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One is that you have to inform the airlines if you are traveling with an infant, so that it can arrange for an oxygen mask for the child. If the child’s seat was in economy, there was probably no oxygen mask available for this child
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Is that true? I thought that additional oxygen masks are in every row just in case one doesn’t work.
I never knew that when you travel with an infant the airline puts another mask in the ceiling??? That doesn’t sound right.
I think each row of seats has at least one extra mask.
I just looked it up…there is an extra oxygen mask in every row.
If a row has more than one lap child in it, the attendants will move one parent/child set.
Here’s some more info
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Generally there will be one extra oxygen mask per window row, and two (one either side) of a centre row. Some airlines have more than one extra mask in bulkhead rows, as these seats are very popular for parents flying with infants. There are even extra masks in all lavatories, crew jump-seats, and the galleys.
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It makes sense that there would be lots of extras on board. Plus, when they are in use, attendants need to sometimes move within the plane, moving from mask to mask.
Yes, but I know from experience that if you’re traveling with twins who are “lap babies” you are not allowed to sit in the same row since there is only 1 extra oxygen mask per row. That sure complicated my life!
I agree that the child looks thin, but much longer than a 1 year old and who are they to determine that her size allows her to have special rules? Would a fat 1 year old be told to buy their own seat? Absolutely awful that she was laid out and belted in like that, across several laps. I agree that the ADA is important in allowing potential access to everyone, but not at the expense of public safety.
Hmmm… interesting. As of last night, UA had not apologized to them, according to the news outlets I was reading, and I kind of got the impression that they were not going to apologize. They quoted the mom as saying she didn’t want free flights, etc., she just wanted an apology (and it hadn’t happened). Someone had called her from UA, but no apology had been given (again, according to the mom).
The child should have been in a car seat - and the parents needed to inform the airlines in advance of the child’s disability and any special needs.
And yes, the 11 year old could have taken the coach seat. When my kids were 10 and 15, their grandparents traveled overseas with them – the grandparents bought business class seats for themselves, and put the kids on their own in coach. Kids survived.
And Mom or Dad could have gotten off their butts and taken the coach seat if they were concerned about the 11 year old. You only need one adult up there with the child.
I’m with the flight attendant on this one. If the girl had gotten hurt from not being appropriately restrained, the family would have blamed United for not enforcing the rules. They should have brought a car seat, or booked special medical assistance. That girl is certainly bigger than a one year old and this family has to face facts that they can not continue to travel like this. I would have been hopping mad that someone else from the family didn’t go back to coach to occupy the other seat. People may have missed connecting flights because of the delay.
I’m totally with the FAs too. This family is not the first family to travel with a special needs child. They had 16 people on the flight. They weren’t rubes.
This family was trying to scam the airlines and not have to pay for a business class seat for the special needs child. They got called on their misbehavior by the FA. It is probably embarrassing for them so they’re using the special needs kid to gain sympathy for their bad judgment. Instead of an apology, they should take free seats and shut up–at least they’d get all the seats they need in one place.
We had to babysit a kid on the plane once. Her parents or her dad and his girlfriend were sittin in the first class. By the time we got to our seat the kid was sitting in my window seat. Couldn’t kick her out and I let her. It didn’t end there. She wasn’t disabled but still needed attention kids need. A lot of it. It was a long flight.
Thats really obnoxious. How old was this kid? Couldnt you ask the flight attendant to get the kids parent and swap seats for a while? And put the kid in the aisle seat so she could run up to her parent as often as she wanted. Wouldnt the kid be considered an unattended minor? Is that still allowed?
I was once seated next to a blind woman traveling alone with her seeing eye dog. The dog lay at her feet. We sat in the first row next to the bulkhead. The flight was very busy and when they served the food (yes, the good old days), the flight attendant asked me to cut her food for her. I really didn’t mind, either the help or sitting with my feet next to the dog. I felt I was doing my good deed for the day.
United acted appropriately–families like this one give disabled people a bad name and entitled label. There is no reason that family couldn’t have done what they should have–put one of their party in economy and had the kid sit by the other members of the party in business class in an appropriate seat. Glad United isn’t caving.