When a pilot is NOT COMFORTABLE it really means: The pilot has perceived a threat to the safety of flight.
Thank you for stating the obvious !
I think you are skirting around the fundamental problem that the captain makes their decision based on what they are told on the intercom.
Thus, if cabin crew over-egg the pudding on the phone, then they will merely make the captain more uncomfortable than he/she needs to be.
Thus there are three sides in this story:
- The passenger
- The crew member who called the flight deck
- The captain
Its easy for you to sit there and lecture us on how we should respect the "uncomfortable" captain. But in reality, he/she is sitting there right on the bottom of the pile ... far removed from the actual cause ... and thus susceptible for things getting "lost in translation". Especially as in this instance we had an autistic child, communicating through their parent, who was communicating to a crew member, who was probably communicating to a senior crew member, who eventually communicated to the captain .... that's quite a long chain with various levels at which things could be mis-interpreted.
My guess would be that there is scope for learning on
ALL sides after this event... the airline, the cabin crew, the flight crew and the parent/child combo. I don't think its right or proper for you or anyone else to automatically err on the side of the captain without knowing all the facts.