’t the parents say the child was autistic at the time, even if they’d been disorganised enough not to tell the airline in advance. And why didn’t you think this was relevant in your extremely long OP?

@TheBhagwan
I’ve never been on an Emirates 380 with economy upstairs and I’m happy to be corrected, it’s not something I’ve experienced

So as soon as the op mentioned Emirates and upstairs and the story was so garbled I automatically thought that they were trying to be upgraded.

It's confidential? Hahahahaha, you reckon?

Emirates definitely have A380 aircraft with economy seating in the upper deck.

It's poor planning that caused it. If the child was ill in the air they would have had to make an emergency landing, so the cabin crew were just being extra cautious. It kinda sounds like the family were complacent and they should learn from experience. I wouldn't blast the company on FB, that's just petty.

I’ve never been on an Emirates 380 with economy upstairs

A lot of them are "two class": Economy downstairs and at the front of upstairs, Business at the rear of upstairs. Map here:

www.seatguru.com/airlines/Emirates_Airlines/Emirates_Airlines_Airbus_A380_Two_Class.php

Many of the regional UK to DXB flights are like this: there are no three class flights out of Birmingham, for example. There are a few, mostly out of London, which are three class.

Was the child in his/her seat with their seatbelt on? Did it look as though it might not be possible to get them strapped in safely? If that was the case then the plane couldn’t take off and the crew would be quite right to remove the child and some or all of the family. If an argument ensued they would prioritise takeoff so would probable escalate to removing the whole family quickly. Otherwise they delay the whole flight, people miss connections etc, which inconveniences them and costs the airline money.

Haven't RTFT but this is on a par with the mum who treated her 18yr old son the same as her 6yr old. Buying him the 1k jacket etc. Anyone remember that. It did get pulled for being a wind up.

A 2 storey plane sounds awesome though. Is 1st class upstairs? Hope you friend recovers & is able to get back into the real world soon.

but but but... it sounds like the bulk of the family - minus the auntie - managed to get seats together. (and could have managed to get clumps of seats together, if not a whole row.) Is the auntie just suffering from an attack of retrospective guilt about not booking her seat in time/near them/at a peaceful distance, and thus costing the family £££?

Regardless of the child's diagnosis, or when it was. They knew this was going to happen. They know their child. The behaviour doesn't change because someone labels it.

Their massive failure to plan ahead caused this.

My son is autistic. Even before his diagnosis I knew certain things would set him off. So we planned ahead.

PartOstrich
You say the autism wasn’t factored into their travel planning because the diagnoses are recent, but that’s irrelevant. Parents know their child. We knew our child wouldn’t have coped with that kind of situation long, long before anyone told us he was autistic.

Was just going to post exactly this point.

Jesus if this is the worst thing your friend has ever experienced she should take a good hard look at herself and get a fucking grip.
There are parents that have very sick children, women suffering from abuse, children who are not going to have any Christmas presents to open this year and some people who walk round a supermarket with a calculator deciding whether they can afford the larger loaf of bread.
It’s over and done with. Yes it’s normal to be pissed off when something has happened that is annoying and upsets plans. But to be so obsessed with this event that it has caused her to become a recluse just screams attention seeking.
Why would you get involved on Twitter? It’s your friend’s issue.
Put it into perspective.

Completely and utterly broken is very ott.i am completely and utterly broken because my son took his own life and to say you are because you had to get off a plane is ridiculous

Frankly if I'd been removed from a flight because my children couldn't behave, I'd be too embarrassed to even repeat the story let alone chase for compensation

@Feetonthepoofy I was thinking the exact same thing! Weird thread for sure

mumtoanangel Massive hugs. And yes, that is what being broken is.
This OP is really winding me up at this stage.

@Lizziebennetdarch that's a pretty shitty thing to say. The children werent misbehaving, they were autistic and obviously having melt downs. Try not to be so ignorant.