Brat holds up flight

**Pedro56** · 01-24-07, 07:51 AM

We'll fly them from now on!
Airline kicks crying girl, parents off plane

January 24, 2007
BY JIM ELLIS

ORLANDO, Fla. -- AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.
P>AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children 2 and older must have their own seat and be wearing a seat belt upon takeoff.

''The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family,'' AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

Julie and Gerry Kulesza, who were headed home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, said they just needed a little more time to calm their daughter, Elly. ''We weren't given an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything,'' Julie Kulesza said.

The Kuleszas said they told a flight attendant they had paid for their daughter's seat, but asked whether she could sit in her mother's lap. The request was denied.

She was removed because ''she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat'' during boarding, Graham-Weaver said.

The carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets; the Kuleszas flew home the next day. They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere AirTran flies, Graham-Weaver said.

The father said his family would never fly AirTran again.

AP

**Pedro56** · 01-24-07, 07:51 AM

So what was the Parents problem? Afraid to discipline the girl? Hell my 2 sons know that if they pulled a stunt like that they would have hell to pay.

**BEB** · 01-24-07, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by Pedro56

So what was the Parents problem? Afraid to discipline the girl? Hell my 2 sons know that if they pulled a stunt like that they would have hell to pay.

http://www.lawenforcementforums.com/...ad.php?t=12274

What are parents? Oh, right, the adult staff formerly known as parents. Many are just following the rules of the state. The Nanny State that is.

**BigDawg** · 01-24-07, 08:51 AM

In the last two years I have been flying ALOT, and I for one applaud the airline. Way to take the rest of the passengers well being over the few.

**jmur5074** · 01-24-07, 09:00 AM

Good for the airlines

**Dinosaur32** · 01-24-07, 09:04 AM

Glad to see the airline standing tough. Last year flying from LI to West Palm on Southwest, a woman who had boarded early because of a disability sat in an exit row seat with the extra leg room. She refused to give up the seat because she was recovering from a hip replacement. The flight crew stood up to her and had to threaten arrest before she finally moved. Good to see safety rules being enforced.

**AITG** · 01-25-07, 11:58 AM

You can help reinforce this decision for future sufferers of brat kids and lousy parents.
Go to http://www.airtranairways.com/contact/contact_us.aspx and you can email them. I did. I thanked them for removing the self-absorbed boors and assured them that I would gladly consider flying AirTran in the future.

**keith720** · 01-25-07, 12:54 PM

My first thought, being from Wisconsin, was "How can a tasty pork sausage hold up a flight?", then I realized what kind of Brat you were talking about!

I think the parents should be ashamed. The airline did the absolute right thing.

**10-42Adam** · 01-25-07, 01:14 PM

I'm glad they were booted from the plane. Sounds like that little brat has a lot to learn...

**cwtlady** · 01-25-07, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by keith758

My first thought, being from Wisconsin, was "How can a tasty pork sausage hold up a flight?", then I realized what kind of Brat you were talking about!

I think the parents should be ashamed. The airline did the absolute right thing.

I'm always confused by the two myself, brat (the sausage) or brat (someone else's kid).

Seriously, the parents ought to be ashamed.

**Gatekeeper** · 01-25-07, 07:46 PM

Yep, I'm glad to see that the other passengers were not too badly inconvienced by people who apparently can't control their child. And it sounds to me like the Airline went above and beyond with the compensation given to the family.

**Crimebytes2** · 01-25-07, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by Jewell

Sounds like that little brat has a lot to learn...

Including the parents on how to parent.

**gozling** · 01-25-07, 08:01 PM

I am sooo happy they were canned from the fing plane...

I had a 4 year old one time climbing all over the freaking place and kicking me the entire time... I finally told the mother if she didnt make the kid sit down .. I would be glad to help her out.

some of these freaking people really piss me off... and that line..

"hes FOUR.. what do you expect?" OMFG
well hum... I expect first of all for HIS MOTHER to say.... "little johnny... we dont kick people in the back its NOT POLITE... or... we are on an airplane now... this is HOW WE BEHAVE"

these are the same freakers who have their kid LOOSE in the car because the KID doesnt want to wear a seatbelt.

ummm can we just put them all in a vat of acid?

