Well, it's happened again. This time it was Alaska Airlines who decided to boot off a family from a flight because their toddler wasn't behaving like an angel.
According to Fox News, the Yanchak family was flying out of Seattle last Saturday for a little vacation when their 3-year-old son started acting up and wouldn't wear his seat belt. That, admittedly, could be problematic; however, instead of addressing the problem in any sensible manner or providing any compassion and understanding, the pilot turned that plane around and sent the family packing.
Mark Yanchak, the boy's father, told MyNorthwest.com:
He was crying, being cranky. I started putting him in his seat. I put his seat belt on. But he was being cranky, trying to be close to me, so he wasn't fully fastened yet.
Eventually, the parents calmed him down, but the plane had already headed back to the gate to kick them off.
It's unbelievable to me that THAT is the only solution they could come up with. There's a plane full of adults, and yet a 3-year-old is going to change the flight status?
I'm so sick of these stories. Not because I think it's okay for kids to be out of control on airplanes or in any public places for that matter. Bratty children irritate the hell out of me (especially when they're my own) just as much as the next person, but guess what -- kids are sometimes bratty, and if we're not going to out and out ban children from flying altogether, then we need to find some better solutions than kicking families off of planes.
Kids are unpredictable; they sometimes refuse to wear their seat belts; and yes, sometimes they throw tantrums at the most inopportune times. But they're kids. If you say your kids would NEVER do something like that, good for you ... and I hope they do sometime.
It's not like the boy was up in the cockpit or directly interfering with the flight. I'm sure if they'd been a little less knee-jerk about the whole thing, a bag of pretzels or some pilot's wings could have bribed him to shut up and sit down. And the parents DID get him to eventually settle down and put it on, but it was too late. The small tantrum of a toddler had already diverted an entire plane full of people, which is scary.
I mean if our pilots and flight attendants can't handle a 3-year-old, how on earth can we expect them to deal with a terrorist on board.
Do you think families with bratty children should be kicked off of flights?
Image via Alaskan Dude/Flickr
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Comments 32
It wasn't that he was being "bratty", it's that he wouldn't stay in his seatbelt. Which is a big problem for the airline because it's an FAA thing.
Would you just drive off on the freeway if your 3 year old wasn't buckled and flailing all over the car?
I think this says more about our society's attitudes about children, communication, and interaction than it does about flying. Most people believe that kids simply HAVE TO do what adults say. Even if they don't believe this most of the time, there are always situations where adults see no other solution but to FORCE a child to comply. This very attitude - "I have to make him put his seat belt on, I don't have a choice" is disempowering to the adult, counterproductive to the goal of getting the kid to do some specific thing, and not healthy for the child's development as a human being.
If our society in general had the kind of faith that said, I believe the kid eventually WILL put his seat belt on, that the situation will be OK even if he doesn't do it right now, and confidence that HEY, WE CAN HANDLE THIS - then everything would have been fine. The flight might have been delated a few minutes, but it wouldn't have been a news-worthy event.
Have you ever had anyone tell you you HAVE TO do something, when you don't see a reason for it? What's YOUR first reaction? Resistance, of course!
Have you even tried to FORCE an animal to do something? Is it easier than when you try to work WITH that animal to get it to do what you want in a natural way that makes sense to it?
Kids are the same way.
Most flights from Alaska to the lower 48 are at night and they parents also are probably trying to fly at night so that he will sleep more and be less of a disturbance. But, really, how about a little compassion. Anyone who has ever had a kid knows that sometimes kids throw fits, as long as the parents are taking reasonable steps to calm him down and, they did calm him down and attach his seatbelt. All's good.
We live in a society where many people have moved away from their families for jobs, better lives, whatever. We are a mobile society, therefore our children have to travel, and sometimes only flying makes sense. So, kids will fly. Kids are unpredictable and despite our best parenting, best planning, etc. etc. sometimes they have bratty moments. Anyone who says otherwise, is full of shit. And for all of the sanctimonious people out there who say that their child wouldn't do that, you know you are lying.
Granted, there are bratty children, but there are great, well-behaved children who have bratty moments, and law of averages means that it might happen on a plane for someone's child.
The pilot made the right choice. Seriously, if you can't control your three year old then you have bigger problems to deal with. Also, would any mother drive away with their kid in the car seat if the child had unbuckled it and refused to buckle it back? No, I don't think so.