Mom and Chatty Toddler Removed From Flight

On one flight, I once sat next to a guy that stank to high heaven. Wasn't grungy or anything, just a pudgy business guy whose deorderant had failed.

I would have preferred "bye bye plane"

No no! What did you want from the overhead bin? I'll be happy to get it for you!

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Will bring audio books along if I ever decide to fly.

Thanks Joe ;-)

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sozobe wrote:

That's the best-case scenario -- the one that would put the airlines in the best light -- but it doesn't really make sense. What was to be gained from kicking them off AFTER the safety spiel? It says she completed it.

Yes, but I bet she completed it again without disruption once they pulled back from the gate the second time.

As far as taking sides on this, I'm completely neutral until further info comes out. If the child was disruptive to the point that the flight attendant felt one or more passengers was unable to hear/understand her safety instructions (think about first time fliers who may actually want to hear them) and felt that she needed to repeat those instructions in a quiet environment and the mother and child were preventing the possibility of that environment, then I think she was well within the stated policies of the airline to have them removed from the plane.

I highly doubt that the instructions were skipped during the second taxi.

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I'm surprised it's taken this long to get more info.

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I remain "neutral" on flights with our without babies/infants, because I always take along ear plugs with me. If it gets really noisy, I use the plugs and the Bose earphones to drown out the "outside" noise.

1. We can't control what the babies do during flight, because there are some understandable reasons like the air pressure may give them a headache and/or earache. It's really not their fault or the mothers. They don't know how to communicate their problem.
2. There are also some adults who talk so loud, it seems like they want to communicate with everybody on the plane. There's no way to control them either.
3. Listening to good music is much more relaxing and enjoyable than uncontrolled noises - like the jet engines.
4. The Bose Q3 does magic inside the airplane cabin.
5. I don't have to determiine who's at fault for any noise problem inside the plane.

There was a baby on our flight from Chicago to San Jose last month, and a baby in the back seat was crying for over 20-minutes, so I just plugged my ears and listened to music all the way home.

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I was once seated next to a guy in a wheel chair. well, out of a wheel chair during the flight, but ya know. Disabled. I was wondering why the stewardesss shot me this worried, even pitying look (I was asked to move there so that a married couple could sit together, which I gladly do).
They guy was a former Seal. And he would not shut up. And would not stop drinking. Scotch. At one point the stewardess said he has already had too many (or something along those lines) and he threw a fit. So she just kept them coming. He was trashed by the time we landed. He also had some spasms every five minutes, which would have been fine, if he just stayed quiet, or if he was talking some sense. No. I had a 7 hours long sermon on how Jesus is our savior, and how he, riddled with nine bullets, nearly dead, saw the light and found the right path (not sure how the drinking fit into that). And that it's not too late for me... and so on and so forth...

I will never again complain about yapping dogs and yelling kids - bring them on! All of them, pile them on me. But I never want to sit next to that freak again.

(I did have sympathy for him though. He was a veteteran and obviously has lost it somewhere along the way. But still... why me?!)

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Because you need to be saved Dag.

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Can anyone summarize what the two other passengers say on the GMA video?

So far that's the main thing (but not the only thing) that nudges me off neutral. I just don't think that if the mom's story was completely false that two other passengers would step forward to corroborate. So far all I know about that though, since the video is not captioned and the image is too small for me to able to lipread, is that the context and body language seems to indicate that the passengers are supportive. I think the first one relays what the attendant said in a way that indicates that the attendant was being snotty about it.

And airplanes are Unironic Reason I'm Happy I'm Deaf #72. They drove me crazy when I could hear, now very little phases me.

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I don't doubt that the stewardess, flight attendant I mean, was a bit snappy - to put it mildly.

On the other hand: the captain returned the plane, no-one else (or might be the 1st officer).

Quote:

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I loved this bit in the article:

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."

"We've got to err on the side of caution here," Boyd said. "If the person in the cabin decides there's an unsafe condition, you've got to go with it and then sort it out later."

If we don't dump people like these, the baby terrorists win!

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I wonder if anyone knows if this was the 31-seater or 50-seater plane version?

(I've been in 31-er version twice: the announcements by the stewardess [just one] were made 'live' = not via a loudspeaker.)

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sozobe wrote:

Can anyone summarize what the two other passengers say on the GMA video?

So far that's the main thing (but not the only thing) that nudges me off neutral. I just don't think that if the mom's story was completely false that two other passengers would step forward to corroborate. So far all I know about that though, since the video is not captioned and the image is too small for me to able to lipread, is that the context and body language seems to indicate that the passengers are supportive. I think the first one relays what the attendant said in a way that indicates that the attendant was being snotty about it.

I can't watch the video, but I have no doubt she was less than pleasant about it.

Quote:

Distracted and upset by the boy's words, the flight attendant went over to Penland after completing her safety demonstration.

'Distracted and upset' doesn't make it sound like she was in any way neutral. I've seen flight attendants gently remind people to stay in their seats when the seat belt signs are lit and I've seen other ones yell for everyone to sit down and stay down <shrug>.