**Ducky** · 01-25-07, 11:42 PM

I cured my kid of not wanting to buckle up in one easy lesson. She was arguing with me, so I started the car, got up to about 15mph and slammed the brakes for a sec. She slid forward, got scared as hell, buckled up and would thereafter fuss if I moved the car without her being buckled in. With this kid, I'd have taken her to the bathroom, discretely beat her ass, then swapped seats so one of us would have been sitting next to (on top of) her the entire flight.

I'm not nice, polite, or politically correct though.

**resdepbrian** · 01-26-07, 12:17 AM

When I was a kid, if me or my brother or sister pulled that shit, we would never have worried about the airline putting us off the plane, our parents would have taken care of that, each one of them taking turns smacking our asses all the way up the jet way.

Go AirTran

**10-42Adam** · 01-26-07, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by Crimebytes2

Including the parents on how to parent.

Agreed.

**resdepbrian** · 01-26-07, 02:32 AM

**Piggybank Cop** · 01-26-07, 10:20 AM

Put it in a cage in cargo –away from the animals, we don’t want to upset them.

Or use lots of Ducky’s tape.

**Ducky** · 01-26-07, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by 1sgkelly

Put it in a cage in cargo –away from the animals, we don’t want to upset them.

Or use lots of Ducky’s tape.

It comes in all colors now, think we could go for a rainbow mummy look?

**Piggybank Cop** · 01-26-07, 05:19 PM

No Babies on BoardPlane Tantrums
How do you avoid becoming the family that got kicked off an airplane after their crying 3-year-old refused to take her seat?
By Beth J. Harpaz, AP

Experts say rewarding kids for cooperation, distracting them with simple games and telling them in advance what's going to happen can help. But at the end of the day, you may just have to take control, restrain the child, and comply with the rules.

The family, Julie and Gerry Kulesza and their daughter Elly, were headed home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, Fla., when they were told they had to leave the plane because Elly wouldn't get in her seat.

FAA rules require children age 2 and older to have their own seats with buckled seat belts before takeoff. The airline, Air Tran, said the flight had already been delayed 15 minutes when the family was told to disembark. Air Tran reimbursed the family the cost of their tickets and offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies as compensation.

Here are four tips for getting children to behave on airplanes.

1. Bring the child's car seat along. The Federal Aviation Administration says children are safest on planes when strapped into their car seats, and "young kids are often more comfortable in a familiar seat," said Eileen Ogintz whose columns appear online at http://www.takingthekids.com. Seeing their own car seat on the plane may also make them more willing to climb in and buckle up, just like they do in the family car.

2. Bring small items you can use as entertainment, distraction and rewards.

"We'll stop in the magazine store and get one of those silly little books where the kids get a magic pen," said Pauline Frommer, the travel guidebook writer and daughter of travel guru Arthur Frommer. In addition, she buys gum as a special treat for her daughters to have in flight, and brings pipe cleaners along to play with.

Holly Hughes, author of "500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up," suggests reading a story or even strapping a doll in the seat belt first. "Everyone around you is anxious and kids are likely to pick up on that anxiety," she said. "Distraction is a big thing."

Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor and mother of a 3-year-old, says if toys don't work, "I have a Plan B, which I'm not proud of but it works: A lollipop."

3. If the child is old enough to understand, explain in advance what's going to happen and stress the importance of following the rules. "Explain that the pilot and flight attendants need their help when preparing for take off," Ogintz said.

"The whole idea is the preparation before. Explain what's going to happen and make it something to look forward to," said Nancy Shankman. Her grown son, Peter Shankman, began traveling with his family from a very young age; today he runs AirTroductions.com, a Web site that allows people to choose their seat mates before boarding.

4. Finally, if rewards, explanations and distraction don't work, you may have to calmly say, "These are the rules, you have no choice," and restrain the child.

"I do feel that preparation for any kind of adventure is important," said Nancy Shankman, "but if that didn't work, I would have just strapped the kid in the seat."

Peter Shankman said that the opinion of about half of the moms weighing in on the subject on the AirTroductions Web site was, "'We would have had that kid down.' They blamed the parents." The other half felt bad for the parents, he said.

"A lot of this comes down to parenting," Perry said. At the end of the day, "I know I can get my daughter buckled in that seat."

Steve Loucks, a spokesman for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the travel agency, said parents need to realize that, "in the post-9/11 world, there's no room for error on airplanes. Unruly passengers, regardless of who they are, whether it's an elderly person or a young child, can be grounds for turning the plane around and letting them off. ... If ever there were a place where you need to make sure your children were behaving, this is the place."