Where does a plane’s flight crew draw the line between a mere annoyance and someone so distracting they need to be removed from the plane. That’s the question being asked after a family says they were taken off a JetBlue flight because their 2-year-old daughter threw a tantrum while boarding.

The family was boarding the JetBlue flight from the Turks and Caicos to Boston when their youngest child refused to sit in her seat.

But even after the parents managed to get her seated and buckled in, a flight attendant told them the plane was being turned back to the gate and they were being taken off the flight.

“We did what we were asked to do. We weren’t belligerent, drunk, angry or screaming. We were just having a hard time struggling with our children,” said the mom.

Since there were no other flights to Boston that night, the family had to book a hotel room. Between that and rebooking their flight, they say the ordeal cost them an additional $2,000.

JetBlue issued the following statement regarding the situation:

Flight 850… had customers that did not comply with crewmember instructions for a prolonged time period. The Captain elected to remove the customers involved for the safety of all customers and crewmembers on board.

“I don’t know that I could blame JetBlue, to be totally fair,” said the mom. “I just feel like it’s airplane travel today in general. I was certainly upset by the way this flight attendant handled the situation. As a result, yeah, I would probably try to avoid JetBlue in the future.”

Airline grounds family for fussy toddler [WJAR]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.