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?
Pathetic replies to my statement. The mother should have had the toy in hand well before the bag was taken.
The problem here is the mother’s assumption that others should help in raising her child.
Weak of you to think this is acceptable.
I wonder how many of you of that think AA did the right thing because the Autistic child and mother who was struggling with her child in new and confusing environment couldn’t comply with regulations, guidelines, or airline accommodations are so fat that either you can’t sit comfortably in the seat or squeeze your fat asses in the seat so that your lard hangs over the armrest and disturbs the other passengers and/or sets the plane over it’s weight limit so that all the other passengers have to pay extra for checking luggage?
Would it be OK for AA to kick you off the flight? A majority of Americans are obese and when I fly next to you fat asses who can’t control your heft and prevent me from having an enjoyable (and safe) flight, I’m going to suggest that you be “kicked to curb” as it was so eloquently put by a previous poster.
As a parent of a child with a severe disability, and a Soldier putting my life on line for a country full of disrespectful ingrates, I hope one of you naysayers are on a flight with me and my son and when he’s making noises that he cannot control. I’d be proud to point out how imperfect you are so that you can quit being so concerned with everyone else shortcomings!
I think the point here is not that they were kicked off, but that they were kicked off after the flight personnel doing everything in their power to make sure that the mother could do nothing to control him. They could have found a way to put them in a seat so that the mother had access to her “tools for controlling” a small child, and they could have warned her that she was responsible to keep the seat belt tight or they would have to be removed. Looks as much like the problems were created and exacerbated by a martinet. Possibly a member of the Hill family? After all, why solve a problem when you can instead by a dogmatic ideologue.
Mommy, please don’t tazer me!
Sorry, AA blew it and the kid and mother will win a six figure settlement along with a serious apology.
The kid has a recognized disability. That means the Americans With Disabilities Act applies. And that means the Airline must reasonably accommodate the child and companion. By upsetting the child, not allowing the companion the tools to settle down the child, and failing to heed the advice of the companion, the Airline failed to afford reasonable accommodation.
And that is wrong.
You can work with some of these kids and some of them are enough to make anyone on that plane a lucky person they stopped and put the kid off.
If you haven’t delt with one of these kids you have no idea.
Why? They can do a very good imation of a wild chimpanzee. Being locked up with that for several hours can cause a lot of adults to go off the deep end. Some of them might decide to drive next time rather than take the risk.
The toys might have helped along with a deft touch but most people who aren’t trained to deal with this sort of thiing don’t do it very well. You have really got to have your act together.
It’s obvious that few readers have dealt with autistic children. This plane is a large puddle jumper also, I think it seats about 60. The flight attendant was probably acerbating the problem by her treatment of the child. Autistic kids are not wired like average children.
#35
No my suggestion is not leave the child on the plane for a month, but anyone with any sense knows that a typically developing child is uncomfortable in a new environment. Now take an Autistic child, and you have to have patience and understanding to help him feel comfortable. The flight attendant did nothing to help the situation and is probably more responsible for the child’s tantrum than anyone realizes.
#40, pedro,
Whatever the hell that post meant. Once a again you seem to be thinking a few miles away from your keyboard.
There is nothing “PC” about what I wrote. Either the Airline will offer her a substantial settlement or she WILL hire a lawyer and win a substantial settlement.
I can’t speak for Venezuela, but the US, as most civilized countries do, has a law to protect the vulnerable from discrimination. I can see you are unaware of the concept so maybe life is so much cheaper in Venezuela.
In the US it is called the Americans With Disabilities Act. It requires ALL those who serve the public to give reasonable accommodations to include them in everyday life. In this specific case, the Airline removed the tools with which the disabled child would have been calmed down with. The Airline went on to provoke and promote the disability by the stewardess’s actions toward the child. Then the Airline did not heed the expert advice from the mother on the proper technique to deal with the child. And finally, the Airline discriminated against the child by throwing both the child and mother off of the flight.
Unless you find facts “PC” then you are seriously missing something. Sorry, I can’t wish you continued success in being a jerk as I find that trait seriously undesirable. It would do the the world a favor if you quit trying to emulate James Hill so hard.
I seriously doubt the ADA would apply here. You can get bumped from a flight for a bunch of reasons, any of which might be caused or increased by having some sort of mental malady.
If a passenger refuses to comply with instructions, or if a parent cannot maintain control over their child then they should get booted from the plane. An unruly passenger could pose a safety hazard for the crew and other passengers.
Special Flight Education… #41 bah!