Mother may sue, says flight attendant went ballistic over baby talk

ATLANTA — A weary Kate Penland and her 19-month-old son, Garron, were more than ready to say goodbye to Houston last month as they sat in an airplane that was 11 hours late for its scheduled departure to Oklahoma City.

Instead, the Buford, Ga., resident said she and Garron found themselves temporarily stranded when a flight attendant had them thrown off the plane. Their offense? The toddler kept saying, "Bye-bye plane."

Penland, husband Mark and Garron are scheduled to be in New York this morning to tell "Good Morning America" her story about how they were removed from the plane by a flight attendant she said was on a power trip.

"I feel like I was completely embarrassed," Penland said Thursday. On June 16, the day before Father's Day, Penland and Garron boarded a Continental Airlines flight operated by regional partner ExpressJet, bound from Houston to Oklahoma City, to see Penland's father. They had just waited out a lengthy delay after arriving from Atlanta.

As they taxied to the runway, Garron repeated "Bye-bye, plane" to a plane on the tarmac while the flight attendant was giving safety instructions. After she was finished, Penland said the flight attendant told her that "It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up."

Penland protested, and the flight attendant replied, "It's called baby Benadryl," and made a drinking motion with her hand, according to Penland.

Penland told the flight attendant that she wasn't going to drug her baby, and soon after, other passengers began to take her side, she said. According to Penland, one woman told the flight attendant, "You're overstepping your boundary. Just leave her alone."

Penland said the flight attendant replied, "This is my plane," and soon after, told Penland the plane was returning to the gate and Penland and Garron were to be escorted off. They caught another flight to Oklahoma City the next day.

Penland said she later learned that the flight attendant told the pilot that Penland had threatened her, which led Penland to file a complaint with ExpressJet. After almost a month passed without an answer, Penland took her story to the media, where it first aired on Atlanta's WSB-TV.

ExpressJet left Penland a voicemail saying it will look into the matter. But it may be too late. The Penlands are considering a lawsuit.

"We received Ms. Penland's letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents," said Kristy Nicholas, an ExpressJet spokeswoman. "Because of pending litigation, I am unable to comment further on the matter."

Ken Sugiura and Michael Pearson write for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.