Current Debates

Last week a mother and her 2-year-old child were kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight.  They were removed from the flight because other passengers were unable to hear preflight safety announcements.  Southwest Airlines has since apologized to the mother and have issued a refund and travel voucher. 

Was the airline wrong in asking them to leave?  Did they do the right thing by issuing an apology and refund?

Southwest Airlines apologizes for booting cranky toddler- http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20091031/NEWS02/710319954/0/NEWS07

The flight crew is there in order to enforce FAA regulations and ensure a safe flight. This toddler's tantrum was interfering with their job and with the safety of the other passengers. I don't think it would have been fair to make the entire plane sit there until he stopped tantruming, and cause further delays when the safety presentation then had to be held. Breaking the rules is breaking the rules, whether it's a loud and out of control toddler or a drunk and belligerent 56 year old.

I think it was a nice gesture for them to provide a refund, but I don't think it was necessary and would not have found fault with them if they did not provide one.

I'd love to be able to see more details about this incident.  It's so hard to comment without more specific information.

I'm curious about something though:

<<*Everyone* who pays to use a service has an expectation of reasonable use of the service, and *certainly* has a right to expect safe behavior from fellow patrons, no matter what their age.>>

I understand what you are saying, but let's say for argument sake that the noise from the toddler didn't start until mid-flight.  Let's say the toddler was quiet during the pre-flight instructions.  Can't really toss off a mom/toddler duo during the middle of a flight, right?  At that point, all patrons are at the mercy of the mother to be able to quiet the toddler, right?

So the only thing that got this mom/toddler booted off was the timing of the toddler's ruckus?

Oh yay, another bad mom & noisy kid kicked off an airplane post. Can we just link to the last one and call it a day?

This gets really old.