<p>BunsenBurner-
Not sure it would be the smartest move to turn on one’s cell phone to take videos of kids being kicked off a plane because they wouldn’t turn their cell phones off!</p>
<p>I’ve traveled with kids and I’ve seen how punchy and overstimulated they can be when they’ve been up since 3 or 4 in the morning. That’s why it’s so important to preview expectations and consequences and to repeat them from time to time. It sounds to me like the chaperones failed to do so. It doesn’t excuse the students’ bad behavior, but if the school was going to take on the responsibility for these students its representatives, the chaperones, shared blame for their failure to follow the airline’s rules.</p>
<p>I was at the grocery store this evening. A mother and her teenager were having a heated argument about something. I didn’t hear exactly what is was about. But by the look on the mother’s face made it was clear that discussion time was over. It was shut up and take no for an answer time for the teenager. The plane kids learned an important lesson. Sometimes life offers situations where discourse is over and one has to just shut up and follow orders.</p>
<p>I agree Sue22, a group of teens this large can drift into groupthink, where they aren’t behaving as they normally would. And as others have said, what’s the point of the chaperones if they aren’t even paying attention when the kids are behaving so poorly they are being kicked off a flight. My kids have all done similar trips and I’ve always reinforced the clear expectations that their particular groups enforced, reminding them that if they were ever sent home, there would be hell to pay. it never happened…</p>
<p>I do know of several parents of kids who were sent home and they often seemed to be more irritated with the program than with their kids and “excused” their kids bad behavior. Sometimes from the boys will be boys mentality.</p>
<p>I speak from years of experience as a chaperone & parent( although at least some of the school chaperones are teachers, so they should know this as well)
You have to start from a position of structure and control when dealing with a large number of children. You can’t watch them misbehave and then try and whip them into shape, you have to anticipate problems and nip them in the bud.
I wonder if the school generally took trips like this or if these teachers normally chaperoned.</p>
<p>At Ds inner city high school, one lovely, lovely man- who is an AP history teacher in his 60’s, chaperones the graduation party for at least one shift every year even though he works the next day. He knows the kids, who to watch and who to separate and who needs an ear.
Makes a huge difference over having adult bodies who are just there because the insurance policy requires it</p>
<p>Of course at this age it is not all on the chaperones, but pretending like they were going to six flags * anyway* and their primary duty wasn’t to ride herd on these adolescents?
It didn’t work.</p>
<p>The offer of vouchers for future flights is curious. Also the lack of video or strong criticism from other passengers. I am inclined to suspect that a flight attendant was in a bad mood and overreacted, and then everyone else (such as the captain) felt obliged to back up the ‘authority is always right’ theme.</p>
<p>Video from other passengers? Sorghum, the whole point was that it was the point in the departure process where cell phones had to be turned off. If you’re sitting on a flight that is being delayed due to rowdy kids refusing to turn off cell phones, tell me again why you’d open yours up to record them?</p>
<p>On each of my last few flights I saw passengers with phones still on (despite instructions), and anyway usually when there is a dispute or fracas, out come the phones.</p>
<p>And what about vouchers for future flights? That is really strange.</p>
<p>sorghum, posters have cited several times on this thread that it is company policy to provide vouchers whenever a passenger is asked off a flight. So “strange” it is not.</p>
Doubt this is likely. To the contrary, I’ve worked with Air Tran flight attendants who felt tht their coworkers would not back them up when they were trying to impose the rules. For example, she was having a hard time getting a passenger to fasten his seatbelt. He was reportedly difficult and beliggerent uncooperative. The other flight attendants didnt help. The passenger complained to the airlines and she got written up. I dont recall the specifics, but it didnt sound like she did anything wrong, and didnt touch the passenger.</p>
<p>From the reports the kids were clearly not behaving.
The parents should sternly discipline them…
Their poor behavior reflects on their families, school and community. It became a national story</p>
<p>I think this refers to vouchers to reach the immediate destination. Not be obnoxious, get kicked off, get where you are going later the same day, and get a voucher for a future trip (repeat).</p>
<p>It is fine to declare that I am wrong, but some evidence would be better.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the airline’s conditions of carriage have been updated (June 6) so I’m not sure if the relevant rule has been changed, but now it only says:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Some bad behavior can get you a lifetime ban from an airline, it seems odd that anything you do will assure an extra future flight with this airline.</p>
<p>The big problem for the airline is that even by their own claims, the vast majority of the people sent off the plane were not behaving badly, and the conditions of carriage do not allow for collective guilt.</p>
<p>This is a serious proposition: Just as school buses have video cameras that record every ride, shouldn’t airplane cabins have something similar? There have been so many headline articles recently about bad passenger behavior, wouldn’t it be helpful in a court case? Or even to shame the person who claims “nothing happened,” OR to back up the person who claims “nothing happened…”</p>
<p>Poetgrl, I don’t think there’s much chance that the kids will be grounded, do you? Kids learn from their parents… </p>
<p>And if the parent chaperones conceded that the kids were behaving ‘badly’, and the captain had to get on the horn to admonish them, where’s the difference of opinion?! They were acting like the rules didn’t apply to them, so they were kicked off the flight, period. I’m even surprised the airlines eventually put 'em on different flights. I’d have said ‘walk’.</p>
<p>The ones running around should’ve been thrown in the can, threatened with federal safety violations & had the living hell scared out of 'em. That’d make them humble real quick.</p>
<p>Yeah, well, I can think of several types of grounding for this, myself. Losing the car. Having to do some community service, etc…</p>
<p>When my youngest was rude to a waitress one time when she was five, she was made to go in and apologize, and she was taken to the car. This kind of thing starts very young, imho.</p>
<p>These same parents will be the ones complaining about badly behaved kids in restaurants and rudeness in society. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Everybody deserves our respect. It is the lack of respect for the flight attendents, from the students, to the chaperones, to the, now, school, that is so pathetic to me.</p>
<p>"This is a serious proposition: Just as school buses have video cameras that record every ride, shouldn’t airplane cabins have something similar? There have been so many headline articles recently about bad passenger behavior, wouldn’t it be helpful in a court case? Or even to shame the person who claims “nothing happened,” OR to back up the person who claims “nothing happened…”</p>
<p>How much extra do you want to pay per ticket to install these cameras? These situations are few and far between. They make the news precisely bevause they are unusual. Not worth it.</p>
and their primary duty wasn’t to ride herd on these adolescents?