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Sat 14 Jul, 2007 09:20 pm
ATLANTA - A woman said she and her toddler son were kicked off a plane after she refused a flight attendant's request to medicate her son to get him to quiet down and stop saying "Bye bye, plane."
Kate Penland, of suburban Atlanta, said she and her 19-month-old son, Garren, were flying from Atlanta to Oklahoma last month on a Continental Express flight that made a stop in Houston.
As the plane was taxiing in Houston en route to Oklahoma, "he started saying 'Bye, bye plane,' Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta. The flight attendant objected, she said.
"At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, 'It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up,'" Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta.
When Penland asked the woman if she was joking, she said the stewardess replied, "You know, it's called baby Benadryl."
"And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight,'" Penland told the TV station.
Penland said other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, and the flight attendant announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.
Penland and her son were let off the plane and did not complete the trip to Oklahoma, said Kristy Nicholas, spokeswoman for Express Jet Airlines, which flies as Continental Express on behalf of Continental Airlines.
Attempts by the Associated Press to reach Penland under a telephone listing that matched her last name were unsuccessful.
"I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, 'What am I going to do? I don't have anything with me, I don't have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk," Penland told WSB.
Nicholas said, "We received Ms. Penland's letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents."
I saw all that.
I don't know enough...
I agree with ossobuco (not enough information)
This story doesn't sound right to me. The pilot is the one who is in charge of
deciding whether to land the aircraft, not the flight attendent. I don't believe these are all the facts and I am not even convinced what is reported in that article are the true facts.
Thanks caribou
I did read the whole article you gave the link to. It is hard to form an opinion since I was not there. The part that sounds real weird to me is why would a flight attendant suggest the mother give the child Benadryl (where would she get the stuff). They don't have a store on the airplane.
The flight attendant can be indited for practicing medicine without a license. Technically it is illegal for a bartender to dispense aspirin to an adult.
In several of these "mean airlines" stories I've seen the point and have been sympathetic to the airlines, but this one seems really baseless. He was just being chatty and, as his mother predicted, fell asleep shortly after (though they were on their way back to the gate at that point).
The only room for ambiguity seems to be how the mom reacted when the attendant started talking to her, but from the reaction of fellow-passengers it doesn't seem like she actually messed up there, either.
Grr.
When we were flying back to the US from Europe there were 2 babies and about 10 older kids sitting around us, all in the age group 7 to 11. Within
2 hours all the kids became acquainted and started talking, laughing and
playing games, and the babies chimed in as well. It got quite loud at times
but everyone had a good time and none of the stewardesses said a word,
on the contrary, they made the rounds with the babies.
Either they did the seatings on purpose, or there happened to be just more
children on board than usual, having so many kids in one area, made
it so much better for them to endure the long flight, plus us parents didn't
mind the loud commotion.
Noddy24 wrote:The flight attendant can be indited for practicing medicine without a license. Technically it is illegal for a bartender to dispense aspirin to an adult.
And she should be! People like her have no business serving the public
if they cannot handle the rants of a 16 month old baby.
Customers should stand up to the plate and avoid airlines like Continental.
Perhaps a loss of revenues will make them reconsider their customer service policies.
Been hoping for a comprehensive statement from the airline. So far, I don't see any blame in the child or mother.
I think they tend to group kids together on long international flights. That's been my experience, anyway.
On this incident, I just don't see a scenario where it makes sense for the flight attendant to have done what she did unless the mother really did seriously threaten her, and it doesn't sound like she did. I understand that flight attendants are human and make mistakes, and that after a long delay people were on edge, but this is absurd (and passengers almost never get the same consideration). I can't help but wonder if she was emboldened by the last case where the toddler was removed for not getting in her seat and people came out in defense of the airlines.
Like soz said, grrrr.
The kid wasn't crying or ranting. Maybe he was louding saying bye bye and his Mother coulda asked him to say it a little quieter.
The flight attendant should not have suggested drugging him.
I do not see why the plane had to turn around and kick them off.
I would like to hear what the airline has to say. If they can justify their actions...
Yeah, the kid wasn't screaming. It sounds to me like the flight attendant was peeved that he was interrupting her speech -- probably the usual seatbelt speech that everyone is busy ignoring anyway.
And contrary to popular belief, it's not really possible to "shut your baby up".
Quote:"Since 9/11 there is an extreme awareness by crew members that we still face a real threat of a terrorist attack," said David A. Castelveter, the vice president of communications for the airline lobby Air Transport Association. "There is an overabundance of precaution to ensure that we maintain the highest standards of safety."
... and what a lame response.... A terrorist threat? Really? 19 months old? Even the flight attendant couldn't have been possibly thinking that. Plus it seems that passengers were on the mother's side. So far nobody stepped forward in defense of the flight attendant.... not that that's a proof of anything, but still. I hope the flight attendant gets a slap on her fingers. In the last 4 years or so the service on board has been rapidly declining, and civility was the first thing out the door.
What amazes me is that the pilot actually turned the plane around to get them off the plane.
Everything seems in favor of the mom and child, but it doesn't make any sense.
Let's go to the videotape...
Mom Booted From Plane Goes National; Toddler Bucks, Whines During Interview
NEW YORK -- The Gwinnett County mother kicked off an airplane with her 19-month old son tried to tell her side of the story Friday morning, but her son's crying drowned out part of the interview.
Garren Penland, 19-months old, got so unruly during his mom's chat with 'Good Morning America' anchor Diane Sawyer, co-anchor Chris Cuomo had to take the toddler off the set.
While Kate Penland explained her child was well-behaved on the Continental Express flight, little Garren kicked, wiggled and squirmed out of his mother's arms.
At one point he climbed up on a coffee table and rifled through Sawyer's scripts.
When Sawyer handed him a model Space Shuttle to distract him, Garren rolled it off the table and onto the floor.
Kate Penland said she and Garren were booted from the flight last month by a flight attendant who suggested she use benadryl to calm her son down.
I saw that videotape -- there was a link in the article caribou provided.
That's not what he's accused of doing -- he's accused of saying "bye-bye plane."
The interview is pretty much a nightmare situation for a 19-month old -- everything would have to align for it to go smoothly and seems like it didn't. I don't think it indicates much about what actually happened on the plane.
He's 16 months old, and probably had to get up very early in order to
make it to the set of "Good morning America". Then he's surrounded
by unfamiliar people and probably can feel the tenseness of others - particularly his mother - feel while on camera.
You don't have children, do you, Joe?
sozobe wrote:That's not what he's accused of doing -- he's accused of saying "bye-bye plane."
Well, he's accused of saying "bye-bye plane"
according to the mother. As far as I know, the airline still has not issued a statement regarding the incident.
sozobe wrote:I don't think it indicates much about what actually happened on the plane.
On the contrary, the mother said her li'l angel was "fussing" on plane just like he was on the set of GMA.
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