Tuesday, July 17, 2007

If your child speaks, he is unfit to fly

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19735896/

If your child says "Bye, Bye, Plane" enough no. of times to annoy the flight attendant, it doesn't matter whether you have a ticket, nor does it matter if you know anyone at the place where they are offloading you, or if you have enough supplies for the child if they are offloading you miles from home. An airline can offload you because you do not drug the child to make it keep quiet.

20 comments:

AVIANA said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AVIANA said...

hmm...i have mixed feeligns on this one...maybe because i don't have a child....but imagine the same situation of an adult who made enough noise to disrupt the other passengers...it would be the same situation....

at the end of the day it is not the child that is the problem but it is the handling of the child by the parent.....

people know that little kids don't have the thought process to stop being kids..but the parents must do what they can to control and if they can't ...understandbly so at times...then they have to do what's best for everyone around them and move....

i know it may sound harsh but people think that those who are disrupted by this disturbance are insensitive, evil people....Just as disturbed people are to be sensitive to those causing the disturbance, thos causing the disturbance must be sensitive to those being disturbed....

What's interestsing is that people keep pointing at the kids and it's really the handling by the parents that's the problem and they have to take responsibility....

others should not be subjected to something that is disruptive to others and a plane trip is an uncomfortable situation as is...let alone a flying on a plane and hearing crying child that is having a major tantrum and the parent who can't control the child.....

the people around them did not ask to be put in a disruptive environment by an adult or a child...

just as others are asked to be sensitive to the child people need to be sensitive to those around them being disrupted...

the public owes nothing to the parent with the child throwing a tantrum but the parent with the upset child or the adult with the disruptive behavior (aka Clay Aiken on a plane) owes something to those around them...respect....

my thoughts...and i will probably get hate mail from this....

:)

madelyn said...

that is crazy nuts...what kind of airline is that?

i have flown a lot in the past few weeks with
crying babies and everyone on the plane was
wonderful about it - they would offer
things for the children to play with and
the parents would walk up and down with the
child -

this is insane.

Id it is said...

That is most ridiculous!

How do we know said...

Hi Aviana: :-)
This comment is going to be long!

Yesterday i read an entire bunch of 11 pages of comments on this incident on a (gulp!) Korean comments site. It was awesome! Quite a few people agreed with you, including suggesting that people with young children should not be allowed to fly at all.

I don't think being on either side of this incident, by itself, deserves hate mail of any kind. There is too much of that flying around in the world anyway.

My perspective is, that we do not know if the child was being disruptive to other people.
We also do not know if the flight attendant acted on her own, or on complaints from some passenger. I am not sure if a flight attendant can, on her own, decide to be annoyed about something. That is one person in a full plane.

We also do not know if the flight attendant tried to do anything to distract the child, or if they had a simple children's Activity kit on board. Parents cannot usually carry any such kits bcs of cabin baggage restrictions and with a kid, there is more than enough to carry anyway.

Yes, my sympathies are with the mother in this case, esp. since, as one member on that message board pointed out, the flight in question is just about 45 minutes long. but those are just my sympathies. Or maybe, i m just too used to the whole flight playing with children, which is what happens here in India.

On my last flight, which was a 2.5 hour baby, there were lots of kids on the flight and they were predictably making a lot of noise, playing, fighting with their parents etc. They ran all over the aisle, and wherever they stopped, people would talk to them, ask them questions, in general, engage them till the kid got bored and moved on to something else. The parents had their hands full the whole time (goes without saying).

Phew! Am not sure if there is anything worthwhile said in that LONG comment.

How do we know said...

Hi Maddie: Exactly my experience! The only thing that used to make me really nervous was infants crying, because i was worried abt the impact on their ears of the cabin pressure changes.

Hi id it is: I agree!

chitra said...

Sounds silly, But these days, the cabin crew are nervous lot. The other day, i read about three guys were held from flying as they were discussing some hijack cases.

But, luckily, my son has had a nice time flying and infact he flew alone. The cabin crew took good care of him.

Mai said...

Dear Maddie (How Do We Know),

The answer to your question is, of course, we don't and we can't except by direct experience. And even that can be tricky. We're in Maya.

So we find what makes the most sense to us, devote ourselves to it whole-heartedly and run with it.

dharmabum said...

tch tch...

life kitna complicated bana diya yaar hum logon ne. ab machchon ko bhi bardaasht nahin kar sakte...

WritingsForLife said...

quite interesting...
its not something very common since I have much experience flying across the country, but I think I will side with the flight attendant. I am sure they must have a good reason to throw them off the plane and the decision would have been made by the entire crew and not just the attendant.

...and yes, people do need to control their kids. Sometimes kids need to shut up!

AVIANA said...

:)

The Pakistani Spectator said...

its an mind echo

How do we know said...

HI Chitra: yes, I heard of that case on Jet Airways too. Till then, i used to hear such stuff from outside India and laugh. This one made me realise we are all getting too suspicious for our own good. What is the point of having a life that you are too scared to live through?

Hi Dharma: I agree!

Hi Raaji: That part is true. Sometimes, kids need to shut up. The point is, can they be offloaded anywhere because they refused to "shut up"?

Aviana: :-)

Hi TPS: mind echo?

EXSENO said...

I heard about this, but I think it's outragous. It shouldn't be allowed. They paid for their tickets the airlines new the had a small child and they were let on the plan they should be left on the plan until they reach their destination. I've seen more adults be just as annoying.
In that case lets throw everyone off the plane that coughs to much or sneezes or speak to another person, it might annoy the person sitting in front or behind or accross from someone else.

mathew said...

absurd...what else a child is expected to do..

read the financial times!!!?? eh!!

Something to Say said...

o I have heard this one before as well....except that - the parents had 3 seats - the 2 adults sat together - while the kid was made to sit separately - which is rather stupid in my opinion.....
having said that - no parent wants his/her child to create a scene on a flight - we hate the noise too...

How do we know said...

Hi Exseno: Yep! I agree that the airline knew they had a child on board and.. it was just a 45 minute flight!

Hi Mathew: Ha ha... actually, come to think of it! What else is a child expected to do anyway?

Hi something to say: yep, MOST parents do not want to trouble other ppl in a public area.

Sugarlips said...

This is plain crazy!!

Sometimes its a bit disturbing when I'm on a flight to Pakistan but no one ever complains and parents try their level best to calm down the child.

Stay Beautiful...!!

Ekta said...

This is disgusting..i was totally shocked when i read this!!
How could the airline have done something like this!!
A child is a child--its not an adult to understand these things or to do them delibrately!!
The attendant should have been sacked

How do we know said...

Hi Sugarlips and Ekta: Apparently, the flight atttendant is yet to understand that.