Family Kicked Off Flight For Misbehaving Kids, No Refund
An Arizona mom says she was flying to Billings, Montana for her birthday — but never got off the ground because the airline kicked her — and her unruly kids off the flight. They were told they could take another flight — if they paid for it. The airline says it's their policy not to offer refunds.
Apparently, while still boarding their Allegiant Air flight, the woman's 2-year-old started to cry. While she was trying to calm the toddler down, her 4 year old got "restless" and wouldn't stay in his seat.
The airline removed the family from the plane and told them they could take another flight but neglected to mention at the time that this flight would cost $900 more. The airline says they will FedEx her luggage back from Montana (it was apparently behaving itself in the cargo hold,) and offered her a credit towards a future flight. She wants a refund.
Here's the news report from 3TV in Phoenix:
Airline boots family for crying baby, no refund given [AZFamily.com] (Thanks, Kym!)
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Comments:
i love how they say "The airline says it's their policy not to offer refunds". how can they just claim that? maybe it's my policy not to pay for anything. all that being said there's got to be more to this unruliness to actually be removed from the plane. i've been pretty unruly myself and only been moved to another seat.
She looks like she's 16 O_o
If the airline feels like putting you off of your flight, they shouldn't make you pay more for the other flight.
And what kind of a security breach letting the luggage go without the passengers!
@hunter3742: A credit towards and a credit for are different. The credit is probably not the full price.
How interesting that the airline kept this lady's luggage in the hold after she was removed from the flight.
Isn't this a very, very big security no-no? Isn't Allegient in a lot more trouble for this than they would be just for being giant a--hats?
But that isn't a real family. There's no man.
(Yes, I think that should do it nicely.)
I felt some sympathy for the mother until I watched the clip. She takes no responsibility for her kids' behavior and has that off-putting sense of entitlement. They were kicked off the flight because the four year old wouldn't stay in his seat. The airline was within its rights to remove them. Nonrefundable is nonrefundable.
@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: It's only a breach if the passengers do not get on the plane of their own volition, not if they are kicked off after boarding - although one could argue that it should be, since someone could create a disturbance on purpose....
Attention all inconsiderate parents: keep your spawn in line. Those of us with whom you are sharing the cramped, stuffy cabin of life are not as charmed by the antics of your offspring as you seem to be. Thank you.
@hunter3742: That's not the point. She didn't get to go where she needed to go, and they never told her that the next flight out was not at a time anywhere near the time of her scheduled departure.
Kids cry. She was trying to control her kids, and keep them calm. Allegiant Air didn't give her a chance to even make it work.
There is no reason that everyone on a plane should suffer because a parent can't handle their children.
the airline took the right action for the good of all other passengers, and potentially, the safety of the children.
if the parent can't keep their children under control enough to handle a flight quietly, drive.
Why can't airlines and airports offer the parents of young children the ability the step off the plane for 5-10 minutes? Seems like a better alternative than just booting them off for usually short lived child issues. After that, if the kids can't be controlled, then they miss the flight.
For the record, I have no kids and really don't even like them, with no plans on having them.
Also, I liked how they called a roaming 4 year old a "security risk." Safety; yes, security; no.
Good for Allegient. @Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.:
Security Breach? Un-accompanied baggage is only a security breach where the traveler fails to accompany it voluntarily, not where they want to go and the *airline* kicks you off. Unless you think this was all an elaborate ruse ...
@gavni:
If it is done at the airline's choosing, apparently the TSA is ok with it. The luggage has to be removed in cases where the passenger chooses to take a different flight or misses theirs of their own will. This doesn't make sense to me, but it seems to be how it's done. I don't know what is correct in this case.
@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.:
Luggage is only pulled on international flights.
But don't worry, you are limited to only 3 oz of liquids in your carry on luggage.
Are there NO parents on this blog??? May you all have twins!
"Keep your spawn in line"? Really? May you have triplets!
And may they all be just like you!
@skizsrodt: Why should everyone else be delayed *at least* 5-10 minutes because someone's kids are out of control?
You obviously don't have kids :) I wouldn't want to take my 2 and 4 yr old on a flight without my 2x parents. The problem for them is usually the 45 minutes sitting on the Tarmac. Letting people with parents board the plane first is probably the biggest mistake you could make.
Interestingly the Allegiant Air spokesperson tried to separate the issue of the kids misbehaving and the no refund policy. That means there are two stories here: 1) if your kids surpass some arbitrary threshold you'll be kicked from the plane, and 2) if you miss an Allegiant flight "regardless of the issue" you won't get a refund.
I want to hear a couple of reports from people on the plane to see how "unruly" the kids were, and an explanation for the type of "security issue" a four-year-old poses, and what they mean by "wouldn't stay is his seat."
Airlines need to provide guidelines for the level of behavior expected and not leave it up to the whim of a flight attendant.
Kids cry. Four-year-olds like to move. Grow up people, you're supposed to be the adult.
I side with the mom on this one. They were already at their seats. Anyone who has ever flown knows that when people are boarding a plane, it can be kind of loud, and people are shuffling their luggage, opening and shutting the top hatches, they're talking, they're making phone calls - it can be chaotic. And this doesn't even include the noise from the engine of the plane. Imagine if you're very young, and you don't know what's going on - flying is stressful for adults and they understand they're about to be hurled through the air and hundreds of miles per hour.
Just because the boy wouldn't stay in his seat doesn't imply he was running wild on the plane. He could've been standing on the seat for all we know.
It doesn't seem like Allegiant Air ever gave her much of a chance. They kicked her off in a matter of minutes before the flight had even started, and everyone else was getting situated.
@hunter3742: It appears they only offered the credit after she called the local news. There official policy is no refunds or credits.
This is why the airline is wrong.
