Home > Still Traveling > Archives > 2008 > July > 08 > Entry

Should airlines remove disruptive passengers?

If you fly a lot, you’ve probably shared a flight with an unruly kid - one who repeatedly kicks your seat or tries to run the length of the aisle.

At least one airline has had enough.

A family was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight in Phoenix because the children were being too unruly, according to a story on KPHO in Arizona. and CNN.com.

Wendy Slaughter admits her kids were being disruptive. But she said it was their first flight and were excited. She said they were loud and kept walking the aisles. They were asked twice by flight attendants to quiet the children, but they didn’t expect to find themselves grounded, according to news reports.

Slaughter said a son has autism and a daughter has cerebral palsy.

The family complained they were left stranded, although Southwest officials later said they would be reimbursed for the cost of six one-way tickets.

Slaughter said Phoenix police officers detained them and said they would be unable to catch a connecting flight at Sky Harbor International Airport.

Was Southwest right to boot the family from the flight? Should the airlines have been more understanding, given some of the children had disabilities? Have you had a similar experience and how did airline personnel handle the situation?

Permalink | Comments (52) | Post your comment |

Comments

By PhilipSMartin

July 8, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this

Hell Yeah!

By Rick

July 8, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

The Flight Attendants were right in their action as they have the responsibility of an uneventful flight for everyone on the plane. If the parents were told twice and could not or would not get control of their kids, they should take a car or bus instead. Oh, and get some parenting training.

By bill Kennedy

July 8, 2008 1:41 PM | Link to this

Of course the airline was right. Put it another way, what right do the parents and unruly children have to behave in suca a way as to be spoken to ? I think that misbehaving children should be kicked out of airplanes, grocery stores, movie theatres and other public places. Parents have a duty to raise their kids to behave. There is an additional safety factor in that many accidents occur when there is an atmospere of chaos.

By JB

July 8, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this

Yes, indeed! Airliners are too crowded and confined a space to allow children to romp, stomp, and shout. It’s not only rude for the other passengers, but dangerous as well. If one of them had tripped and busted his face on an arm rest, you can bet there would have been a lawsuit! The rest of the passengers have rights, too. If they’re excited, let them at a window seat - that should be excitement enough.

By RayRay

July 8, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this

I agree, kick her fat butt off the plane, I hope they made her buy 2 seats.

I suppose the only dissenting person on this planet would be Gloria Allred, watch her dumb a* jump on this.

Gloria is all for people like this, unless they are on her flight.

Wendy Slaughter, go on a diet!

By tom

July 8, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

your little article missed a key point

two of the kids had disabilities so i dont know if you can entirely blame the mother for not being able to control them.

By KHM

July 8, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

Heck yes. Flying is stressful enough without somebody’s kids annoying the passengers. Parents should just realize that some kids are too young to fly. Being in close quarters for extended periods of time dictates that all of us need to be on our best behaviour, not just kids.

By Compassion for the disabled

July 8, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this

This family was traveling with a child who suffers from autism and another child who suffers from cerebral palsy. These are medical disabilities. People with disabilities have behaviors that are not typical because of their disability.

People with disabilities have the right to travel as much as ‘normal’ people. They are no longer content to sit in an institution. They want to, and have the right to, see the world, too.

It is discrimination to disallow people from traveling because of their disability and the airlines will find themselves with legal action if they do not accomodate people with disabilities.

It is a life long struggle for these families to help these people along. It is an hour or two of inconvenience of our fellow travelers’ time.

Instead of judging that people with disabilities are choosing to misbehave (they are not, it is a part of their disability), I would suggest a little compassion instead.

Would you judge the fellow traveler who wears a turban for religious purposes? Think he’s a terrorist? Not likely.

Would you judge an elderly person who must use a wheelchair to get around? Inconvenienced because they hold everyone up and are talking too long to deplane?

If you do, you might want to rethink your moral compass, because you are waaay off course.

I would suggest you get down on your knees and thank God for your many blessings and that you never have to live the life of helping (or being) disabled. Many of us with disabled family members only ask for a little understanding and compassion. We’d like to get out and see the world too.

On behalf of the millions of Americans living with disabilities, thank you for your understanding and tolerance.

By PTCMomma

July 8, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this

Only one of the children had a disability that could effect behavior. I’ve flown many times with a child with autism. It’s not that hard if you are prepared. I do not expect to see any child running down the aisle of a plane, including my child with autism. It’s not safe, and should not be permitted. I would not expect to be allowed to make the next flight if my kids behaved in an unsafe manner, as in this case.

