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read this, and i agree with the company! what do you think?



AirTran Backs Decision to Boot Family From Plane After Toddler's Tantrum

Tuesday , January 23, 2007




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.

AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above 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 in a telephone interview Tuesday.

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 Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and the Kuleszas flew home the next day.

They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.

The father said his family would never fly AirTran again.

I agree. I'm sure the 112 other passengers not only appreciated being able to take off but also enjoyed their flight a lot more without a 3yo throwing a tantrum the whole time. Teach your kids some discipline if you want to take them on public transportation.

exactly so!

i just wish people would teach their kids enough manners so i can enjoy a meal at a restaurant...

im down with it...i always get the screaming kid flight..argggggggggg

let the kid fly. then throw the parents off the plane at 15,000 feet.

I wish it was that easy, Deb...

I can tell you this much... when Daniel starts to have a meltdown (he's 3), I take him outside. I'm not afraid to give him a spanking... it's the only thing that works with him when he gets out of control.

hey, don't get me wrong--LITTLE kids are one thing--i'm talking well beyond toddler age! kids running laps thru the restaurant--or leaning over the back of the seat staring at you--then when they sit down (after being told for the 743rd time) they start kicking the seat bottom--i hate booths!

*note to self.....act up for spanking*:o

Too funny! LOL LOL :p

Don't make me bring out the belt, Kevin! :eek:

I got a cattle prod you can borrow for him....

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

hey now...you dipping into our conversation????:eek:

Hmmm... I'm thinking he needs to be hot branded. :cool:

Sounds kinky, i want in... :)

no way dude...get your married ass outta here for I tell your wife:eek:

Much to my dismay, I'm gonna stay out of the branding conversation and address the 3 year old. You know what, I think it's bs....If the airlines don't want screaming kids then set an age requirement. Now I've flown what I would consider a huge amount of miles and there have been times when I was miserable because of a kid or the "Oh dear" of the person beside me, but the way I look at it is we all have bad days, you just deal with it. Worst flight I was ever on. You couldn't dream this one up. I was on a flight from LA to Tokyo with a stop in Anchorage and Seoul. From LA to Anchorage it was a piece of cake, plenty of room, lots of peace and quiet and then we picked up in Anchorage. The plane was 4 seats, isle, 10 seats, isle, 4 seats. I was in the middle of the 10 seat section and it just so happened that the airline messed up or those were the only seats available but I had a family of 8 or 9 with 4 to my left and the other 4 or 5 to my right. The didn't speak english, which is usually not a big deal unless you are the middle man between all their peanut and snack trading. It was so bad it was funny. I tried to get them to switch seats and they said no. I tried to get another seat on the plane and it was full after the Anchorage pick up. 12 hours of passing peanuts, magazines, or whatever else was catching their attention at the time. I think back and still laugh about it.

But if a 40 year old man refused to take his seat before takeoff and was climbing underneath the seats -- and then his friend asked the flight attendant if the 40 year old man could sit on his lap.....

.....do you think they would have let the 40 year old man remain on the flight? Or more importantly, would you call that "bs" too?

It was pretty clear that they didn't get kicked off because the kid was annoying, but because the kid was not playing by the rules. The kid sits in the assigned seat during takeoff or they don't fly, I do it, you do it, everyone does it.

Rules are rules, and these days when it comes to air travel, you either follow them or...you rent a car.

the risk of having screaming kids is one thing....FAA Rules and regs regarding take-off is another. you have to be in your seat and belted--they delayed for 15 minutes while the little darling slapped mommy and daddy around and played hide and seek. why should over 100 others be kept waiting while junior has a fit? they did the right thing, it's the same that would be done about any unruly passenger-regardless of age.


can't wait til she's 15....

I would rather sit next to a screaming child on a flight as opposed to a fat woman.

Kids dont bother me nearly as much as sloppy pigs, or stinky grown ups.

my daughter had a band concert. we get there a bit early, and choose sits in the middle of nowhere. a heavy-set woman came and flopped down right in front of us--apparently she didn't have time to shower beforehand, so she doused herself liberally with perfume.
i had to move. too much cologne gives me a raging headache.

I'm not suggesting safety issues or regs should be overlooked, I was simply saying that I understand the screaming kid thing.

I think AirTran did the safe thing. What I don't get is why the parents couldn't sit on either side of her and physically hold her in that seat. How big do three-year-olds get these days?

But, I'm grouchy about small kids on airplane flights, anyway. I didn't get to take an airplane flight until I was 11, and even then I was weepy on the descent (my Dad hadn't thought to tell us about the pressure change and it HURT. I've never gotten on a plane since without chewing gum to keep my ears popping on the way down).

