MikeB525

This was great. Needs to be done more often!


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...a090611S25.DTL

Girl Kicked Off Plane After Tantrum
- By JIM ELLIS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007


(01-23) 09:06 PST 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.

Pooch

I completely agree with you. They were being too nice by offering them extra tickets.

ToiletDuck

AirTran should have kept the money and the tickets. That's still money they lost on the seats. In my family if I had done that I would have been backhanded.

FlyerJosh

Ummm- WTF? Didn't these parents have a car seat for their kid? I amazes me that anybody would travel with an infant or a toddler and not have a way to securely belt them into a seat.

jetpilot4u

Tranquilizers?

Proptrash

It should take all of about 3 seconds to put a 3-year old in her seat. They must subscribe to that touchy feely parenting method that insures there won't be any hurt feelings!

To paraphrase the great Yoda. . .Trying is for losers. Just do it, you big weenie!

Frank Rizzo

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2815465

Ewfflyer

In these times, you can't offend anyone, that's just outragious that someone did something wrong and actually take responsibility for their actions!!!!! Especially parents, hence why we're the way we are today. Too many parents went sissy on disciplining their kids.

frozenboxhauler

Ya gota love what this Country has turned into. Too bad the crew didn't wait untill out of 10,000 feet before they "de-planed" the little monster, or the parents. A little bit of social Darwinism goes a long way. My kid never did this crap.
fbh

Velocipede

I would never medicate a child just for that. FJosh is right. You bought her a seat. Carry the carseat along, strap her down and let her cry.

End of problem.

Air Tran went above and beyond compensating these people.