Page 7 | AIBU to think cancelling the flight over a child was excessive

Wadsworthy · 10/08/2026 21:16

pizzaandchips2078 · 10/08/2026 18:44

I need to be careful here, but there wasn't any indication at the airport or before takeoff that the boy was going to become distressed.
He was well behaved and frankly delightful. Anyone who's saying he needed a slap etc should be ashamed of themselves and perhaps wonder who is reading this

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If you know more about this than the rest of us @pizzaandchips2078 perhaps you could explain why this child couldn't be controlled by his parents, and why his parents couldn't manage a 3 year old child?

JHound · 10/08/2026 21:21

MrsShawnHatosy · 10/08/2026 16:08

An airline cancelled a flight because a child refused to sit down and put their seatbelt on. AIBU to think they should have asked the parents to get off, rather than cancelling the flight and stranding the rest of the passengers?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/news/flight-cancelled-passengers-stranded-due-37532204

That’s really ridiculous. They should have turfed the family off instead.

Edit - I did not read before commenting. I don’t know why they faffed around so long with the child for it to get to that point? Should have booted the useless parents and demon child off well in advance.

Anna1mac · 10/08/2026 21:21

MrsTerryPratchett · 10/08/2026 18:13

Except that doesn't work on distress (or at all because it's piss poor parenting) and illegal in Canada for under 2s. Or if done in anger.

And everyone is seeing this as a failure of gentle parenting. But I grew up in South London with people who were parented the opposite way. Lots of physical chastisement and shouting. And it did not result in wonderfully behaved upstanding citizens. I aslo lived for many years in Canada with gentle parented snowflakes. And they are, day to day, wonderful, helpful, famously wellbehaved people.

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Many softly parented people are "mentally ill " and cannot cope with normal everyday stress. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule but I have seen enough useless millennials and Gen X....

notimagain · 10/08/2026 21:25

JHound · 10/08/2026 21:21

That’s really ridiculous. They should have turfed the family off instead.

Edit - I did not read before commenting. I don’t know why they faffed around so long with the child for it to get to that point? Should have booted the useless parents and demon child off well in advance.

Edited

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Have you read the full story/full thread?

They returned to the terminal to do exactly as you suggest - to turf the family off.

Problem was they couldn't get the flight turned around and depart again before a night noise curfew took effect, hence the cancellation

TheignT · 10/08/2026 21:25

Some vile posts on this thread
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idontlikeasking · 10/08/2026 21:28

AndyKitten · 10/08/2026 20:37

What about everyone else though?

Missed appointments, missed opportunities, major inconvenience, huge costs to the airline and the passengers?

I often travel for short sharp visits. My time is valuable to me and to my family.

Delightful child indeed..

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I won’t claim that this won’t have been an absolute ballache for all concerned but any type of transport is unreliable. We once got stuck for eight hours on the M6: no warnings or anything until you were in the thick of it. It was horrific and I am just grateful we were coming back from a self catering holiday so had plenty of drinks, snacks and entertainment (we had a toddler with us.)

Flights do get delayed and cancelled, it’s a nightmare but it happens all the time.

igelkott2026 · 10/08/2026 21:36

Linetree · 10/08/2026 18:04

Umm.. do you want to think about that for a minute? Would you want to be on a flight where the owner of a bag had got off? They weren't looking for the luggage as a favour to the family!

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I don't think that rule does make sense. Last year my flight was cancelled after I'd checked in hold luggage. My hold luggage went on a different flight to me to my destination.

So luggage does fly without its owners - regularly.

As for the child being scared, it appeared to be able to climb all over the place. I am with the pp's who said both parents and child needed a good slap. I can't see Ryanair putting up with this sort of nonsense.

TheignT · 10/08/2026 21:40

igelkott2026 · 10/08/2026 21:36

I don't think that rule does make sense. Last year my flight was cancelled after I'd checked in hold luggage. My hold luggage went on a different flight to me to my destination.

So luggage does fly without its owners - regularly.

As for the child being scared, it appeared to be able to climb all over the place. I am with the pp's who said both parents and child needed a good slap. I can't see Ryanair putting up with this sort of nonsense.

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I don't think they are supposed to let luggage fly without you. I think it was the Lockerbie flight where they thought that was how the bomb was on the plane. Not everyone who wants to plant a bomb wants to be a suicide bomber.

TheignT · 10/08/2026 21:42

igelkott2026 · 10/08/2026 21:36

I don't think that rule does make sense. Last year my flight was cancelled after I'd checked in hold luggage. My hold luggage went on a different flight to me to my destination.

So luggage does fly without its owners - regularly.

As for the child being scared, it appeared to be able to climb all over the place. I am with the pp's who said both parents and child needed a good slap. I can't see Ryanair putting up with this sort of nonsense.

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Well you'd definitely be off the plane if you started slapping people. Probably accompanied by some nice police officers who'd give you a free ride in their car.

Raindropskeepfallingon · 10/08/2026 21:45

TheignT · 10/08/2026 21:40

I don't think they are supposed to let luggage fly without you. I think it was the Lockerbie flight where they thought that was how the bomb was on the plane. Not everyone who wants to plant a bomb wants to be a suicide bomber.

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Luggage flies without its owner all.the.time. But it happens because of things beyond the passengers control - not because passenger didn’t get on, or chose to get off, or were forced off due to their behaviour.

Planes take off without passenger’s luggage all the time. How else would luggage that was delayed at a transit point or not loaded into the plane for various reasons ever catch up to its owner if it didn’t travel unaccompanied?!

