Amanda (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
street_symphony) wrote2007-07-12 11:37 pm
street_symphony) wrote2007-07-12 11:37 pm
Okay...
This bothered me for some reason. Really, it did. This came off of Yahoo! News by the way, in case you were curious, an Associated Press article.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070712/ap_on_re_us/toddler_booted
Thu Jul 12, 2:15 PM ET
ATLANTA - A woman said she and her toddler son were kicked off a plane after she refused a flight attendant's request to medicate her son to get him to quiet down and stop saying "Bye bye, plane."
Kate Penland, of suburban Atlanta, said she and her 19-month-old son, Garren, were flying from Atlanta to Oklahoma last month on a Continental Express flight that made a stop in Houston.
As the plane was taxiing in Houston en route to Oklahoma, "he started saying 'Bye, bye plane,' Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta. The flight attendant objected, she said.
"At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, 'It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up,'" Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta.
When Penland asked the woman if she was joking, she said the stewardess replied, "You know, it's called baby Benadryl."
"And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight,'" Penland told the TV station.
Penland said other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, and the flight attendant announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.
Penland and her son were let off the plane and did not complete the trip to Oklahoma, said Kristy Nicholas, spokeswoman for Express Jet Airlines, which flies as Continental Express on behalf of Continental Airlines.
Attempts by the Associated Press to reach Penland under a telephone listing that matched her last name were unsuccessful.
"I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, 'What am I going to do? I don't have anything with me, I don't have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk," Penland told WSB.
Nicholas said, "We received Ms. Penland's letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents."
If the mother of this child wasn't exaggerating about the way the flight attendant acted, then I'm completely baffled. You don't like listening to a little boy say "Bye bye, plane" as it takes off? Would you rather he was screaming his head off? Have you ever been around a kid that age? I'm getting the feeling this flight attendant is either just like this in general, or she's been on her feet for too long. But to be honest, telling your passenger at the beginning of a flight to, "shut your baby up" is definitely not a way to act. I don't know what's going on in her personal life, but saying that is ridiculous. A "Ma'am, your child is being excessively loud, please quiet him down," probably would have gone a lot further.
And when other passengers started sticking up for the mother? The flight attendant decides the flight should be turned around. If the other passengers have no problem, then just say, "Okay, but if anyone is bothered, please say something." Where does she get off deciding a happy, playful child gets kicked off a plane? Had I been the pilot, I would have laughed at her, but she probably lied to the pilots, saying the woman was causing an uproar.
Meanwhile, me? Still baffled. The flight attendant was either having a bad day, is just like that in general, or the mother is exaggerating the story. I don't know where I stand on it. Too tired to do that right now. I'll look for more on this later.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070712/ap_on_re_us/toddler_booted
Thu Jul 12, 2:15 PM ET
ATLANTA - A woman said she and her toddler son were kicked off a plane after she refused a flight attendant's request to medicate her son to get him to quiet down and stop saying "Bye bye, plane."
Kate Penland, of suburban Atlanta, said she and her 19-month-old son, Garren, were flying from Atlanta to Oklahoma last month on a Continental Express flight that made a stop in Houston.
As the plane was taxiing in Houston en route to Oklahoma, "he started saying 'Bye, bye plane,' Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta. The flight attendant objected, she said.
"At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, 'It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up,'" Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta.
When Penland asked the woman if she was joking, she said the stewardess replied, "You know, it's called baby Benadryl."
"And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight,'" Penland told the TV station.
Penland said other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, and the flight attendant announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.
Penland and her son were let off the plane and did not complete the trip to Oklahoma, said Kristy Nicholas, spokeswoman for Express Jet Airlines, which flies as Continental Express on behalf of Continental Airlines.
Attempts by the Associated Press to reach Penland under a telephone listing that matched her last name were unsuccessful.
"I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, 'What am I going to do? I don't have anything with me, I don't have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk," Penland told WSB.
Nicholas said, "We received Ms. Penland's letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents."
If the mother of this child wasn't exaggerating about the way the flight attendant acted, then I'm completely baffled. You don't like listening to a little boy say "Bye bye, plane" as it takes off? Would you rather he was screaming his head off? Have you ever been around a kid that age? I'm getting the feeling this flight attendant is either just like this in general, or she's been on her feet for too long. But to be honest, telling your passenger at the beginning of a flight to, "shut your baby up" is definitely not a way to act. I don't know what's going on in her personal life, but saying that is ridiculous. A "Ma'am, your child is being excessively loud, please quiet him down," probably would have gone a lot further.
And when other passengers started sticking up for the mother? The flight attendant decides the flight should be turned around. If the other passengers have no problem, then just say, "Okay, but if anyone is bothered, please say something." Where does she get off deciding a happy, playful child gets kicked off a plane? Had I been the pilot, I would have laughed at her, but she probably lied to the pilots, saying the woman was causing an uproar.
Meanwhile, me? Still baffled. The flight attendant was either having a bad day, is just like that in general, or the mother is exaggerating the story. I don't know where I stand on it. Too tired to do that right now. I'll look for more on this later.