6 year old removed from plane - for thowing a tantrum.

luvbug00 wrote: http://travel.netscape.com/story/2006/09/0...led-from-flight

Sorry if the link doesn't work it's on netscapes home page.

Anyway basic story is kid thows a tantrum full blown and is pulled from the plane.

thoughts??

holley79 replied:

MHO is this, the child should not have been allowed to travel at the age of 6 alone. The child was probably scared out of her wits. I actually feel sorry for the kid.

TheOaf66 replied: I think that was a bit drastic of course I don't know the whole story, but I would like to know what the parent was doing to calm the child...I suppose they were afraid to discipline the child right there. I don't know if booting them off the plane is ok or not.

luvbug00 replied: Funny though because the last time I traveled alone was at the age of 11 and the plane company assigned me an escort.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: That poor child. I'd never let Maddie (who is 6) fly alone.

A&A'smommy replied: OMG that kid have NOT been traveling alone PERIOD END OF STORY!!

C&K*s Mommie replied: I agree with Jimmie. A 6 y/o travelling alone (even with an airline escort) is simply too young. That is good that the child was removed, since they may have in fact been scared out of their minds, and just wanted the comfort of their mother/father. Better to have a scared frantic child taken off the plane before take-off, then having him/her in mid-air frantic or throwing a tantrum. JMO.

3xsthefun replied: That poor child. I don't think he should of been on the plane alone anyways.

JP&KJMOM replied: Not putting my 6 yr old on a plane either. Escort or not he would not go!!!!

kimberley replied: my dad works for air canada in toronto and i agree with what they did. can you imagine paying full fare and have a kid screaming the entire flight? and the pilot needs to concentrate on what he is doing too so it really was the only call they could make.

my sis and i have travelled since we were 5 yrs old so i really don't see anything wrong with them flying alone *if* they are ready to. they are escorted from the gate, on the plane and to waiting relatives on the other side. it is quite safe.

Jamison'smama replied: Yikes--from Toronto to Mexico? That's a long flight for any kid much less a 6 year old all alone!

Good grief.

kimberley replied: it's only about 3-4hrs. my sis used to fly 5hrs every couple of months from the time she was 5yo because my mom moved to vancouver and my dad is in toronto. long distance visitation is not easy.

redchief replied: I wouldn't let a six year-old fly alone either. The story wasn't clear, but I'm thinking the child started freaking due to fear of either flying or being alone. Shame, that poor kid will be reminded of this his/her whole life. What did the parents expect?

Boo&BugsMom replied: I think they had every right to escort him out if it was uncontrollable. They really had no other choice in the matter. I do also think that there is no reason why the child should have been alone. Isn't there laws about that? You'd think! I consider that a case of neglect if you ask me. There should be age restrictions when flying alone, IMHO. If the child is too young to be left home alone then the child is obviously too young to fly alone. There are way too many crazy people out there!

kimberley replied: they are not alone. they are taken care of by a flight attendant. they cannot get on or off the plane without him/her.. they can't even go to the washroom without permission... it's no different than school or a babysitter.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
That's more reassuring then. I still don't think I'd feel right about letting my child alone though.

kimberley replied:
tbh, i doubt i would either but i just chalked that up to me being an over-protective control freak lol.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
Me too!:D

CantWait replied: I don't think I could let my 6 year old travel with or without assistance, however it would also depend on the child's maturity.

I agree with the airline staff to him escorted off. I wouldn't want to hear a 6 year old crying and carrying on for 4 hours straight. I think I'd need a straight jacket.

Nina J replied:
I agree.

I also think the child should not have been flying alone. But, everybody makes there own choices. That's not something I would do.

MoonMama replied: WTH were that childs parents thinking!?! I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest. While I can understand why they removed her, at the same time I feel for her she was probably terrified of being alone and didn't know what else to do.

redchief replied:
What do I have to do to get my own personal flight attendant? On second thought, forget it. I'd get the flight attendant with back-hair protruding through his uniform.

mom2my2cuties replied:
Ummm....there are 4 flight attendants to each flight and approximately 200 people per flight. Yup - those kids are watched like hawks. It takes less than 2 minutes to abduct a child and molest/kill said child.

kimberley replied: well i can only speak of the particular airline in question because my dad has worked for them for almost 30 years and my sister was a frequent unaccompanied minor from the age of 5yo. it doesn't matter if there were only 2 flight attendants, one of them would be with that child at all times. they are seated by the galley/flight attendant chairs and are never unattended. you cannot abduct a child 10,000 feet in the air . they would watch your kid better than a lot of CCP's i have come across because if anything happens to that kid.. there are no cute little waivers or disclaimers like daycare's have.. they are in hot, hot water!

do you have personal experience with this lack of supervision on planes?

mom2my2cuties replied: Actually, not only have I seen it, I have a friend who is a flight attendant and she has told me repeatedly about what airlines are SUPPOSED to do, however there is a big difference in that and what they ACTUALLY do when I was considering letting my son fly.

My biggest concern is the number of children who forget to lock the bathroom door and since perverts are everywhere, and i have seen time after time where the little one, goes to the bathroom, forgets to lock, and a grown up walks in on them.

And frankly in a post 9/11 world, flight attendants are spread so thin watching everyone, they don't have time to watch a child.

mom2my2cuties replied: And as far as abuduction goes - how many times have we heard about on the news where a child was forced into a restroom and raped/murdered.

luvbug00 replied:

wish him a happy backhair day!

Crystalina replied: My parents were seperated and in the military so the military paid for me and my sis to fly alone from the age of about 4 to 8. We had flight attendants to watch us so we were ok but that was us. Every kid is differant. As with kids all adults are differant and if I were on the plane with a screaming kid it would not bother me at all but that is JUST ME. More then likely my kids would start up at some point. I'm sure the child would have settled down but then again it is not fair to the passengers that would not be albe to handle the yelling.

holley79 replied:

jcc64 replied: I think 6 is too young. I think the right decision was made. And I wouldn't necessarily call it a tantrum- the kid was probably terrified. That's entirely different from a tantrum.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Of COURSE they did the right thing. They took the terrified child off the plane - of course the child was escorted... what were they going to do... let the kid get off on her own? And uncontrolable... duh... i'm uncontrolable and wild when i'm terrified too... asrenaline surges, the fight or flight response (no pun intended... ) All they did was bring the child dto the parents who were in the airport still...probably to reassure and calm the kid... the flight was delayed, child brought back on the plane, end of story.

Escorted... uncontrolable... the words the media uses to hook people.

MoonMama replied:
I didn't think of it that way I guess. Thanks for opening my eyes to a GOOD point of view on it.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: I would never put a 6 year old on a plane by themselves! That's just awful, poor little guy was probably scared!