Wednesday, January 24, 2007

 

Smackdown!

Okay.

Let's re-cap a recent situation on an airline. According to an article on MSN, a 3-year old was having a wee little tantrum while the whole plane was waiting to take off. The 3-year old refused to get in her seat, and according to the report that I read, she was jumping around, not sitting down, and smacking her parents in the head.

The family was ordered off the flight, and put on a flight that left the next day.

I don't know if this was a result of their complaining, or if the airline offered it on its own, but the family was reimbursed for their flight, and they were offered three free tickets for anywhere that AirTran flies.

The father said that his family will never fly AirTran again. In the accompanying video, the mom says that she "just wanted to make the public aware."

Here's the article: Airline Defends Removing Family From Flight

To all this, I say, AirTran: What were you thinking?

Why did you give them three free tickets? Why would you ever want this obnoxious family back with you? Why don't you give me, a kind, courteous, and loyal passenger who has never ever caused a single problem, a free ticket?

I'm so sick of bratty adults raising bratty children. I know it's tough to get a handle on little ones, but, honestly. These people are taking perfectly good people and ruining them for the rest of us. It's fairly obvious where this girl gets the idea that her extreme behavior is acceptable: at the tender age of three, she already knows that the squeaky wheel gets the grease (hell, it was proven in this situation - money reimbursed, extra night in Florida, three free tickets), and she knows that if she makes a big enough fuss for a long enough time, she'll get her way.

God bless her teachers, her babysitters, and any future boyfriends. Because if her parents are any indication, it's only going to get worse...

Comments:
God bless her teachers, her babysitters, and any future boyfriends. Because if her parents are any indication, it's only going to get worse...

LMAO

You hit the nail on the head.
 
While I do agree that the parents should be taken outside and smacked upside the head a few times I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a moment.

Before we jump all over this 3 year old calling her some brat who will be spoiled for the rest of her life complaining and pouting her way through her 20s, isn't it possible that she could be an otherwise well behaved child who simply had a meltdown? She was probably in Florida for a week or so (?) and all of the excitment might have just gotten to her so after having to get to the airport 2 and a half hours or so before her flight she wasn't her usual well behaved self. All kids get tired. All kids get cranky. Sometimes it happens at the absolute worst possible moment. Sometimes, no matter how great of a parent you may be, your kid isn't going to listen and they're going to cry or do the exact opposite of what you ask and all you need is a few moments to get your child in line. Just ask your own parents, I'd bet each and everyone of you had your moments where you were a brat as well.
For all we know, these two parents could be the most wonderful, loving, kind, amazing parents in the world. (Probably not, lol, but it is possible) If it had been your kid and she was otherwise an angel who just had a meltdown at the wrong moment, and you weren't given 5 minutes to calm the child down, were kicked off an airplane then given a few free tickets - wouldn't you say you would never fly AirTan again?
 
Whew, for a second there, I thought you were gonna take the other side of the argument.

C-Note raises a good point. But allow me to play devil's advocate's advocate. A crying baby is one thing. A toddler who is jumping around unrestrained by their parents, and acting like a fool while the parents are not in control, deserves to be tossed. It's too bad the plane wasn't moving when they threw them out.

It's like sitting at church right behind a crying baby. You feel bad for the parent for the first few minutes. But when that parent sits there and acts like nothing is wrong, and refuses to leave for a few minutes to quiet the baby, I blame the parent.

This is why I'm never having kids.
 
bub: I did that on purpose, muahaha

tc: for reals

court: The troubling behavior wasn't the meltdown, but the parental reaction to it. I cannot picture my parents ever requesting that a plane be held up to accommodate a tantrum - they didn't put up with shit. It is the job of the parents to instill mortal fear into the kids in regards to misbehaving. Of course kids will misbehave...and this girl is only three, so she's going to act up. But it's the parents' place to realize that they did not have a grip on the situation, or their daughter's behavior, and they had to stop inconveniencing everyone else on the flight, do it without making a big fuss and acting as though they were unfairly targeted. Kids have tantrums. But life has to go on for everyone else.
If anything, this makes me want to fly AirTran!
 
jc: Shame, b.c it sounds like you'd make a good parent!
 
My parents wouldn't have put up with that crap either. But then...I wasn't really that fussy as a child. Once I was old enough to do things, you could give me a piece of paper with crayons or a book and I was just fine. Otherwise, I passed out if I felt cranky (because it was always from exhaustion). But yeah...I definitely grew up where pitching a fit was the opposite of rewarded...so I just didn't. :)
 
m: and that is why we're editors.

bub: agreed.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?