If you were the family who complained then shame on you.

[stardazzle]

Baby barred from BA flight until her parents could prove she wasn't contagious story

my little girl also suffers from this condition although not as badly.

If it was you with the little boy who complained and kicked up a fuss then shame on you!

Oh poor beautiful baby!

I might have asked the aprents directly if say I was pregnant or had a child / relative / myself with an immune deficieny or suscepttibility to illnesses that could harm them- but how hard is it to ask nicly? @sorry i feel a fool for asking but I just wanted to ask about your daughtr as I'm sure she's fine but need to know becuase of X and Y'

It's not appearance with us its behaviour (autism) and i'd rather someobody asked a hundred times over than assumed the boys were naughty / etc.

I can understand why you're upset stardazzle, but I do think that the parents should have let the airline know in advance that this may happen. They were only delayed for the amount of time it took to show medical papers. Would you rather that airlines let children fly when they were contagious, risking other passengers contracting illnesses, rather than ask the question?

We flew with my dd in the end stages of chicken pox (scabbed over), and had informed the airline. They still said they would get a doctor to check dd before they would agree to fly us home.

If I was flying and saw a child like this, I think I might query it too. What if you had been pregnant and on this flight - wouldn't you have been concerned?

God that was tactless of them. Why could they not just have a very discreet word?? It was highly likely to be something chronic anyway.

so true clarissimo, we had a few side glances when we've taken dd2 swimming and the other day she was showing off her tummy to everyone in the shopping centre and people were giving her a wide birth, and all my dd2 has is skin covered in blotches no blisters.

The crazy thing with this story is that they had flown to and from Oz without comment this was the last leg between london and manchester on an internal flight.

Well, as the little girl's parents didn't have it, didn't that 'prove' it wasn't contagious??

If my child's immune system were compromised though, I can imagine the obsessive mindset where the priority is to protect one's own child's interests at all times, NEVER to take a 'risk'.. Causing offense or being offensive would become so peripheral, what of it?

Poor little mite. Poor mum too.

She's an absolutely gorgeous baby.

I think people might assume it was something horrific but then not stop to think that if she had something awful, she would probably be in hospital, not fine and happy and boarding an aeroplane.

God, the intolerance of some people, the poor mother how humiliating.

littlefish - why, the child is perfectly healthy to fly, why should we have to make allowances for ingnorance. I guess it stems from the fact that parents WILL take contagious children on flights, just look at the threads on mumsnet about parents saying is it ok for me to take my child out with chicken pox. It means when we take our spotty blotchy not contagious children out people assume its contagious.

I do think the headline is rather misleading though - she was simply asked to produce medical papers (which presumably she was carrying with her as she still managed to board the flight).

I do think that perhaps that article could have taken a more informative approach to the condition rather than making out that BA (and other passengers) had some how vilified her. Yet she's also said that she's had the same reaction in shops and baby groups

Given that planes are perfect places for contagious things to pass around I don't think that BA did anything wrong if they didn't have any prior knowledge of it.

"She added that misunderstandings stemming from ignorance about the condition were widespread."

Do rather feel that rather than making BA out to be the bad guys they'd have been better off writing an article about the condition, perhaps featuring her lovely DD to try and counter some of the widespread ignorance about it. (I for one had never heard of that condition until I read the article)

gold - there are a couple of other articles too which are more informative, i just chose one link. The reason that this mum has done this is to raise awareness, i in turn am doing my bit by posting it here.

I don't think that focussing on one incidient with one well known company (especially when she admits the problem is widespread) is a good way of raising awareness - sorry. Or maybe it's just the way the article has been written - to me it reads like the writer is vilifying BA rather than writing about the wider issue.

Stardazzle - the parents knew that the child was healthy to fly, but the airline didn't. I think it's right that the airline asked them to clarify the situation. They have a responsibility to all their passengers. All that needed to be done was for the parents to have notified the airline in advance. I agree with FAQ - I'd never heard of the condition before either. Is it quite unusual? Were the airline likely to have heard of it?

Yes, you're right, there are lots of people who take their child out with chicken pox. Like I said, dd caught chicken pox on holiday and we had to get a GP's letter, and agree to have dd examined at the airport before the airline would agree to fly her home. I totally agree with this procedure as it's in place to safeguard the health of all passengers.

better story here

It sounds like BA behaved reasonably. This little girl has a rare condition, you cant expect the staff at BA to be able to look at her and know what it was.
The mum was carrying the medical letter with her, so must have expected that it might be needed.

I'm not surprised that the mum is upset, who wouldnt be, but that doesnt mean that anyone is at fault, just that it is heartbraking to have a child with problems.

I have had similar things happen with my DD, and its horrible when people ask those questions, but the for me the upset is because of the condition rather than the innocent questions that people ask.

Agree with 27.

I have no problem notifying the airline of my daughters condition but i still think there is a huge difference between a child with a non-contagious skin condition and one recovering from chicken pox. Parents of the first wouldn't have to do or say anything if it wasn't for people taking contagious children out (not suggesting thats what you did).

also my main reason for starting this thread was to raise awareness. Having a news item to discuss helps to raise awareness.

Yes but Stardazzle, it says in the article that it's one of the rarest conditions in the UK. How were the airline supposed to know that it wasn't chickenpox or some other contatious rash/disease. Of course they had to ask.

Presumably the family hadn't let the airline know, that this is why the incident occurred.

I think this phrase in your op "If it was you with the little boy who complained and kicked up a fuss then shame on you!" is over the top. It doesn't sound like the little boy did complain, he simply commented (as children do), and you don't know whether the parents "kicked up a fuss", or simply queried it with the airline.

I agree, it's been really interesting to discuss it with you stardazzle .

dare I suggest that the "Huddersfield Examiner" covers the story in a much better (and informative and less finger pointing) way that the Telegraph.

true littlefish but which thread title would have caught your attention more:

'BA check child has mastocytosis before flight'

or the one i went for?

I flew while pregnant and would have been livid if the airline had knowingly allowed someone with anything contagious, particularly chicken pox, on the flight. It was the only responsible thing for BA to do.

There are lots of conditions that compromise your immunity (e.g. AIDS), and the people with them have a perfect right to know they are not being exposed to something that could be, to them, fatal.

I think a thread title somewhere in the middle stardazzle

I agree that the Huddersfield examiner article is much more informative, but then, they have more space as they don't have the same amount of international news to report on!

stardazzle - while your thread title did draw people in, unfortunately it has drawn people to the wrong point. People are discussing the rights and wrongs of whether they should have checked before she was allowed to board, rather than the condition itself.

I actually think if you're started the thread with "Don't be scared of my baby" and linked to the story in the local rag - it would have drawn more people in and been more informative.

true gold - i will start again!