Who is unreasonable? what does MN think of this?

[ollieplimsoles]

this story just broke on social media, (hope you can all see it)

www.facebook.com/donna.m.beegle/posts/816056981803855

That is the mothers account of what happened, very mixed responses from the commenters, what does everyone think?

Here is a news report of it:
7online.com/news/parents-plan-legal-action-after-daughter-with-autism-kicked-off-flight/713012/

It's not really up to a handful of passengers to decide whether this girl was a risk or not. Ultimately it's the captain's decision and he made one that would have cost the airline a lot of money and that would have to be explained to the authorities. I don't suppose it was taken lightly.

Also given how seriously airport security take even a joke about possible violence, it was always a risk when the mother used that in her argument with the flight crew.

Oh god, the comments from some people under the mother's FB post are revolting. I cannot believe such vile specimen exist.

oops sorry duplicate post

It's also possible that she asked the airline and they said there'd be a hot snack which the mother thought would be suitable but in the end it wasn't.

You can plan all you want but sometimes things go tits up anyway.

I've watched the video and read the Facebook post and conclude that mother is just awful.

She put her daughter in that position, through her own disorganisation and assumptions. Nobody else.

She took absolutely no responsibility for the risk she took, and made a huge public song and dance with no regard for her 15-year old's dignity.

No wonder the poor girl and her dad looked so defeated.

I'm not surprised to read the mother has form for this.

I'm sure given the detail in the mother's FB post and subsequent news stories that if the airline had said that there would be hot food for her dd it would have been in there.

(for me it would put a completely different spin on the story)

Tizwailor sorry just feeling a bit defensive today. I still stand by what I said before - ignorance about autism isn't unusual so it's not really a surprise the crew didn't understand fully.

Boney I read somewhere that there was a hot sandwich but it wasn't hot enough or something?

If that's so then the mother might have thought she had her bases covered?

soap

I posted about that upthread.

Having just Googled Houston to Portland, it seems that the flight was going to be from 5 to 7.5 hours long, its a long time (given the information that we have) to risk not eating (given the circumstances)

Is there 10 statments? The woman said she wouldn't get off the plane without them but she did. Did she manage to get them then?

As I understand it there were several passengers in support of the airline

I would imagine this has nothing to do with the daughter but everything to do with the mum being 'aggressive' and the crew finding her difficult to understand and mistaking the meltdown as a threat

maybe she asked politely (terribly sorry but best laid plans haven't come together and i would be really grateful if you could help me with my daughters meal etc) or maybe she asked aggressively. i guess it will all come out eventually!

bear in mind we only have one side of the story here. One fellow passenger said there was arguing from the mother and noise from the daughter for about an hour.

A lot of people wouldn't be asking questions they have here if they read the full link in OP. [peeved smiley]

I think the airline over-reacted, but DB is also to blame. I don't think this is about autism, I think it's about miscommunication. DB made it sound like her daughter was going to be a huge problem. That's the message the staff heard. They didn't have to care why.

It sounds to me like the mother has tried to explain her DDs autism to an AS who (probs due to lack of awareness of autism) saw it as a threat. AS then relayed 'threat' to the pilot, who has no choice but to land.

Seems like a course in autism awareness for the AS would prevent the problem reoccurring. An option at the booking stage to inform the airline of any SN wouldn't go amiss either.

FWIW, if I were booked in first class and asked to give up my meal to prevent a meltdown I would have done it. I don't think I'm particularly generous, so I imagine there would have been other people on the plane equally willing to give up their meal.

i too would give up my meal but it does cause a bit of chaos which would have been avoided if the airline had been made aware beforehand

i'm guessing it was her manner. not what she was saying.

Having a daughter wit severe autism who could well not eat and not eat then suddenly HAVE to eat. .I totally understand where the mother was coming from. And they could just have given the girl the hot food.

People are stating that the fact other passengers suppored the airline means the mother was in the wrong.

Definitely that doesn't fOllow. The general public can be ignorant and judgmental

The comments online about this story and many of them on here, and the airline staffs attitudes show just how far autism awareness and understanding has to go.

Scary.

my fil is a doctor. he was on a flight where someone fell ill. he asked the steward to get him a seat in first so he could lie flat. they ummed and ahhed and came back and said no one would move. so fil went to first class and explained and loads of people offered once they realised it was serious.

point being that people will move/give food but will probably think it is a try on at first. situations are best handled calmly. i get the impression the mum wasn't calm and it was her aggression they were reacting to - not the daughters autism.

Toads. .reported. that was seriously out of order.

It's a subject very near to my heart. So I post my opinion on it and someone posts "here we go"? how horrible.