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<p>My kids wouldn’t have needed a plane because they would have gone flying when I knocked them into next week.</p>
<p>We have always tried actively to teach them to be considerate of other people’s comfort. I do not understand this trend towards the opposite.</p>
<p>Hanna wrote
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<p>I sooooo agree with this. My family was having dinner in Walt Disney World one evening when a group of team members from a high school soccer team sat next to us. They were merely rambunctious at first, so no problems. But it got progressively worse. When two of them put their feet up on our dinner table (can you imagine??) I called the waiter over. He said there was nothing he could do. He said he’d spoken to the chaperones, but they had sat in another room and told the waiter they sat away from them to avoid all their noise and shenanigans. I would have done something about it myself, but our kids were at an age when drawing attention is the worst. It totally ruined our meal.</p>
<p>Okay, this does remind me of asking my kids to do a chore. Asking nicely/politely a couple of times, then yelling at them. And they are hurt and insulted, “Why did you yell at me?” “Because I already asked politely 3 times” “No, you didn’t, I didn’t hear you” Meaning, “I wasn’t listening because you weren’t yelling”. I guess the stewardess could not walk the aisles and make each individual teen look her in the eye to make sure they had her attention (what is required for my kids sometimes before asking for something). Not at all saying the flight crew should have to do this! Just that kicking them off is their equivalent of “yelling the request” when nothing else worked.</p>
<p>I have flown as a chaperone with large groups of kids on many occasions. In the pre-trip talk we always covered airport/airplane behavior. Further, the kids could always be seen and heard by a chaperone during transit. We never had ANY problem whatsoever.</p>
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<p>That is so bogus. A manager absolutely could have kicked them out. At the very least, you should have been compensated for your dinner!</p>
<p>Hayden, that’s appalling on several levels! What is the purpose if a chaperone? I would have gone to talk to the chaperones directly, and if that was not effective, I would have found out the school district and written to the principal and the superintendent of schools.</p>
<p>This does not surprise me at all. Let me preface this by saying I am Jewish, DH grew up Orthodox, has a high school friend who is an administrator at this school and the school is currently one of my customers. The airline did absolutely the right thing! You have to send a message that instructions need to be followed and no one is exempt from following them. While chaperones may sit apart from the students they are chaperoning on the actual flight which if flying from La Guardia would be relatively short in duration, they are supposed to meet with them in advance and give them instructions on how to behave and what to do. I know that when my kids were in school and trips were involved there was a parent meeting, a student meeting, behavior contracts were signed by both so all understood up front what was expected and what the consequences were.</p>
<p>My d was once on a mid-semester trip coming home from London and there were a good many passengers coming to the U.S to attend a religious conference. The flight crew and the pilot repeatedly had to warn them to stay in their seats with seat belts fastened. They absoutely would not do so… not even during take-off and landing…</p>
<p>My youngest went to NYC/DC from Seattle as a middle school student. i didnt get to go :(,but there were not any problems. ( except in NYC when they got locked out of the hostel- but that wasnt related to their behavior)</p>
<p>If middle school kids can behave appropriately, why cant those who are for all intents & purposes- * adults* behave?</p>
<p>And if you are chaperoning, why would you sit away from those you are responsible for?
If they don’t * need* chaperones- then why are the chaperones coming along?</p>
<p>I don’t know what happened in this case, but I have been on a plane a couple of times with teenage school groups, and it was pretty miserable. The kids were constantly standing up and chatting and hanging over seats to talk to each other and LOUD.</p>
<p>It is all about the Me Me Me first. Parents and all adults alike must teach the kids to be respectful but when the adults don’t even want to address the respect part then it such a shame. I don’t want my rights walked on but try to follow what rules we as a society have. Everything goes more smoothly when we take into account that our actions affect those around us.</p>
<p>This reminds me of the other thread about the retail thread/Walmart. Businesses want that dollar and are perpetuating bad behavior. Kudos to the airlines and any businesses that draw a line at not only safety but common courtesy.</p>
<p>I chaperoned a group of 50 middle/high school kids on a trip to S. Korea. Parents and kids had to sign behavior agreements and they were well instructed before the trip on what we would and would not tolerate. If anyone misbehaved, they knew the rest of their flight would be sitting next to a chaperone and not their friends. We would have immediately intervened if our kids had behaved at all like these students so it would never have escalated to the point of the captain intervening or the entire group being ejected from the flight. Good for the captain and shame on the chaperones.</p>
<p>I wish the airlines would toss off a few more adults who don’t put their electronics away when asked to do so.</p>
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My kids wouldn’t have needed a plane because they would have gone flying when I knocked them into next week.*</p>
<p>This gave me a good laugh and would have been my parents’ reaction as well.</p>
<p>Whenever we went on school trips, we had it beaten into us (figuratively 
) that we would behave or else. From teachers, parents, administrators, etc. Especially if public travel was involved.</p>
<p>I think the airline absolutely did the right thing, and the chaperones should have absolutely gotten involved. Otherwise there’s no point even having chaperones.</p>
<p>I so agree Hunt! Tired of people that don’t think the rules apply to them.</p>
<p>I’m glad the airline sent the rowdy group off the plane. All those cell phones would be an interference with navigation too. I’m only sorry to hear that the airline is issuing voucher for each person sent off. That certainly sends a wrong message - OK, I’ll act like a jerk, get kicked off, get put on a different flight anyway and then get a free voucher! </p>
<p>Although for the quiet students who didn’t cause any trouble, it is some consolation.</p>
<p>Surely the chaperones heard the announcement and failed to intervene. If they were so afraid to get out of their seats to reprimand the students they could have told the flight attendant they were part of the group and could help.</p>
<p>I kind of feel like emailing the executive director with this thread so he can see what common sense means.</p>
<p>Glad they got kicked off, if there aren’t consequences people don’t learn.</p>
<p>I heard when Alec Baldwin was kicked off he was playing “words with friends”. Hah!</p>
<p>My daughters flew overseas with HS band, not to mention various trips to Canada. Chaperones sat with/amongst the kids and there were strict guidelines to follow. Should anyone have fallen out of line, an immediate trip home with all costs borne by the student/family was agreed-to. </p>
<p>Not all kids are uncontrolled jerks.</p>
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Were you eating filet of sole? (ba dum bum - rimshot)</p>
<p>Sorry, bad pun aside, the noncompliance of the students is unacceptable. Many years ago, I was flying up north to handle the horrible task of disconnecting my mother’s respirator. Needless to say I must have looked pretty despondent, and the young man sitting next to me was very kind and helpful. Too helpful. He offered to take my bag down from the overhead compartment for me, but got up to get it before we were safely at the gate. The flight attendant told him more than once to sit down and wait til the plane stopped moving. Instead, he explained what he was doing, rather than complying with her instruction. I was pretty embarrassed. After the second or third warning a male flight attendant came charging down the aisle (and we were only in about the 8-10th row at most) and literally tackled the guy and forced him back into his seat. I was now more embarassed. He was trying to be helpful to me, but chose to make his own rules rather than listen to the flight attendant. He wasnt arrested but could have been. They take safety seriously.</p>