By Allison

July 8, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this

You are very quick to judge. Were you on the flight? People in glass houses…

By PTCMomma

July 8, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this

Only one of the children had a disability that could effect behavior. I’ve flown many times with a child with autism. It’s not that hard if you are prepared. I do not expect to see any child running down the aisle of a plane, including my child with autism. It’s not safe, and should not be permitted. I would not expect to be allowed to make the next flight if my kids behaved in an unsafe manner, as in this case.

By KathrynIrene

July 8, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this

Yes, it was right to toss them off. It was also right to refund their tickets.

I am sick to death of people expecting the Universe to accommodate their little darlings while they take no responsibility for the childrens’ dreadful behavior.

My nephew has autism and when he misbehaved, he was taught the right way. Because he was autistic, it took more than two times for the behavior correction to “take,” but now he is a pleasure and a joy to be with.

This family is just too lazy to discipline their children but expect the rest of us to lower our standards to meet theirs. Kudos to Southwest for having standards.

Southwest is the same airline that tossed off the woman last year for dressing like a streetwalker, right?

If yes, then I surely wish that they flew more out of Atlanta - I’d line up with them in a heartbeat. An airline with standards of behavior! What a refreshing notion!

By Come on

July 8, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this

There were four children involved, only two of whom suffer from disabilities. No one has claimed that only the two disabled kids were misbehaving — by all accounts, all the kids were out of control.

If this had just been a matter of noise, I would agree that there should be some tolerance for the disabled kids — noise can’t necessarily be helped. But the mother absolutely could have stopped her children from getting out of their seats and making the flight actually dangerous for others. The fact that she did not indicates that she is to blame, not her kids’ medical problems.

By Gary

July 8, 2008 2:37 PM | Link to this

Southwest was absolutely correct.Innocent passengers on a plane are captive and have no choice to endure whatever garbage some knucklehead spews out. It is a kin to being kidnapped.

I was once on a plane(Southwest) where a passenger insisted on speaking foul, nasty laguage, in a loud voice, the entire trip. The flight attendants asked him to be quiet and several of the men almost got into a fist fight with this guy trying to get him to be quiet. In the end the Southwest folks ,again, did the right thing and had the Marshalls remove him from the plane when it landed.

Southwest keep up the good work.

By Edith

July 8, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this

The Airline was correct in their action.Parents just dont want to restrain their kids,and we all suffer for it. Unsafe behavior should NEVER be allowed handicaped or not. If you can’t contol your kids,DONT expect anyone else to do it for you I’m sure if they were on a train or bus —it would not have been different control them or you are off.

By Edith

July 8, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

The Airline was correct in their action.Parents just dont want to restrain their kids,and we all suffer for it. Unsafe behavior should NEVER be allowed handicaped or not. If you can’t contol your kids,DONT expect anyone else to do it for you I’m sure if they were on a train or bus —it would not have been different control them or you are off.

By Edith

July 8, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

The Airline was correct in their action.Parents just dont want to restrain their kids,and we all suffer for it. Unsafe behavior should NEVER be allowed handicaped or not. If you can’t contol your kids,DONT expect anyone else to do it for you I’m sure if they were on a train or bus —it would not have been different control them or you are off.

By mike

July 8, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this

It is obvious that any of the posters have never had to deal with a disability, including autism. As a parent of a child with autism, I know that it is very difficult to control an autistic child at times. I invite anyone with “normal children” to reach out to a parent of a disabled child and offer to help with the child. You may find it is more difficult than you can imagine.

By mike

July 8, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this

It is obvious that any of the posters have never had to deal with a disability, including autism. As a parent of a child with autism, I know that it is very difficult to control an autistic child at times. I invite anyone with “normal children” to reach out to a parent of a disabled child and offer to help with the child. You may find it is more difficult than you can imagine.

By Quiet please!

July 8, 2008 3:29 PM | Link to this

Southwest Airlines was absolutely correct to boot this family off the plane. Along with rights come responsibilities… The right to fly requires the responsibility to behave properly while on the plane.. the family had the responsibility to be considerate of ALL the passengers on the plane. Because the family was not behaving responsibly, thank goodness Southwest stepped up to the plate.

By Nick

July 8, 2008 3:39 PM | Link to this

Hallelujah! It’s about time airlines started taking steps to resolve disruptive behavior on planes. Yes, the disabled have rights — but so does every other paying passenger on that plane. Nor does this sound like a problem with the disabled child as much as it does from parents which feel entitled to special treatment themselves.

