Yep, it's every road warrior's wet dream -- that screaming kid in
seat 16E, along with his obviously negligent, irresponsible, and
ineffective parents, is getting what he deserves and is being kicked
off the plane. Ahh, silence. Let me adjust my headphones
and my stupid little inflatable neck pillow. There. Pass me
a pack of peanuts, will you?
It's good to know that despite 9/11
and bloated travel-industry downsizing and the spiraling cost of jet
fuel, some airlines are doing well. AirTran must not need the dollars
anymore from family travel, otherwise they would never have insisted
that 3-year-old Elly Kulesza and her parents, Julie and Gerald, be asked to de-plane from their flight home on January 14 when Elly would just not stop crying.
When she didn't, airline employees "demanded" that her parents calm her
down, and when that didn't work, they banned the entire family from
flying for 24 hours!
The Kuleszas said on "Good Morning America" this week that unlike the
AirTran crew, the passengers on the flight were "sympathetic to their
situation." As the former wife of an airline pilot and frequent
traveller with our children, I am amazed that this would happen.
I have flown countless times with crying children, who
sometimes were my own (hey, Guy In Front Of Us On The Way Back From
Ireland That Time -- I'm still really sorry, and I'm glad they moved
you to another seat.) (Asshat). Flying sucks. Children hate it.
Why wouldn't they? They're strapped into a seat, breathing the
same air as 100-300 other people, confined for hours with nothing for
entertainment other than a barf bag and the fun of repeatedly kicking the seat in front of them. I'd cry too, especially if the battery on my iPod ran out.
But
ban the family for 24 hours? Either there's more to the story,
or this airline made a big mistake. Either way, this family won't
be flying with them again, despite AirTran's apology and offer of a complimentary flight.
"We'll pass on that," Gerald Kulesza said. "After that, I told them I'd never fly with them again."
