Video available in the article.
An American Eagle flight taxiing to a Raleigh-Durham Airport runway was turned around Monday, but not because of a terrorist threat.
The crew was kicking an autistic Cary [North Carolina] toddler and his mother off the plane.
As the American Eagle flight headed down the taxiway, two-and-a-half-year-old Jarett Farrell wasn’t a happy traveler. It became a big problem for everyone on the plane. Farrell says that’s because the flight attendant was indignant.
“She kept coming over and tugging his seatbelt to make it tighter, ‘This has to stay tight’. And then he was wiggling around and trying to get out of his seatbelt. And she kept coming over and reprimanding him and yelling at him,” Farrell said.
“He just melted down. He saw me getting upset. He was upset. He was on the floor rolling around,” she said. Farrell says when she got back to her home in Cary she called her husband and they decided that she should call American Airlines corporate. She says a company representative apologized and said the incident should never have happened.
But that’s not what American Airlines told Eyewitness News. A spokesman in Dallas says Jarret was pitching a “raging fit”.
It seems this all started when the stewardess wouldn’t allow Mrs. Farrell to keep her carry-on bag, as there wasn’t any under-seat storage on the front row. All the toddler’s toys were in the bag. Why not let her change seats with another passenger?
Unfortunate but on the bright side I think they might have a case for a lawsuit…
At least they didn’t smack the kid the way I smack the liberals around here.
Martin, why should the airline bend over backwards to assist someone who can’t control their child? They solved the problem in the most expedient way possible.
[Duplicate comment deleted. – ed.]
#2
No, the most expedient way possible would be to get the kid the toys and anything else that would shut him up and get the plane in the air. To assume that turning a plane around, keeping it on the ground probably another hour, not to mention messing up with other take offs and landings, is the best answer is idiotic. Maybe you should do PR for the airlines. Sounds like you could fall in lockstep with their current stance of “f*** the customer.”
What lawsuit? I agree with the airline and am glad the tot was tossed. Flying does not need to be any less pleasurable than it already is and I am tired of parents bringing babies on board. Very disquieting.
#2, Hill, rather than delay an entire flight, wouldn’t it make more sense for the stewardess to help solve the problem rather than exacerbate it? Perhaps that’s why she’s on the little planes. Just a guess.
Good for American Airlines. I will consider them for my next trip. I care about my comfort and safety during a flight and would rather lose an hour on the ground removing this kid than lose a day because the plane had to be diverted in flight.
The mother couldn’t control her child. IN HER OWN WORDS “He just melted down. He saw me getting upset. He was upset. He was on the floor rolling around”
This is HIS OWN MOTHER, who is sugar coating everything, saying that he melted down and was uncontrollable.
This all started because the kid wouldn’t put his belt on the right way, so the plane couldn’t take off. And then he melts down and rolls around on the floor.
How’s the pilot supposed to react? His job is to get the passengers from point A to point B as safely and timely as possible. The only way he could do that was to get this kid off the plane.
Good for AA. I hope any case she may bring is dismissed.
Parents of 2-3 year olds should book night flights so the kids are too tired to be a problem.
Around 4 years old, they are settled down enough to fly a plane.
Autism probably had nothing to do with it but made for a nice sob story.
I think the mom will have the “Americans With Disabilities Act” on her side in a lawsuit.
If it was a normal kid having a tantrum, then the airline would be ok.
But since the kid has a disability, the ADA law requires them to “accommodate”. In this case, just give the kid his toys. But they didn’t even bother doing that. I hope the mom sues AA into oblivion.
It seems like some of you don’t have children and don’t understand them at all.
Too bad your parents didn’t make the same decision.
Children deserve consideration and respect just like everyone else does. If you don’t like that go find a planet to live on that doesn’t have children.
The airlines can be incredibly stupid when it comes to people traveling with children. One airline gave me and my 1 year old seats several rows apart. The counter person at first didn’t want to re-arrange the seats, until I pointed out that it would be impossible for me to keep my son amused, and he would essentially be the responsibility of strangers who were sitting with him, who likely would not be happy.
I also would highly resent, if I were this mother, the flight attendant adjusting my child’s belt or scolding him instead of simply asking me to do it. The flight attendant was stupid to think that a stranger yelling at him would not upset him and exacerbate the situation. I’m guessing she has confrontations with many passengers, not just children.
That’s their job… good for AAL
i’m surprised that they didn’t call the police and feds and have her detained/arrested for interfering with the flight. (not!)
air travel sucks.
sorry this kid is autistic and all, but I’d kick any uncontrollable kid, an uncooperative and overwhelmed mother who wouldn’t put her bag up in the bin off a plane too.(go the link and watch the report, more details there)- I’m sorry, it’s not the airlines or the passengers problem on the plane to handle or bend FAA rules. I don’t want this kid freaking out at 27000 ft.
How about the other passengers who did follow the rules, who did expect to have a limited measure of service, who do follow the rules, who did prepare and who did respect the others around them?
