OK, perhaps we are a bit late to the game but this story is compelling enough that its better late than never. Recently and Air Tran flight from Florida to Massachusetts was the site of a disturbance. The culprit, a 3 year old girl. The Kulesza family was traveling back home from a Florida vacation when their 3 year old child, who has probably never heard the words No in her life, began to throw a tantrum. The tantrum which began with crying and flailing eventually culminated in the child climbing under the seat in front of her.

As anyone who has flown before can attest, the flight can’t depart unless all passengers are safely buckled in their seats, and that includes unruly, undisciplined children and their over indulgent parents, for whom discipline and actual parenting is a foreign concept.

After over 20 minutes of listening to the parents try to “reason” with the toddler, the flight staff informed the Kulesza family that they would have to deplane so the flight could get underway. Naturally the parents were “shocked.” How dare they be asked to leave the plane after all the world surely revolves around the Kulesza and who cares if the rest of the passengers miss their connecting flights or business appointments, its all about the 3 year old child and placating her every whim.

To add insult to injury, the Kulesza, who will likely sue, claim they were thrown off the plane because their child was “crying too much,” this of course is nonsense. No one has ever been thrown off of a plane because of a crying child. They were thrown off because their crying child refused to sit in her seat and the parents did nothing to ensure that she was safely buckled in before take off.

The entire flying community can take solace in the fact that the Kulesza family has vowed to never fly Air Tran again, which certainly helps me to breath a sigh of relief if I’m ever on an Air Tran flight.

www.associatedcontent.com/article/134009/airtran_airways_tosses_toddler.html

www.tampabays10.com/news/national/article.aspx?storyid=48035

www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sns-ap-flight-tantrum,1,3025207.story?coll=chi-news-hed