Autism is the special needs flavor of the month. It seems the airlines — like the rest of us — are getting tired of the whining from parents of autistic children. You do not hear a fraction of the same complaining and entitlement from parents of children with other disabilities.

By peroque

July 8, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this

Yes, absolutely the airline was correct in removing them. We hear of disruptive children from churchs to airlines. Disabled or not, if the parents cannot control them the public should not have to put up with them! Tolerance can only go so far. It may take a village, but make it your own village, do not expect the rest of the world to tolerate your little darlings no matter their disabilities that has to be YOUR area of expertise, not the airlines, churchs, restaurants, movies, or any other public agenda!

By peroque

July 8, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this

Yes, absolutely the airline was correct in removing them. We hear of disruptive children from churchs to airlines. Disabled or not, if the parents cannot control them the public should not have to put up with them! Tolerance can only go so far. It may take a village, but make it your own village, do not expect the rest of the world to tolerate your little darlings no matter their disabilities that has to be YOUR area of expertise, not the airlines, churchs, restaurants, movies, or any other public agenda!

By CommonSense

July 8, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this

Air travel is not a God-given right. If you can’t afford a ticket or comply with the rules required to ride on a commercial aircraft, then the government and/or any civil rights organization should not have the right to force an airline to haul you. I’ve seen completely paralized passengers traveling alone loaded onto flights and I’ve wondered who is responsible for dragging that person out if the cabin should catch fire. Yes, Gloria Allred would probably say it is the airline’s responsibility but I can tell you that I am not going to risk my life wrestling with a 300 pound invalid inside a burning fuselage when his or hers caretakers didn’t have the foresight to send along a personal assistant. A disability should not trump common sense and personal responsibility.

By Blind Chick

July 8, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this

We have friends who have two autistic children. Yes, they are a handful; and because of that, they do not take them in places where they would be a disruption to others, including airplanes.

I’m disabled and I fully understand the rights of the disabled. That being said, anyone who would be disruptive on a plane (whether disabled or not) should not be granted passage. As others have said, air travel is NOT a right. When you buy those tickets, you are agreeing to a contract. If you or your children are unruly (disabled or not), the airlines have every right to kick you off.

By tripletmom96

July 8, 2008 6:10 PM | Link to this

I’m so glad that at least one company (southwest) is standing up to the unruly, inappropriate behavior that so many people exhibit today. while i try to have compassion for those with disabilities, when those disabilities threaten my safety and/or make my trip (for which I’ve paid a hefty sum of my hard-earned money) miserable, there is a point where I have to draw the line. I am a parent of triplets (quite normal - no disabilities) — my husband and I didn’t even consider taking them on a flight until they were about 10 partly because we were concerned about how they would react and wanted to make sure that we would be able to keep them under control. why do people whose kids have disabilities think they don’t have to consider the others with whom they are sharing the flight? nobody is “entitled” to do whatever they please just because they want it. if this had been my children behaving in this manner, i would have been mortified and apologetic and accepted the decision of southwest to not allow us to continue the trip. inconvenient? yes. but was southwest wrong? not by a long shot. bravo southwest!

By Jim

July 8, 2008 6:27 PM | Link to this

Come on one kid is autistic and the other one has celebral palsy. Something is not right in this story specially the kid with celebral palsy running up and down the aisle. It was right to address the issue with the parents, but these two kinds have problems. I can see a drunk person or someone in the right “mind” cursing and getting kick off the plane.

By Michele

July 8, 2008 6:33 PM | Link to this

I applaud Southwest Airlines. They have every right to remove unruly children and adults for that matter. Now, if only other organizations do the same - grocery stores, malls, restaurants, movies, you name it. I have children and would never dream of bringing my child anywhere until they could be quiet and respectful to the people around them. How other parents can be oblivious and allow children to act “ignorant” is beyond me.

Way to go Southwest!!!

By J.W.

July 8, 2008 6:46 PM | Link to this

One person’s rights end, the saying goes, where another person’s rights began. Certainly, a disabled person has a right to travel. However, the airline has the right to deny a disruptive person permission to travel on their aircraft.

Like many fellow readers, I have become greatly upset with parents who allow their children to intrude into my space and say, “They’re all right” when I ask them to control their children. No, they’re not all right, handicap or no handicap.

