Mother & Toddlerbooted off plane. Options

[nosylilme]

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."

Source

Another article about it.

=/ Your thoughts? I don't really think it was necessary for the attendent to say "You know, it's called baby Benadryl." or kick her off the plane.

[radhikaeatsraman]

I think both sides are at fault here. The flight attendant was being a grade-A bitch and totally unprofessional, but it was the mother's responsibility to calm her baby down for the consideration of the other passengers. In a way, I'm glad they kicked them off, because that baby was being a nuisance to other passengers. When that happens, the airline crew needs to take action, and that's exactly what they did. Again, it was the mother's own fault for not bringing enough diapers, milk, juice, etc. On the other hand, the flight attendant could have shed the attitude and asked the lady if she wanted something to calm her baby down.