Saturday 10 March 2012

And No Doubt A Big Cheer Went Up Among The Rest Of The Passengers…

A family with two young children were kicked off a flight after a pilot refused to fly when their two-year-old daughter had a tantrum.
Hurrah!
Her mother Dr Colette Vieau said she did her best to calm her daughter down but was just hoping for 'some humanity' from the airline.
They did show some humanity.

They didn’t make her fly in the hold, like I would have…
The mother of two added: 'We weren't beligerent, drunk, angry, screaming... we were just having a hard time struggling with our children.'
And you had no qualms whatsoever about spreading that misery amongst your fellow passengers for the duration of a four-hour flight?
On the airline's website, JetBlue have a 'Customer Bill of Rights', where they state: 'JetBlue Airways is dedicated to bringing humanity back to air travel.'
Here’s a thought for you, doc. Perhaps they felt they owed more ‘humanity’ to all the other passengers than they did to someone who raises a badly-behaved child they can't cope with?

16 comments:

Pavlov's Cat said...

Followed by the usual "You don't know what it's like....." entitlement comments from the breeders

Macheath said...

Since the mother appears to be a medical doctor, it shows a startling lack of imagination not to see the obvious - because the child was too young to communicate clearly, airline staff could not be sure her distress was a temper tantrum and not the result of illness or pain.

After all, no-one wants a medical emergency at 30,00 feet.

Macheath said...

PC - If this helps counterbalance things -*smug mode* - we didn't take out children on planes until they were old enough to understand what was happening - and behave sensibly throughout the flight. It wouldn't have been fair to them, apart from anything else.

(The fact that we could't afford foreign holidays when the offspring were small is, of course, nothing to do with it!)

Anonymous said...

Calpol?

Anonymous said...

Humanity to who?

Bertie Basset

Anonymous said...

Gripewater.
Full of gin,does the job!

dearieme said...

Google turns up a person of that name whose speciality is Paediatrics. Very droll, if you ask me.

Macheath said...

anon@10.46

'Gripewater. Full of gin...'

Not any more! They spotted that one years ago.

http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/browse/cartoon_item/anytext=gripe%20water?artist=Giles;%20Ronald%20Carl%20(1916-1995)&page=1

Frankie said...

I ended up on a long flight to visit relatives with an 18 month old... A night flight, and, in the night, she had a crying/screaming bout and, of course, all the medicines we had carefully taken with us were... in the suitcases we had been forced to put in the hold, because of the ridiculous restrictions on carrying fluids on flights. This extended to baby milk, jars of her favourite food etc.

I have some empathy with the mother on this one, not that I would want to inflict a crying baby on fellow passengers and, in the ordinary course of events, the child was not by any stretch of the imagination a 'whinger'. If she had been, we would not have gone, despite the considerable pressure upon us to make the trip.

Still, it caused us a great deal of extra stress because the very things we needed were feet away, but might have been miles away for all the good they were in our suitcases.

Anonymous said...

@Frankie

The result of the enrichment of our Western World?

I hate flying now. It was once a joy.

Conniesdad said...

My great surprise, was that they did not come from a council estate in the UK.

My medical acquaintances would probably act in a similar manor, they can be very stuck up their own bums.

Paul said...

I had a quick look at the linked article and savoured that wonderful 'Private Eye' moment noticing the inconsistency in ages. The text refers to the 'two year old daughter' and the picture shows 'three year old Natalie'.

This piece also reminds me of a flight I had from Sydney to London thirty odd years ago. It was the cheapest ticket I could get, using Garuda Airlines. From Jakarta to Geneva (I think) I had a mewling 18 month old child next to me - shear hell; that journey is still imprinted in my memory despite having flown all over the world before and since.

FWIW, my wife, a paediatrician, would endorse a generous application of gin to the child to quieten the little blighter, failing which, their ejection.

JuliaM said...

"Followed by the usual "You don't know what it's like....." entitlement comments from the breeders"

It seems we can add 'children's behaviour' to 'cyclists' and 'dogs' on the big list of things that are the Third Rail of the Internet... ;)

" It wouldn't have been fair to them, apart from anything else. "

I rather suspect the parents are the sort who believe in 'I want it, and it's my RIGHT to have it'.

We seem to have a lot of them in the world.

"Google turns up a person of that name whose speciality is Paediatrics. "

Indeed! It might be a coincidence, as the reports don't mention her job.

I wonder...

JuliaM said...

"...and, of course, all the medicines we had carefully taken with us were... in the suitcases we had been forced to put in the hold, because of the ridiculous restrictions on carrying fluids on flights."

Yes, that clearly didn't help matters. Yet more pointless and unnecessary security theatre.

" It was the cheapest ticket I could get, using Garuda Airlines."

I've flown Garuda (Hong Kong-Bali) and it was the oddest flight I've ever had..

SadButMadLad said...

Well if you didn't pay for first class you deserve what you get in cattle class. Cramped seats, crying babies, crap food, excessive security theatre, abysmal entertainment, etc.

James Higham said...

Yes, saw this one. I have a dog situation next door - both annoying and yet is the child/dog responsible? then again, can we stand it?