I sympathize with the parents of disabled children, but said parents have no rightful claim to my time and space, or to that of the airline. I only wish I had known about this before I bought plane tickets for my vacation; I would have bought tickets on Southwest in a heartbeat.

By S.A.F.

July 8, 2008 7:02 PM | Link to this

Unfortunatly, I have to agree with the airlines. If you know that your child/children have special needs or may require a little unrestricted movement, you should have prepared to take the drive or you should have talked with the airline about your situation to see if other arrangements could have been made before purchasing your tickets. Driving would have taken longer, but you could stop, let the kids run wild, load back up, kids fall asleep and keep on trucking.

By ADP

July 8, 2008 7:14 PM | Link to this

No I do not agree. When will enough be enough. Were the kids threatening to others or just noisy. What about all the flights where the passenger in the next seat snores excessively loud or a group of passenger are talking and leaned over the seats talking to their friend 2 or 3 rows back. As previously mentioned in other emails these kids were disabled. These are all disturbing situations to other passengers. If the Airlines want to boot customers off the plane at will then the airlines need to be prepared to provide a refund immediately not mail a check weeks later. Bottom line we are such a selfish Country.

By gwarfan

July 8, 2008 7:38 PM | Link to this

You do not have a right to fly. If the airline wants to kick you off a plane for wearing white pants it can. If you have kids with issues that sucks to be you, but the rest of us do not have to care or deal with it. She should learn to take care of her kids and not be the trailer trash she is and just want to sue someone.

By jane

July 8, 2008 7:49 PM | Link to this

With statistic as they are for Autistic children being borned each year, these airlines should be looking for ways to rememdy this problem. 1 in 155 children are being borned each year in the United States with Autistic. At some point they will make up a huge part of our society. What then?

By JesusH

July 8, 2008 8:56 PM | Link to this

Jane - I think a 2 by 4 upside they ignunt heads wood reverse they autistic. What you think?

By jlp

July 8, 2008 9:22 PM | Link to this

The person with the turban is not disrupting the flight. The person in the wheelchair is not compromising the safety of other passengers.

This was not a situation where the children were merely sitting in their seats and being noisy. Even their mother admitted that they were “out of control” and running around the plane. That is dangerous, whether they are disabled or not! Whatever the reason for their behavior, they were endangering others.

Personally, I would like to hear an explanation from the mother as to why she allowed the children out of their seats. Why weren’t they strapped in? I hate to say this, but she is certainly large enough that if she had taken the aisle seat and seated them between her and the aisle, they COULDN’T, physically, have gotten past her to run in the aisles!

And I have to wonder about her common sense. She was complaining that she was stranded in Phoenix with “no money”. What kind of person travels with no money? Forget about the kids’ behavior. What would she have done if they’d missed a connection, or had a flight canceled due to weather? This is obviously someone who hasn’t got a clue.

By Drew

July 8, 2008 9:45 PM | Link to this

Yes Yes Yes!!!!! I will try and Give SWA more business now!! The airlines have other passengers to consider no matter what the kids situation!! NO SCREAMING UNRULY KIDS ON A FLIGHT I PAY FOR!!!!!!!

By frankie

July 8, 2008 10:10 PM | Link to this

thank you Southwest - for having common sense to think about the rest of us. I love children -but not unruly ones. I have a grandchild that is autistic and I will not put up with any of his games and he knows it. They know what they can and can not do just like all other children. We who care for them have to think of others. If that mother could not make her children mind on the plane she should have driven to were she wanted to go. To bad southwest gave them a free ride.

By Floyd Tarpenning

July 8, 2008 10:27 PM | Link to this

The airline certainly was justified in removing the disruptive passengers as the parents were unable or unwilling to control their behavior.
The airline has a responsibilty to the other passengers to provide safe and reasonable flying conditions including controlling the adverse affects of any passengers.

By Rose

July 8, 2008 11:17 PM | Link to this

Yes, yes, yes, the airliner was correct in discarding that dysfunctional family. As an ex-international flight attendant, I can truly say that children from the U.S.A. are the worse behaved. They should have taken the Greyhound bus instead.

By Xompassion for people who have it rougher than you

July 9, 2008 12:12 AM | Link to this

By Nick

July 8, 2008 3:39 PM | Link to this

Hallelujah! It’s about time airlines started taking steps to resolve disruptive behavior on planes. Yes, the disabled have rights — but so does every other paying passenger on that plane. Nor does this sound like a problem with the disabled child as much as it does from parents which feel entitled to special treatment themselves.

