I do not blame Air Tran one bit
 

I think there ought to be kid free airlines or parents should have to put a "Get Smart" cone of silence over their kid's head and their head - let them fukcing listen to that :mad:

AirTran Backs Decision to Boot Family From Plane After Toddler's Tantrum
Tuesday , January 23, 2007

ORLANDO, Fla. — AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.

AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seat belt 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," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

Julie and Gerry Kulesza, who were headed home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, said they just needed a little more time to calm their daughter, Elly.

"We weren't given an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything," Julie Kulesza said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The Kuleszas said they told a flight attendant they had paid for their daughter's seat, but asked whether she could sit in her mother's lap. The request was denied.

She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, Graham-Weaver said.

The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and the Kuleszas flew home the next day.

They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.

The father said his family would never fly AirTran again.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,246000,00.html

no kidding.

i mean, they got reimbursed, and they got 3 free round trip tickets to anywhere. sounds like they got a sweet deal.

my favorite part:

are you ****ing kidding me? somebody call supernanny.

It was pretty generous of the airline to offer them free round trip tickets anywhere they wanted to go.

this is why i can't have kids. they would probably turn into spoiled brats, get that spoiled brat attitude, and then i'd just have to kill them. i can't STAND bratty little kids. they aren't precious. they're just proof that the world is overpopulated.

vomit.

i've never even heard of airtran, but i would fly them every time if they'd make it policy to kick kids who make noise [read as: all of them] off their flights.

There's some lawyer somewhere waiting to sue AirTran I'm sure.:laugh:

Exactly. Fricking little brat.

dude. people feel so ****ing entitled these days. it pisses me off. flying on an airplane is not a right, it's a privilege. if you and yours cannot conduct yourselves in a civil manner, then bye-bye birdie!

I'll just not speak up I suppose... other than to say we have a sweet welbehaved son of 17 months, but even taking HIM on a flight with all the overstimulation, the air pressure changes, the cramped quarters and the grouchy airpersonel....

We kept him quiet, contained, entertained, even gave him benadryl to have him sleep a bit (the flight was to Amsterdam from here), we gfave him snacks and a massage, and he was quiet and good but MAN we both were exhausted after that flight. I was so tired and frustrated I could have wept.

Just saying. It was a titans job to make sure our normally sweet child was NOT a brat. I would certainly cut those parents AND the tot some slack, having been there.

Sasja

I think it's ridiculous. These people are trained to face hijacks or disasters and can't handle a child?

Romy

Does the airline really care that the couple are threatening to never fly with them again - I doubt it...

i think there's a huge difference between 17 mos and 3 yrs ... and there's also a huge difference between a child getting bored/frustrated on an airplane and a child out of control to such a degree that she's hitting her own parents. :shrug:

The difference being that really, the airline isn't allowed to do anything with someone else's child.
I don't care much about the child crying and whatnot, cause kids cry, but those parents should have been able to get that child in her seat at least. That was the reason they couldn't take off.

Yes, they should but it's quite impressive that an airline can't even manage these kind of things without kicking out a family. I bet the lunch was great though. ;)

Romy

As my dearly departed...
 

from this existence much too early due to medical negliegence Mother would say :

"Spare the rod, have a child grow to be a pussy"

I am unsure exactly how they would "handle it" if they aren't really supposed to interfere. It looks like they gave the family 15 minutes or so to handle it themselves. That should be plenty of time, IMO.