See this story for example www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70gdjex5w0o

AndyKitten · 10/08/2026 21:46

idontlikeasking · 10/08/2026 21:28

I won’t claim that this won’t have been an absolute ballache for all concerned but any type of transport is unreliable. We once got stuck for eight hours on the M6: no warnings or anything until you were in the thick of it. It was horrific and I am just grateful we were coming back from a self catering holiday so had plenty of drinks, snacks and entertainment (we had a toddler with us.)

Flights do get delayed and cancelled, it’s a nightmare but it happens all the time.

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This situation was entirely preventable if only the parents did, indeed, some parenting.

notimagain · 10/08/2026 21:50

TheignT · 10/08/2026 21:40

I don't think they are supposed to let luggage fly without you. I think it was the Lockerbie flight where they thought that was how the bomb was on the plane. Not everyone who wants to plant a bomb wants to be a suicide bomber.

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Sorry but you are still very definitely wrong in being so absolute about this.

There is/was much more to subject than events around Lockerbie and I'd caution thinking a TV documentary is chapter and verse and the authority on the subject

As at least one poster has pointed out bags can sometimes travel without their owner - delayed bags regularly get flown on later flights to catch up with their owners but the rules/protocols for doing so won't be discussed here ( I worked in the airline industry for decades and I never got told the details..I.didn't need to know).

That said in the circumstances described in the incident under discussion in Canada it would be very appropriate to offload the bags.

idontlikeasking · 10/08/2026 21:53

AndyKitten · 10/08/2026 21:46

This situation was entirely preventable if only the parents did, indeed, some parenting.

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I think people underestimate what terror, combined with exhaustion can do to a person.

If you’ve ever tried to get a terrified cat into a basket for the vet you may have some inkling.

Hopefully everyone got sorted and the parents are OK; I imagine they are feeling pretty wretched.

AlphaBravoGamma · 10/08/2026 22:25

Anna1mac · 10/08/2026 21:21

Many softly parented people are "mentally ill " and cannot cope with normal everyday stress. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule but I have seen enough useless millennials and Gen X....

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I think you mean Gen Z. Gen X are either over 60 or approaching it.

Thepossibility · 10/08/2026 22:31

Even with the facts in the article, I don't see how the parents couldn't manage to deal with the situation. I've flown with a small terrified child. Got him firmly belted in his seat and twisted my body to the side to hug him tightly (and comfortingly). One way we stayed like that until he was calm and the other way until he fell asleep. It wasn't comfortable for me but hey ho.
If I sat there ineffectively flapping about the situation then we would have inconvenienced the whole plane. A part of being a parent is finding solutions to problems on the go.

Stopsnowing · 10/08/2026 22:39

If he was slipping out of his seat belt it wouldn’t have been any good in an incident - they should have three or five point belts.

HumberSquid · 10/08/2026 22:41

Anna1mac · 10/08/2026 21:21

Many softly parented people are "mentally ill " and cannot cope with normal everyday stress. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule but I have seen enough useless millennials and Gen X....

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Lol, you think Generation X were gentle parented? They were still beating us at school, never mind in the home.

MrsTerryPratchett · 10/08/2026 22:48

HumberSquid · 10/08/2026 22:41

Lol, you think Generation X were gentle parented? They were still beating us at school, never mind in the home.

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We were barely parented and smacked a lot. Gentle parenting my arse.

Nsky62 · 10/08/2026 22:58

JackJarvisEsq · 10/08/2026 16:47

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

Of course

Nsky62 · 10/08/2026 23:00

AmandaHoldensLips · 10/08/2026 17:03

Had this with a flight back from majorca some time ago. A boy of around 10 with additional needs including refusing to wear any clothes refused to sit or wear a belt. The mother kicking off about discrimination and threatening to sue if they tried to offload them. The crew completely frustrated. Even moving people out of paid-for front row seats because the mother insisted he and she needed those seats. We were hours and hours delayed. I couldn't quite believe what we all witnessed.

These issues and expectations need sorting before travelling

Sereine · 10/08/2026 23:02

Tessasanderson · 10/08/2026 16:16

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.

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How does the parent do that without affecting anyone else? It's not like they can just jump off the plane in the middle of the airfield.

Newname26 · 10/08/2026 23:03

MrsShawnHatosy · 10/08/2026 16:14

I understand the child was scared rather than misbehaving, but surely you don’t take your child on a plane if they are that scared.

The parents probably didn't know the child was that scared. But I do find it crazy they couldn't physically get a 3 yo to sit down and put a seatbelt on.
How do they manage in the car?

Newname26 · 10/08/2026 23:09

notimagain · 10/08/2026 21:50

Sorry but you are still very definitely wrong in being so absolute about this.

There is/was much more to subject than events around Lockerbie and I'd caution thinking a TV documentary is chapter and verse and the authority on the subject

As at least one poster has pointed out bags can sometimes travel without their owner - delayed bags regularly get flown on later flights to catch up with their owners but the rules/protocols for doing so won't be discussed here ( I worked in the airline industry for decades and I never got told the details..I.didn't need to know).

That said in the circumstances described in the incident under discussion in Canada it would be very appropriate to offload the bags.

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I think the difference with delayed baggage is the intent. The passenger didn't intend to be on a separate flight.

With this it would be the passengers intentionally got of the plane. So the luggage would need to be removed.

But that also doesn't solve the family problem how do they get to destination if the child won't sit.

Sereine · 10/08/2026 23:10

Minasama · 10/08/2026 17:53

Child needed a good spanking, so did the parent probably. They should have removed them and removed their luggage, and that parent should not be allowed to book further flights with that child.

Do you regularly spank terrified children? Do you find it takes away their fear?

Velumental · 10/08/2026 23:25

clearlyy · 10/08/2026 20:23

I’d be fucking livid. I’d pay more for child free flights tbh.

How many fights have had similar issues due to drunken passengers? Adults have caused these issues more frequently than this singular incident with a child. Vile.