Autism is the special needs flavor of the month. It seems the airlines — like the rest of us — are getting tired of the whining from parents of autistic children. You do not hear a fraction of the same complaining and entitlement from parents of children with other disabilities.

Nick - This is one of the most profoundly ignorant, arrogant and self=rightous comments I have ever seen anywhere from anyone who has access to a computer. If I had the ability to let you walk in the shoes of an autistic person for just one hour, or better yet, have one of your loved ones be autistic, you would eat every piece of that computer to change things back to the way they were.

Oh wait, no I’m wrong, this genius is the winner of the all time stupidest comments I’ve ever seen. Nick, you’re off the hook (well until this guy accidentally walks in front of that 2 x 4 being swung by some strong autistic person whose had enough of his nonsense):

By JesusH

July 8, 2008 8:56 PM | Link to this

Jane - I think a 2 by 4 upside they ignunt heads wood reverse they autistic. What you think?

Shame on you all for your cowardice and piety!

By quisqualis

July 9, 2008 1:26 AM | Link to this

This story is not about disabled children. Most likely, one of the kids has mild cerebral palsy and another has Asperger’s Syndrome. And two are “normal.”

Making excuses when two adults are incapable of controlling four children is lame! Most likely, the two “ladies” wanted to sit next to one another and chat, leaving the kids to their own devices. This did not work out well,and I hope this fleeting notoriety compensates them for their terrible inconvenience!

By Steve

July 9, 2008 7:14 AM | Link to this

SWA was absolutely correct. These people owe everyone on that flight an apology. They deserved what they got! The media should stop catering to this circus!

By Harry L

July 9, 2008 7:46 AM | Link to this

Any business has the right to refuse service to any customer. If parents can’t control their children then give the children to someone who can, it’s the American way. Maybe the airlines should have short planes (the equivalent of the short bus) for those people who deem themselves as ‘special’.

By Sue Bee

July 9, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this

Of course, they should have been removed. Passengers have a right to a reasonably quiet, uneventful flight barring a legitimate emergency. The mother’s excess weight is a clear indication of her own lack of self discipline and this undoubtedly carries over to hr children.

By Andy

July 9, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this

I guess this family went a little bit overboard letting the kids run around on the airpline, but as a traveling mom with little children, I have also noticed that American air carriers and their staff lacks understanding, training and customer service, and American passengers lack life experience in dealing with other people, thanks to lonesome McManisons and lack of public transportation. Delta gave me a hard time last year for a)asking for help to get my kids to the bathroom and b) my 18 month old crying during 2 hours of turbulences because the flight attendants needed to rest (the AIRLINE hat given us the seats right in front of the flight attendands). This would never have happened on a European airline (I used to work for one!!) or on an Asian carrier or Air Canada or an Australian one, and I am surely not going to spend any more money on an American air carrier!! Delta’s crew on this flight was totally overreacting with my and MOST of the other children on this flight, like for touching curtains even gently, and I think this is a symptom of the American paranoia about strangers, uncontrollable situations (children are not 100% controllable -this is NATURAL!!) and being close to other people (oversized houses and taking the car to everywhere). Americans are taking more anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants and behavior controlling drugs than any other nation on the planet, and there is a reason for that.

Loosen up, get out and meet people, relax, help people in stressful situations instead of demanding “control”. My kids are meanwhile asking what we are doing here in this country, by the way, because they know the freedom kids and adults in other countries have, freedom to roam the streets and neighborhoods, go to the grocery store and playground by themselves, and I do not think that the American way of “controlling everything” and especially kids is healthy, just look at the statistics and the weight problems (controlled kids gain weight - starting with the baby strapped into a Real American bouncy seat for control). Problems with disruptivness and anger occur everywhere, but there is no reason to deal with it the American Way, with police and punishment and everything that makes life unreasonably miserable.

By to kathrynirene

July 9, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this

yeah, you say how “refreshing” but if this had been delta, you’d be screaming that they had no right and how horrible they are. get a grip.

yeah, go fly southwest and then tell me you want them here. cattle call anyone. that’s why they have all the problems. it’s because the “hookers” can afford to fly on them. so can every loser in america.

By TO ANDY

July 9, 2008 9:08 AM | Link to this

ANDY, YOU ARE BITTER AND SOUND LIKE AN A*****. YOUR KIDS SOUND LIKE A***** TOO. DON’T BLAME IT ON DELTA OR THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS. YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

By joyce

July 9, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this

Harry L - maybe you need to check out that “short plane” (or bus) seeing as how you needed to send your comment seven times, even though this column clearly states that “a delay of up to 5 minutes” may occur before your comment appears!