I don't think this is about a kid being on a plane. Chances are this flight attendant has had rambunctious kids on other flights and not had them thrown off the plane. This is about a mother who during the safety instructions enticed her child to look out the window at another plane, the result of which caused the child to distract the attendant from being able to properly complete her instructions. Whether other passengers wanted to hear the instructions or whether they felt the attendant over-reacted is irrelevant. It's her job to complete the instructions for the safety of the passengers on board, even if no one is actually listening. She apparently felt this child was preventing that from happening.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

I wonder if anyone knows if this was the 31-seater or 50-seater plane version?

(I've been in 31-er version twice: the announcements by the stewardess [just one] were made 'live' = not via a loudspeaker.)

Make that 37 Embarrassed

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soz, there really wasn't anything different, word wise than what was written in the article.

To me though, it was a matter of tone...

When reading the words "I told her I wasn't going to drug my baby" I was wondering how she sounded when she said that. It was easy to imagine she might have sounded, angry/bitchy. I say that because I have seen parents whose little one are totally out of control, and they get they arrogant when anyone suggests getting them under control.

However, hearing her voice, it didn't come across that way at all. Now, I fully realize that the way she said it on GMA and the way she said it to the stewardess could have been totally different....but....I just don't think so. Listening to her on TV, it just didn't come across that she was trying to make herself sound better than she had in the plane, it sounded very natural, like that's the way pretty much it happened. I know that's subjective, but that's how it sounded to my ears.

On GMA, when the little boy was getting antsy, it looked like she was torn between paying attention to Diane, and trying to settle him down. I'll be honest, my attention was on the boy at the time, but it seemed she was doing her best. Didn't show any anger. When the other host came and took the little boy to play with him, the mom's tone was "whew, I'm glad I can concentrate now." I mean, she was on TV for goodness sake, I think she was very composed considering where she was.

The 2 people who spoke up for her? They seemed very calm about it, like they knew what they saw. Not flat, but confident of what happened, so no need to get excited.

That's my take on it anyway.

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For what it's worth, I'm one of those people who usually listen to the instructions. I'm sort of clumsy in real life, and figure I'd mess up getting the seat cushion tied to my body correctly, and, should I ever be the one near the door, mess up getting it open. Aaaaand, I don't hear well. So, on one United flight (I don't remember from where to where) I was in or near the very back row. Two flight attendents behind us were talking about their weekend, loudly, during the announcements at the end of the trip about which gate the next planes were departing from. I do remember needing to know that, and I couldn't hear the gate numbers. I gave them a little speech when we deplaned, but they snapped back at me.

On opinions, I already said I don't know enough, and that remains true.

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ossobuco wrote:

I gave them a little speech when we deplaned, but they snapped back at me.

mini complaint here.

you know, flight attendants aren't always pleasant either, even considering they are human too, and the tons of crap I'm sure they have to put up with.

On a late night flight, a attendant was making the last round getting drinking classes and cracker wrappers, etc.

She asked me if I had anything, and I said, "oh yeah, here, and started to steer a paper napkin to the empty glass she had in her hand.

She drew her hand back and said, and I quote..."Is there any snot in that napkin?"

uh.....noooo......

Obviously I wouldn't want a handle of boogers either, but (a) she was collecting garbage, where was her bag. (b) I can't help but think there might have been a better way to say that, while working....like...."let me get a bag you can put that in."

BTW, In college I worked as some rich ladies personal assistant...she threw a party once, and her 8,000 year old mother was there. Between serving canapes...I was picking up empty plates/glasses.

Mrs. Methusala started handing me her near empty gin glass, from which she was getting sloshed. Then she said, "oh, wait a minute" while my hand was held out to get her glass. She took her napkin....blew her nose with a big HOOOOONNNNNNK...then put the napkin in my hand, deciding to hold on to her glass for a while longer.

eeewwwyyy gooooey.

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JPB wrote:

This is about a mother who during the safety instructions enticed her child to look out the window at another plane, the result of which caused the child to distract the attendant from being able to properly complete her instructions.

Aside from the suspicious use of the word "enticed" I find this an unlikely scenario. When has it ever been the practice to boot someone off the plane for talking during the safety spiel? And babies? Are babies expected to know to be quiet during the speech?

I wasn't there, but I have to believe she had him looking out the window so that he wouldn't fuss and cry on his way off to pleasant dream land.

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FreeDuck is right! Babies/infants do not understand they must be "quiet" during the safety drill before the flight. Common sense, anyone?

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sozobe wrote:

Can anyone summarize what the two other passengers say on the GMA video?

Passenger 1 reported how the stewardess came back from the cockpit and said (in an arrogant way): "We're going back to the gate". Passenger 2 reported how the mother was told: "We have security people in place at the gate. If you don't leave the plane voluntarily, they will come and get you" (I'm paraphrasing both accounts.)

Neither passenger said anything about the baby and its behavior, at least not in this video. From their body language and the tone of their voice, though, I am gleaning it's the airline they're displeased with, not the mom. But that's not a fact, just my interpretation.

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Found a few more details here. No details seem to be emerging that drastically change the situation.

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Mom and Chatty Toddler Removed From Flight

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