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!

Good point FAQ - I am a prime example!

but you both did at least come and read it, my second thread with the title suggested by gold - zero posts!

Actually I thin this thread has served a purpose

I remember whilst PG avioding a child whom I assumed had chicken pox in Asda and being rather angry that child was there (as infection of my child could prevent my home birth which I needed for many real reasons)

Looking back I think I was probably quite unfriendly to Mum; now if I had the same event I'd still steer clear but wouldn't assume it was deffo CP

Which would be a non-harm situation then

thanks clarissimo, i think this thread has and will continue to prove a useful education tool. Even if its just one of not all spotty children pose a risk to you or your child. I would never ever knowingly expose others if my child had contagious spots but the blotches on her tummy, arms legs and back are not contagious.

Its sad, but there is alot of hysteria around disease, just check out threads on the MMR. TBH her skin from a distance could look like smallypox. If someone told you that an infectious child with chicken pox was getting on your plane, what would you do?

Obviously the parent was expecting some sort of hassle as she had medical papers to back her up.

My sister was complained about on a flight because she had a bad cold.

Its a difficult one that as it looks like a disease.

How do you know the family who complained did not have good reason to worry about contagion?

if you were really worried about contagion, would you travel on a plane in the first place? . Best place to catch something if you do have a suppressed immune system or recovering from something.

I can see both sides of the coin here. As a by-stander, not knowing the nature of the illness, I would be concerned, not only as you do see very ill children being dragged along.

Tbh if that was my daughter and I anticipated an issue around her spots, then I probably would pop a hat on her and keep her away from other people. Rightly or wrongly... but the stress of travelling doesn't always make people entirely rational.

'keep her away from other people'

I bet you wouldn't!

Srriously.... at first you think I'll do X, Y, Z.... but after a few eyasr / looks / comments abouta nything people find antisocial you stop caring what others think. And whilst in this situation it might be possible countrproductive, as a rule thats how you keep going.

i can understand why you are upset op but i can also understand people being wary. I would be tbh. If I were sitting in a doctors waiting room or in a confined space such as a plane in my current condition (24 weeks pg) and probably even if I wasn't, I would have said something too. You can't expect people to know from looking. It looks like any other contagious infection

I'd have let BA know in advance. Let's not forget they weren't barred from the flight, just had to clarify the situation.

Nothing wrong with caution, especially for the vulnerable. A friend had a termination of a planned baby following chicken pox exposure; the foetus was severely damaged and faced death in utero - hard to imagine what my friend and her dh went through.

You can't demand medical papers from a fellow passenger. If someone is selfish enough to travel with a child with an infectious illness like chickenpox, they are hardly likely to admit this at the boarding gate.

If I was pregnant, with baby, or travelling with someone who was immunocompromised I might have seen fit to raise this with the airline - because I would be assuming that they would already have seen fit to clear the child to travel and could discreetly confirm that there was little risk of contagion.

A friend of mine was recently taken ill with some kind of d&v bug while on holidays. She had to be brought on to the plane in a wheelchair and checked over by paramedics on arrival back in the UK. She vomited throughout the flight. I was amazed they let her on it!

You might not demand but you can ask. Most parents of kids with CP aren't going to say oh yes she has XYZ which is a condition that... are they?

I don't think that asking for appers was OTT reaction from BA btw, just I've been in situations where people have talked about ds1's behaviour behind my back and evcen if they needed to chat to school whatever I'd have liked them to apprioach me also, far less alienating. Even if it is 'hope you didn't mind me asking, we were a bit worried'.

Fair enough Peachy, but these parents were so outraged by BA's enquiry that they went to the press and so hurt by it that the mother cried for the duration of the flight.

If a fellow passenger had politely asked them about the spots they might not have had a measured response!

i have to say th ething thats upsets me about the reactionto this is that this could as easily be my child and i would NEVER knowingly let my child expose others to a contagious diesease,therefore i find it insulting that i should have to justify my daughters non-contaguious skin condition. i guess its being tarred with the brush of being selfish that i object to.

stardazzle - how can you expect random strangers to know your good character?

i guess i expect EVERY parent to take responsibility for their childs health and to not KNOWINGLY take infectious children on flights, therefore there would be no need for anyone to make assertions about my child's skin.

every parent doesn't think that way though - i have seen people in busy places with blatently infectious children - one of my pet hates is people who take their children into doctor's waiting rooms with viral infections that doctors can really do nothing about that they couldn't do over the phone - someone took their child into a waiting room full of ante natal patients at my doctors the other day saying the child had mumps. Thankfully she was moved into a side room but the mother was happily about to sit down amongst a roomful of pregnant women

I can't see any reason why someone should not have to prove that their child is not contagious. I can understand the awkwardness of this situation but I think that works both ways. The child's condition is not well known (are we to know of every condition known to mankind?) and it is unfortunately for the child concerned, not exactly an inconspicuous condition, is it?

stardazzle is the condition permanent?

if so I imagine that's another factor: the fear of the constant 'having to justify'

' "We have cleared a full shop before, with people fearing they would catch something," she said.

"I struggled taking her to baby clinics because of bad reactions from other patients, women would pull their children away and not give us another look. It was heartbreaking." '

Stress from that sort of thing builds u so you learn to be irrational or panic I think. I know I do. Quite irrationally if a child in ds1's class comes out crying I am reduced to a jelly as I assume it's him causing it and another confrontation is on the way; you start to live on hyped adrenaline. And when ona drenaline you physically are on edge as we know.

It's no fun being the parent of a child who is different, you don't know whether to justify, explain, hide or hang a sign around your neck stating unclean (or in our case unsafe)

clarissimo - we just don't know, some children do grow out of it but the stats are unknown and you can't tell if your child will be the one to out grow it. So at the moment we live in hope that she will. As i've said before my dd2 isn't as badly effected as the baby in the newspaper but still her whole body (except her face) is covered in browny pink blotches which get worse if she gets hot or cold. I think you post sums it up really well, i guess i'm fed up of explaining it to people and dd2 is only 3.5. she hasn't started school full time and at the mo she never has to get naked in front of her peers. I dread the day she actually notices when people are being negative towards her, at the mo any comments or stares and she just tells them that her spots are special just like her.

Hopefully you won't face what we have- ds1's behaviour is very OTT; he has a mild form of ASD (but we also have one with more severe) yet he's aggressive and attacks both Dh and I in public. I can understand why that scares people, why it seems to rob us of our humanity in other peoples eyes I will never get however. We are neither a freak show nor feelingless; just unlucky.

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

Hell, no!

My brothers, who are twins, flew out with DB1's girl friend and a friend to Tenerife for a holiday.
DB2 caught Chicken Pox. Neither DB1 or DB2, or DB1's gf or mate had ever had chicken pox, yet only DB2 caught it!

Needless to say they weren't allowed to fly back home until DB2 was deemed to be no longer infectious.

So despite the fact that the 4 of them were living in the same apartment only one of the 4 caught chicken pox, despite it being highly contagious!

Feel so sorry for mum in this story, but I don't know what else BA could have done.

Stardazzle - can you describe and differentiate every single skin rash/contagious disease? I know that I can't, and I am a Registered General Nurse. It can hardly be surprising that the majority of the population don't recognise this condition.

I can understand how upsetting it can be for the child and their parents, but it hardly seems fair to scream ignorance when many healthcare professionals might struggle to identify this condition unless they'd actually treated it themselves.