By What a sad group of people you are

July 9, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this

I can appreciate how people are frustrated at how hard air travel is now, but passing judgement about a family’s behavior when you weren’t even on the flight? Geeze, you all really need to reevaluate your thinking. Between the ones who rant about how poorly people behave, what ‘bad’ parents they are, or how the disabled don’t have the right to act according to their disability (so long as it doesn’t endanger the flight), I feel very very sorry for you all.

Not everyone has the same kinds of blessings and challenges.

Only after you’ve walked a mile in their moccasins, can you say you understand.

Peace out.

By joyce

July 12, 2008 6:40 PM | Link to this

BRAVO SOUTHWEST!!! They definitely did the correct thing in this situation. There were other passengers on the airplane whose feelings had to be taken into consideration as well. In addition, there are stringent safety issues that must be enforced by airline personnel. These people don’t have the time to do their jobs efficiently and babysit this womans children too. The mother of these children even admitted that her children were disruptive.

By AL

July 14, 2008 2:58 AM | Link to this

“By tom

July 8, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

your little article missed a key point

two of the kids had disabilities so i dont know if you can entirely blame the mother for not being able to control them. “

I am related the the kids father, whom was not on the plane. I blame the mother 100%.

1)Wendy is a lazy slob that doesn’t parent at all. The dad does all the work. Why he allowed her to fly alone with those kids is beyond me. Had he been on that flight this would NOT have happened. Fact is she’s to lazy to control the kids. She sent her 7 yr old to take the toddler the the bathroom and when then started dancing and screaming instead, she was too big to get up and get them. Ridiculous. It’s NOT that hard to make 4 behave on a plane IF they are used to you being in control.

2)I have worked for an airline and my husband currently works for one. We also have 4 kids, 1 is autistic/bipolar (8) as well and one has ADHD (6). All 4 of my kids are about the same ages as all 4 of their kids. I have traveled alone with all 4 kids many times. We fly standby so often my older two kids (the ones with disabilities) get seated separately from me. They NEVER cause trouble. They stay in their seat belts, use inside voices and behave. I ALWAYS get many MANY complements from passengers and flight crew about how well they behave. My Autistic son is more severely autistic than Wendy’s son and her other 3 are normal emotionally/behaviorally (cerebral paulsy is a physical disability anyways not a behavioral one). They are playing the disability card to get sympathy and excuse her complete lack of parenting skills. Disabilities are no excuse. Period. I;m tired of people letting their children’s disabilities become WHO the child is and letting it be an excuse for not teaching them to over come it. High Functioning Autistics (whath er sona nd my son are) can and should learn social skills, mine is her’s can too.

3)The airline was 100% in hte right. They have an obligation to keep passengers safe and comfortable. No one has the right to jeopardize that. Those kids could have been horribly injured or even injured other passengers. The other passengers where no doubt miserable and probably feel THEY deserve a refund. My sympathy’s lye with the other passengers and flight crew. NO ONE wants to boot a bunch of small kids and sobbing mother. She created the situation though by not controlling HER CHILDREN. And what a RESPONSIBLE mother to fly with 4 kids with NO money. I mean really, has she NEVER heard of delays or cancellations due to weather? They never give hotels or food for that. Your responsible for your selfs people. This wasn’t a last minute trip, it was well planned for a while. She had time to make sure she had some money in her wallet JIC.

4) They are suing the company and if South West caves thy are stupid. Wendy’s background is very questionable and will lend her no credibility. She’s insane to think that won’t come out and bit her. Going public has only served to prove her unfit to parent. The father, I am sad to say, looks no better. If he has any sense at all he will rescue those kids and run far far away from her.

Sigh, they say you can’t pick your family. I REALLY wish you could.

By roger fritz

July 22, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this

Actually this is not possible because it can happen by kids threatening and snoring by next passenger so it is normal and may happen with any one.

roger Addiction Recovery South Carolina

Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. M-F

Post a comment



Remember me?

Your comment will appear after it has been approved by the AJC.

You may use the following formatting:
Bold: **this text will be bolded** = this text will be bolded
Italic: *this text will be italic* = this text will be italic
Link: [text to be linked](http://www.ajc.com) = text to be linked



There will be a delay of up to 5 minutes before your comment appears.


*HTML not allowed in comments. Your e-mail address is required.

 

Kudzu Services » Find the right people for the job