In more ways than one…
Talk about a flight from hell: Not only did Pamela Root’s nightmare of flying solo with her 2-year-old son come true, but so did her fear that her toddler would not behave in the airplane.
In fact, the boy’s behavior was so distracting it led to the mother and son getting booted from their Southwest Airlines flight last week.
According to airline officials, the Roots were sitting onboard a flight departing Amarillo, Texas, bound for San Jose, California, when young Adam got hit with a major bout of the crankies.
The boy reportedly spent the better part of an hour screaming, “Go! Plane! Go!” and “I want Daddy!”
Pamela Root told news reporters that she was confident her son’s yelling would subside once the plane took off, but the Southwest Airlines crew wasn’t taking any chances. When Pamela couldn’t get Adam to calm down on the tarmac, the pilot turned the plane around and taxied back to the gate. From there the 38-year-old stay-at-home mom and her son were escorted off… and their story went on to make national headlines.
According to news reports, Pamela was peeved that the airline kicked her off the plane. However, Southwest officials say that while removing a crying child from a flight is unusual, crews have the authority to resolve situations in ways they deem “necessary.”
Pamela and her son eventually arrived at their final destination (after spending an extra night in Amarillo). To compensate the Roots for the inconvenience the airlines refunded their tickets and threw in a $300 voucher for good measure.
Call me jaded, but these types of incidents don’t surprise me anymore. Whereas I feel for Pamela and cringe learning about her predicament (been there flying solo with a crabby kid), her story is not unique.
Remember the other recent high-profile incidents involving passengers with traveling with petulant pint-sized passengers? There was the mom and her chatty tot, who were booted from a flight, after a frustrated flight attendant couldn’t convince the mom to give her kid a dose of Benadryl.
Then, there was the incident where a family was forced off an AirTran flight when the youngest of the lot threw a tantrum and refused to wear a seatbelt. And, who can forget the highly publicized drama that took place onboard another flight when a nursing mom was kicked off a plane when she refused to cover up while breastfeeding her child?
Bottom line: The friendly skies were far from benevolent for the aforementioned parents.
What do you make of the latest booting incident?
Do you think it was fair that the mother and child were forced off the plane?
I’m sure their fellow passengers felt it was the right thing to do.
To read about my adventures flying with a toddler solo, and to get tips on surviving the flight, check out these related articles:
Traveling With Children-Learn From My Mistakes
Flying with Children: Layover or Not?
Tips To Remember When Traveling With Children
Even More Tips To Remember When You Travel With Kids
More Tips To Remember When You Travel With Kids
Traveling With Young Children: More Dos and Don’ts
Traveling With Young Children: Dos and Don’ts