The mother was right to be booted from the flight, but she deserves to get on the next available flight without paying more money. As for a refund, she deserves one only because they tried to at first not even give her a credit.
Small claims court should be an easy way for her to get her money back. Policy is not law and they never flew her so they need to give her the money back.
@winstonthorne: luckily you shouldn't have to worry about this since i doubt you'll ever find anyone willing to breed with you. believe it or not, kids act up some times. i'm sure you did when you were growing up.
Painful lesson learned.
Ooop...ticket was likely bought by Grandma & Grandpa...
Ooop...calls the local TV station to "teach them a lesson"
Entitlement is the #1 mental illness in this country.
@Scribblenerd: If my children were all just like me they wouldn't fly until they were 8 years old, and then there wouldn't be any problems.
It's hard to keep a crying 2 year old and a fussy 4 year old in line if they are cranky, upset, or tired, no matter how good or bad a parent is. I feel for the mother trying to keep both of them in check when neither of them were cooperating. That being said, it's not fair to the other passengers to have to deal with someone else's fussy unruly child.
I'm not saying the mother is a bad parent, since kids that young are often completely unpredictable, but she should have been prepared for both her kids acting up at once (I don't know how, I'm not a parent and I've never had to deal with kids, but when I was a kid my mom threw all sorts of things at me to keep me in my seat during train rides, like books, sketchbooks to draw in, gameboys, walkmen, etc). It's within the rights of the airlines to keep the majority of their customers happy, and if the children were being little hellions they have the right to kick the family off for the good of the rest of the passengers. HOWEVER, they should either pay for the next flight for the family or offer a refund if a refund is requested. I don't see why they wouldn't. The family paid for a service and no service was rendered. Give her her money back.
@Scribblenerd: Agreed with you wholly. I think there are a lot of people who just need to grow up, accept that children are people too and have all the same rights as adults, and that a little bit of noise is only going to ruin your life if you yourself have the emotional maturity of a child.
She just looks like she doesn't even care her kids.
Next time hire the A-Team, for $1,000 they could have taken care of your kids with some milk.
@hunter3742: I wish the news story had mentioned how long this went on and whether or not the cabin crew did anything to help calm the situation before putting them off the plane.
Without that kind of info, no one can form a valid opinion on this -- they'd just be projecting bias from previous known cases.
@winstonthorne: I see, so kids are supposed to behave like adults, while you get to act childishly.
Makes total sense.
I would vehemently disagree about them being kicked off over a 2 year old crying. However, at age 4, a kid should be able to be told to stay in their seat and they should have their belt on.
Granted, it's not hard for a 4 year old to open the buckle, but given that doing so absolutely would be a real safety risk later to the kid and anyone in the path of them being flung around like a 40lb bag of potatoes, in that case I actually do support the airline removing them.
Wiggling in a seat and being somewhat cranky would be one thing. That's reasonable behaviour - if not pleasant - for a 4 year old. But my 4 year old would bloody well stay in her seat if I barked at her to do it, and frankly, because I did enough barking when she was 2, she probably wouldn't undo the seatbelt and get up on her own anyway.
And to be clear, my 4 year old can be a horrid brat at times. But if she was being a brat in such a way that actually might get her or someone else hurt, I would remove us from the plant myself. No trip is worth injury.
As for the people here who like to bitch about anything any kid of any age does ever in any situation, suck it up and deal because kids do have a right to be on planes, in family restaurants, in G-rated movies, etc. And whining or crying isn't enough to get kicked off. This case had an actual safety problem.
@hunter3742: Why is this a bad thing? A sterling example of an airline serving the needs of the many at the expense of one person who can't control their kids.
We need family sections in restaurants and family only plans.
If Mom paid the Airline still owes her a flight. Getting booted from the plane should NOT make you have to pay again, only the need to reschedule the flight.
The airline is at fault here. I would sue.
@Xerloq, we are all made of stars.: An airplane isn't a movie theatre. I can't just sit somewhere else, or leave and ask for a refund. Perhaps I should 'be an adult' and get sloshing drunk to compensate for their behavior?
Is it really such a big deal to provide a cash refund?
How about "Neither"? I have no problem with the airline removing the family from the plane. But they shouldn't have charged them $900 to take a different flight. In conclusion, everyone sucks.
@winnabago: It seems like it would be pretty easy for someone sinister to put a bag on the flight, get past security, then before boarding the plane, visit either the airport bar or duty free store, get drunk, and be kicked off for being unruly. Meanwhile, my bag is still on the flight, doing whatever I wanted it to do.
@Xerloq, we are all made of stars.: If adults are required to stay in their seats for safety reasons, it doesn't make sense to make an exception for children. If it's a safety requirement, it's a safety requirement. If your children can't obey it, then yes, you risk not being able to fly with them.
@pecan 3.14159265: Excellent point. The airline makes it out like the boy was screaming through the aisles, when he might have been standing in front of his seat.
@winstonthorne: I agree that the airline was right to kick them off when the kid refused to stay in his seat. Crediting her the amount she paid towards a future flight seems fair to me.
That said, the only people who have a right to be so nasty towards children those folks who were born full grown.
I think some consumers need to realize that marketers must protect their brand and may be willing to risk destroying their relationship with you in order to preserve the loyalty of others. A terrible flying experience could be more financially devastating than removing the hindrance and dealing with a firestorm of bad PR. I own a business and know that I would rather lose you as customer than anger 100 others whose business I may also lose.
@NatalieErin: Yeah, kick them off and hand them a voucher for a free equivalent flight. Unless they were so uncooperative that they caused a serious disturbance, if so, keep their money.
They offered credit for another flight. That's good enough. They were perfectly withing their rights removing the family, and I'm certain everyone else on the flight was thankful.
Control your kids in public, people.