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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.
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absolutely!
I think we all help others on planes, etc, especially elderly folks. Who can expect them to be able to put stuff in the overhead (or retrieve it)? I’ve retrieved bags, canes, what-have-you for people. no biggie.
But…the idea that parents (or dad and GF) would book themselves First Class and stick a younger child in the back where he/she would likely need assistance from other passengers is just selfish!
But they never intended to stick the kid in economy by herself. They played deliberately stupid - oh, you want me to purchase a seat for her, oh, look, I did. Well, they wanted you to purchase a seat because the intent was she sits in her own seat. Nothing prevented them from moving one family member back to economy for takeoff. Nothing. They fully intended to pull a fast one and I say good for UA.
Igloo,
You should have had the kid take you by the hand and take you up to his dad/parent(s) and point them out. Then you could have told them then seem to have misplaced something and you are returning it.
I think this family was looking to pick a bone. They have had a special needs child long enough to have learned some things. I certainly would have checked with the airline on how to best handle their special needs situation. Surely they have a car seat/toddler seat they use for this child since the child could not sit up (or a particular wheel chair) - did they have it checked in baggage? If they had it worked out ahead of time with the airline (and maybe even had a letter so no ‘screw ups’).
Either the child has a car seat, or she has some specially made car carrier for children who cannot sit. Either way, she sure isn’t traveling on her parent’s lap in a car or at their destination. This was an affluent, traveled family. These weren’t hicks from the sticks. They KNEW an extra seat needed to be purchased so they did so.
I saw the mother interviewed on the news and I have to agree with the above posters. If you have a special needs child you should have been prepared in advance by researching the travel options and specific policies of the airline. The airline has regulations that they are bound to follow for safety reasons. If the child needed to be in car seat, then a seat needed to be purchased to accommodate that car seat. If the issue is that they purchased one seat in economy to “accommodate” this child who clearly could not sit there alone, then one of the parents or other family members needed to directed to sit there. End of story as far as I see it.
I was at a function the other day where a senior international flight attendant bragged that she ALWAYS and ONLY flies first class (free of course) when she takes non-res international flights for her personal travel. That fried my cookies.
I’ve been curious about one detail. Whose name was on the economy class ticket? Do airlines allow you to buy a seat for a 3 year old in a different section of the plane? Or was some other family member’s name on that ticket?
Do they ask the age of the person when the ticket is purchased? I don’t recall having to fess up that I am an old codger when I buy a ticket. And since they don’t offer senior citizen discounts, all they need to know is that I am not a lap child. Can’t recall the rules about unaccompanied minors. They have changed, IIRC.
Non-rev travel is standby-- these high altitude hitchhikers get stranded more often then they’d like. The airline doesn’t bump a revenue passenger for a non-revenue traveller.
The benefit extends to ALL airline employees, not just senior flight attendants.
In my experience, you can fly non-rev for free in coach, but you have to pay to upgrade to first class. It’s not as much as buying a ticket, but it’s not free. Every airline has different rules, but flying standby isn’t a lot of fun. You’re not guaranteed a seat, and there are different priorities for different passengers (and sometimes limits on how often you can fly at certain priorities). One cancelled flight, and you’ll never get out of the airport when all of those passengers get booked onto your flight (revenue passengers, as it should be, always get priority). There have been times when I’ve been at the airport all day and never got on a flight when I was flying non-rev and got stuck away from home. Not fun. I know one person who tried to everyday for a week to fly somewhere, but never got on a flight (trying for multiple flights a day, starting with the first flight in the morning). Obviously, no one’s expecting any sympathy because they could have bought a ticket if they had the money to, but it’s not quite as glamorous as some people might think it is. Many airline employees also don’t exactly have very high salaries, so flight benefits are one of the few things that airlines have to offer (since, I’m assuming, dealing with cranky travelers all day isn’t exactly a selling point).
A 3 year old girl had a stroke, has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, and is the size of a one year old. The parents bought a seat even though this young girl can not physically sit. Three flight attendants walked by this girl who was in her parent’s lap and did not say the girl needed her own seat. The fourth attendant made a stink even though there is an out and there are exceptions to having to sit in your own seat.
Did I mention the 3 year old has Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy?
And posters are complaining the parents protested too much?
OOOOOOOOK!
Sigh!
The airline should refund the coach ticket and issue an apology.
dstark, what do you suppose the parents do when they transport their child via car? Do you think they put her across their laps or hold her in their arms? Or do you suppose, in the interest of safety, they put her in a car seat? It is not safe to hold a child in your arms in an airplane when there is turbulence. Why wouldn’t these parents have brought on a car seat for their child to sit in as she does in her car?
The child needed to be in a car seat strapped onto her own airline seat. Period. The flight attendant was more concerned with this child’s safety than the parents. They wouldn’t hold the child in a car, why on an airplane?
^^^I honestly don’t think most parents equate the dangers of a car with the dangers in an airplane. They probably figure, “hey, if the plane goes down, we all die anyway.” But the fact is that turbulence can and does cause injuries every week; we just don’t always hear about it, so it’s not foremost in our minds.
I don’t doubt the family’s love for their child, but I question the thought process.
A 3 year old girl had a stroke, has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, and is the size of a one year old. The parents bought a seat even though this young girl can not physically sit. Three flight attendants walked by this girl who was in her parent’s lap and did not say the girl needed her own seat. The fourth attendant made a stink even though there is an out and there are exceptions to having to sit in your own seat.
Did I mention the 3 year old has Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy?
And posters are complaining the parents protested too much?
OOOOOOOOK!
Sigh!
The airline should refund the coach ticket and issue an apology"
Absolutely they should not apologize, and they should not refund the coach ticket.
It is very sad that the child has such a serious handicap. However, compassion for that should not excuse poor behavior by the parents. Did you read that they delayed the flight by an HOUR, and are now trying to publically shame the airline? Just because three flight attendants didn’t want to cause an issue doesn’t make it right. It’s always easier for people to walk by and not speak up, but that doesn’t make it right.
As a parent, what would you do? Would you have tried to scam the airline? And once caught, wouldn’t you have just gone into the back and taken your seat in coach? Because one family suffers doesn’t entitle them to make everyone else suffer. There were probably plenty of other families on that flight split up, suffering their own personal miseries and tragedies.
I think all babies and toddlers should be in a car seat for takeoff and landing. It is crazy that people are willing to risk their babies to injury because they don’t want to bring a car seat, or borrow one from the airline. Laying a child across the lap for takeoff and landing is ridiculous.