Three Year Old Girl Kicked Off Plane For Tantrum

[Earlybird]

Read it here:

Where?

Oh, why am I so crap at links!

Never mind, I'll do a cut/paste.....

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Flight attendants often deal with obnoxious passengers who won't listen to instructions by kicking them off the plane. But a Massachusetts couple think AirTran Airways went overboard by treating their crying 3-year-old daughter in much the same way.
Julie and Gerry Kulesza and daughter Elly were removed from the flight when the girl refused to take her seat before takeoff, airline officials said Tuesday. But her parents said they just needed a little more time to calm her down.

The Kuleszas planned to fly home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers after a four-day visit with the girl's paternal grandparents. She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

AirTran officials say they were only following Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seatbelt upon takeoff.

"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," Graham-Weaver said.

But Julie Kulesza said: "We weren't giving an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything."

"Elly was sitting in front of our seat crying," she said in a phone interview. "The attendant motioned to a seat and asked if we purchased it for her."

They had paid for the seat. Gerry Kulesza said another attendant then approached the family and told him: "You need to get her in control and in her seat."

The couple told the attendants they were trying. Julie Kulesza said she asked the attendants if Elly could sit on her lap, but they said no.

The family flew home the next day.

The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.

But that's too little, too late for the Kuleszas. The father said they would never fly AirTran again.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

type in the web address I'll put it in a link for you

Thanks www. I've typed it in twice, but doesn't show up for some reason. Here it is again.

www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/23/D8MR41C02.html

Fair enough tbh! It was an internal flight, she needed to get in her seat for take off. I should think the other 112 passengers were grateful.

Message withdrawn

here's the story

Glad I've never had to deal with a tantrum in front of disapproving air crew tapping their feet and demanding it's sorted NOW. Do you think the airline staff could do with some advice from Tanya Bryon on their own behaviour?

Well, the child needed to be in her seat for take-off. If her parents were incapable of getting into her seat, fair enough to remove them, I'd say. There is no reason for one three- year old to hold up an entire plane-load of people. Too many people out there still think their child's toddler-type behaviour is cute, while others of us see it as a stage to encourage them grow out of asap.

For some reason I think this is hilarious .... am rofl ...

I am probably feeling a touch of hysteria and definitely "There by the grace of god .... " ...

DS can have the most almighty tantrums. But I'm fairly sure I can say that he would be sat in that seat in double quick time. If the flight was delayed by 15 minutes (although it dosen't actually say that the 3 yr old was the cause of the delay does it?) then surely that is ample time to settle? Dosen't every parent have one thing that will snap any toddler out of a tantrum? Not that it should be used normally but surely this is one of the occaisions that it should! Or as DS is only 24 months, are 3yr old tantrums much worse?

That happened to me with a two year old - she wouldn't get in her seat because she was scared. She wanted to sit on our lap. We had to force her into her seat and she screamed and vomited for 20 minutes. It was horrendous. But it was possible to simply hold her down - I don't see why they didn't do that?

And part of me agrees with duchesse ... if the child wouldn't sit in her seat and the plane was late already and couldn't take off until she sat down ... what else could they do?

I think it depends. If they'd given the parents a while to sort it out and they hadn't done so then fair enough, why should 112 other people be held up for a 3yo tantrum? OTOH if they demanded the parents make a mad, screaming, Jack-Jack-like mad as hell, furious 3yo be sorted out right away then no, not reasonable.

And the air hostesses were really unsympathetic. They just kept looking appalled and passing things to mop up vomit with.

It was HORRIFIC

Flossam- by 3, most parents in touch with their kids can reason with them. The tantrums still happen, but you'll mostly have learned to circumvent, defuse or deflect them.

DD is nearly 3 ... last month we took an hour and a half flight to the South Island. On the return leg DD was allowed to sit on DH's lap with an infant belt attached to his ...

Easy way to get free tickets, plus the roundtrip tickets though!
Anyone know if you can still get hold of blue Smarties? - give a few of those to your child, plus a can of coke or two.
Bingo - free tickets!

God MP that sounds awful.
Mind you, I speak as someone who has never tried to get 3yo dd on a plane. And she can have INCREDIBLE tantrums. Sometimes you do just have to make them don't you? I do, anyway.

Trouble is, if they were ready for take off, they wouldn't necessarily have time to wait. Depends on how busy the airport is. At heathrow they take off every minute, and you have an assigned slot.

Sympathy though to the parents, must have been bloody grim

This is one of the reasons I haven't flown since having kids - am waiting till they're a bit older, like 18 or so.

The other reasons - the real one - is that we haven't been able to afford to go abroad since having kids! But I avoid it with young kids as the thought of tantrums at 30,000 ft drives me mental.

112 people on board - surely someone must have had some chocolate and they could have bribed her..?

Good on the airline I say. I wonder if the other passengers cheered as they left the plane!

ps: I'm sure the arline would have lost way more than 500$ if they'd missed their take-off slot: re-booking slot, extra parking time, knock-on missed connecting flights, plus the knock-on delays for the trips the airplane was to take after that one. Defo worth removing troublemakers asap even from an operational point of view.