She was not in control of the situation, it wasn’t the kid who got them kicked off the plane, perhaps it was a parent who made a bad decision to take an autistic child onto a small jet without help.
Anyone look into this being a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act? Seems so to me and should cost AA a pretty penny.
As for #7’s comfort and convenience: The law places the fundamental rights of people with disabilities above your petty and effeminate sensibilities. Yes the pilot has “a job” to do, but he must perform his duties with the constraints of the law. Kicking the kid off the plane was not a just solution. I hope he and the stewards are named as defendants in the lawsuit too and that it costs them, at the very least, many sleepless nights.
Shoot the kid and then pass out free cigarettes while suspending the no smoking rule. Problem solved.
The Americans with Disabilities Act does not mean that if a blind man comes to your car dealership and wants to test drive a car by himself you need to say OK. It also doesn’t mean that if a woman cannot control her kid, and if that kid cannot be made to wear the seatbelt as is federally MANDATED then you just wait and say “that’s a very good thing that you can’t control your kid…a very good thing…” No, you toss him and his mom to the curb and leave. It’s harsh, but that’s the way it goes. Mom should know there are going to be problems traveling with this kid, and if she doesn’t it’s time for a reality check.
I have a kid, I flew with her when she was young, and I know how difficult it can be. But I also know that it is your responsibility as the parent to adhere to the laws and requirements of the airline.
#7 Once again my friend, you are the picture of sensitivity an understanding.
How’s your application to become a UN ambassador coming along?
Airline certainly did the right thing.
It is obvious that the kid is not capable of complying with the safety rules of commercial airlines. The mother can not control the kid to get him to comply. So AA was right to eject them.
Sorry… not every one is fit to fly. Deal with it.
As the father of an Autistic 17 year old who did travel with him on AA and other airlines when he was younger I was fully prepared to be kicked of a flight if he had a meltdown. Thankfully it never happened but it could have and I fully understand that AA can’t have a kid having a fit on an aircraft.
As this was an American Eagle flight it probably was a smaller aircraft and that just makes the situation worse.
Although I know this was a miserable day for the parent, I support the airline 100%. Some people simply can’t fly, for quite a number of reasons, and we need to start bringing sanity back to this situation.
The airline was absolutely correct in removing them from the flight. The majority of the passengers have rights too… and that kid would have made the flight a nightmare for the other passengers… not to mention that he wouldn’t wear the seat-belt. That alone is grounds to kick them off the plane.
From my experience about 80% of female air waitresses are pissy and angry. Back in the day they always tried to dump the kids on the bulkhead seat because it somewhat pins them in since there are no passengers in front for them to abuse. Also they are probably closer to the bathroom/waitress station.
I am sure the decision was not made lightly to dump them from the plane. The kid was obviously going at the seat belt which he did not like, that is why it was being checked. I am sure this escalated the situation but it still had to be done. Pilots want to be on time, airlines want them to be on time. This was better than dealing with the complaints of ALL THE OTHER passengers who probably were better off being a few hours late than the kid freaking out for the entire trip.
If you are traveling with a high strung (or autistic) kid, you might want to look into medicating them.
If the kid was rolling around on the floor and they took off and there was a little bit of air turbulence and the kid bumped his head they would have had a lot bigger public relations nightmare than kicking the kid off the plane.
If they would have waited until the kid chilled out and I was on the plane trying to catch a connection and missed it they would have wished they had kicked the kid off the plane.
Good! That little fucker should never have been bought on board by his obviously ignorant and selfish mother to begin with.
There are other options to get from A to B without putting your kid in a situation that will clearly affect their ability to be calm and unobtrusive/undisruptive than a small airplane with many other passengers who will be affected.
Personally I’d have ejected them both from the plane while at 30,000 feet!
These idiots need to understand that just because they (or their spawn) have issues does not mean that their needs are greater than the rest of us.
Good on AA.
Good for the airline. Throwing a fit like a baby and rolling on the floor don’t work in the real world. Apparently it works when he does it to his mommy and that’s the problem.
KIDS ARE NOT IN CHARGE!
I haven’t given the AWDA any thorough study, but I believe it does not cover airlines. As a courtesy they’re supposed to help with wheelchairs and all that – but if your disability makes you incapable of flying then you’re incapable of flying. This includes abiding by FAA safety regulations (and, yes, tucking your bag away is a safety regulation. God forbid the plane hits a bit of turbulence, the bag goes flying because it has no place to be properly stored, and hits you, the unlucky sod sitting behind this kid, in the head. Then you’d be sore at the mom indeed.)
It’s unfortunate – but some people are not, in fact, meant to fly. Flight has never been found to be a right – it’s a privilege and a choice to fly an airplane. That’s why the government’s allowed to scan you for metal (a warrantless search) if you want to cross from New York to LA conveniently on a plane – whereas they can’t do that to you if you wish to ride your car.
#30 – Exactly right.