3-Year-Old Kicked Off Airplane for Crying [View all]

[MADem]

This is an interesting "issue" post--I know pretty much everyone has an opinion about loud or crying or unruly children on airplanes:

It’s every grumpy passenger’s dream and every parent’s nightmare. An unhappy 3-year-old child and his undoubtedly unhappier father were kicked off an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Miami over the Memorial Day weekend after the child wouldn’t stay buckled in his seat.

Mark Yanchuk of Everett, Wash., and his son Daniel were starting the first leg of their journey toward a family vacation in the Virgin Islands. The boy’s mother, grandmother and younger sibling were seated in first class, while the toddler and his dad sat in coach. While the plane was at the gate, the boy happily played with an iPad, but when the airline requested all electronic devices be turned off, the trouble started. The toddler was unhappy that his toy was taken away and his father couldn’t get him settled. Alaska Airlines spokesman Paul McElroy told MSNBC that flight attendants went to check on the father and the boy several times before departure to try to help calm the child, but Daniel was cranky and, like many 3-year-olds, wouldn’t sit up in the oversize seat and allow himself to be buckled in. In defense of the flight crew’s actions, McElroy noted that, “The [seat] belt was across his neck and the flight attendants were worried that he would begin to choke himself.” Yanchuk said he would never allow his son to get into such a precarious position.


The child was finally properly seated and the plane pulled back from the gate, but when a flight attendant noticed the child was lying sideways in the seat again, the captain was notified and the plane returned to the gate. Yanchuk and his son were then asked to leave the plane. His wife, mother-in-law, and 1-year-old child opted to leave as well. Their baggage, however, was able to continue on to the Virgin Islands.

Airline spokesman McElroy said, “Everybody wanted to make this work, just trying to work with the child and get him to sit upright.” Yanchuk disagrees. “I think they overreacted. I know you get kicked off planes for dangerous situations like not wearing a seat belt or running around or something dangerous. But I didn’t see the situation as being dangerous at all,” Yanchuk told MSNBC.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/02/3-year-old-kicked-off-airplane-for-crying/

I empathize with parents dealing with unruly kids, but I gotta say, I wish someone had taken the screamer off the last flight I was on! Talk about torture--if I were a spy and had the "secret code" I would have given it up to make that kid stop!!