Family Kicked Off Flight After Daughter With Autism Deemed 'Disruptive'

[MADem]

131. Yes. Plus, there is no mechanism for the flight attendants to accept money for 1C meals.

And if they do it for one, they have to do it for all. It's unreasonable to expect a FA to be running around looking for food that the teenager will eat as they do have other duties and not much time to accomplish all of them. The mother should have been prepared if she wanted to fly coach, where hot food is not served. I think it probably might have been possible for a doctor (someone other than the mother who is a doctor, as well) to declare first class travel medically necessary for the hot meal--they could write off the difference, maybe.

The mother should have just bought 1C tickets for herself and her child, left the husband in coach, and traded off if needs must. I've seen that done in other circumstances, where one parent will trade off with another mid flight (usually it's if one is seated in first, and the other is stuck in coach with the kids). She's a doctor--it's not like she's on the edges of poverty, and if she's a platinum club member, she probably should have thought about splurging and using some of those points to upgrade.

I wouldn't expect a FA to produce, say, insulin or heart medication or a diaper if I were traveling with someone who needed those things. Why would I expect one to pony up "hot food" when "hot food" isn't on the menu in coach? The mother was unprepared, and instead of blaming herself, she's blaming the flight crew. Not one "salty snack" in her pack of food for the kid to satisfy her? When she KNOWS that will placate her?

Also, I find the mother characterizing the FA as "scowling" sounds like she's setting him or her up as the "bad guy." It's not the job of the FA to give first class food to coach pax.

The bottom line, here, though, is this--it is the PILOT/aircraft commander of the aircraft, not the flight attendant(s), who make the decision to divert in the event of disruption. The FA's always take the heat, but they don't make the call.