With the restaurant thing- my problem is when parents of small children take the kids to upscale restaurants. I have no problem with screaming kids at Olive Garden, or Red Lobster, or Chevy's or whatever, just as I have no problem with screaming kids at a 2PM G-rated matinee (in fact, I think better to see a kids' film with actual kids in the audience- their reactions are usually as much fun as the film!). But small kids at a fancy place, or at a 10PM R-rated film make me nuts, because I feel it's as though the parents don't want to accept that maybe they have to make some sacrifices during the kids' first few years, and not get to go to grown-up things unless they can find a sitter or until the kids are old enough to handle it, you know?

Nicole, love, PLEASE tell me you dont eat at Red Lobster....place is awful

Ha! So true. I used to think it was so good when I was younger and we'd sometimes go there for "special" occasions.

I was in the Akron area for a music festival last summer and my friend from high school and I decided to go out for a real dinner...and we chose there.

The fish was disgusting, everything was terrible, even the salad. The biscuits are the only redeeming quality about the place.

It was about 1% as good as I remembered it. I'll never go there again, especially when there's a Real Seafood Co. in Ann Arbor.

There we go agreeing on something else! :eek:

I love those damn cheese biscuits... everything else is food poisoning quality. LOL

yeah...that place dont serve seafood...not sure what it is, but it aint seafood.

those and popeyes biscuits. mmmmm

but yeah, i don't like chain restaurants for the most part. BUT i will make an exception for pappa deaux's. excellent food!!

i am very picky about seafood--grew up right by the chesapeake bay, so i know what fresh seafood tastes like.

around here--farm raised catfish--very, very good. little out of the way place we go to once in a while, good stuff. but there's a place right here people go to and rave about--it STINKS. but it's all they ever go to, so nothing to compare to i guess....

Now I'm hungry for fish....damnit!

Ugh, I didn't know good seafood until I moved to Portland, OR. Being an hour from the coast has its advantages. Then I came back to the Midwest, and everything here completely sucks, or it's widly overpriced if it's anything near fresh.

It's so hard to get a decent piece of fish around here.

OMG Brian... please don't make me comment. :eek: :D

So, I've got a book of Zagat's best rated restaurants in South Florida. I'm sure we'll find some good seafood places. I don't really care for seafood, but I'll eat the mild fish like tilapia, mahi etc. Can't stand anything else... yuck.

Not around here... we'll find a great place to eat at on Saturday or Sunday. Florida has some great seafood places.

I was just going to PM you and see if you'd be up for going out for seafood while we're down there, as I'd imagine it's got to be better than it is here!

I don't like a lot of types of fish -- mostly stick with tilapia or halibut when I can afford it. Thank goodness for Whole Foods around here, even though it costs an arm and a leg!

Kev- your post made me laugh out loud- don't worry; I haven't eaten at a Red Lobster since I can't remember when. Though the one in Times Square is always packed, proving once again there's no accounting for taste. But. like Brian's experience, as a kid that was where we went for a "nice" dinner, too. And I hated it. They would bring the popcorn shrimp (all I'd eat) right away, I'd eat it and then have to sit for what seemed like forever while the grownups waited for their food.

But if I did eat there, I'd be fine with screaming kids. ;)

I like catfish, and I also like tilapia- we served tilapia at our wedding because it's an environmentally sound fish to eat- they mature fast, are plentiful, and because they're harvested so young they don't have time to accumulate mercury. Good for the planet and for people both!

Mmm... Whole Foods. I just went there for the salad bar for lunch. It is expensive, but I'm such a fussy eater it's worth it to me.

I can't afford to shop there on a regular basis, but certain things are a must from there -- ie their fish and meats.

Their deli case is simply awesome too -- all the prepared stuff they have. I wish their chicken noodle soup wasn't like $6 for a quart, then I could afford it.

I mostly do the salad bar, as carrying home groceries on the subway gets old and we have a pretty good organic grocery store near us. Oh, but do I love that salad bar, though! And that they use recyclable plastic for the take-away containers (I usually wash my out and reuse it, but it's nice to know it can be recycled.)

It wasn't because the kid was screaming and yelling, BUT because the kid wouldn't sit in her seat. My mom would have grabbed my ear, sat me down and buckled my seat belt. I wouldn't have dared move for the entire flight!

I do say I can appreciate your story about being the "middleman". I had a three and a half hour flight between an old couple. It was quite comical now. Everytime I tried to fall asleep one would need something and bump me in the process of handing it to the other.

I agree with the airline.

They are sea rapists and I will not eat there.

Everyone I know has gotten food poisoning from Red Lobster, so I stay away. :eek: