19mth old chucked off for 'babbling' during pax safety demo..
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19mth old chucked off for 'babbling' during pax safety demo..
HELP !
I am invited onto a forum that is to address the consensus of this incident - where over in the USA a 19mth old and mother were asked to be quiet during the pax safety brief on an internal flight!!
The baby was saying 'bye bye plane' and waving out the window and the cabin crew stopped the demo and asked for the mother to keep the baby quiet. Dont know if you have children yourselves but I have four and I have never mastered the art of keeping any of mine quiet - particularly in confined spaces when they were small!
Poor mother could not make the baby conform and so they were eventually asked to vacate the plane - the reason being that they were a security risk! I am not sure if safety ever came into the equation at all.
I am VERY interested in your comments and views on this:- how the cabin crew dealt with this - would you have done the same? How are cabin crew trained to deal with children on flights - do you have special training or are you just left to deal with it when it happens? Does your airline acknowledge that children are special needs pax and what do they offer the pax to deal with this - childrens packs etc etc?
Your personal experiences travelling with your children - or dealing with others whilst on on a flight as cabin crew (good, bad or indifferent).
What thoughts do you hold regarding the way European airlines direct the use of infant lap straps - but other airlines do not use them at all (why not?). Has anyone used the Bab'air harness on flights over in the USA - and are they effective? How do babies/toddlers react to them?
I would VERY MUCH value your help on this one as I think we do give our children/babies/mums and dads a raw deal sometimes.
Very many thanks in anticipation.
Cab Svs Mgr
I am invited onto a forum that is to address the consensus of this incident - where over in the USA a 19mth old and mother were asked to be quiet during the pax safety brief on an internal flight!!
The baby was saying 'bye bye plane' and waving out the window and the cabin crew stopped the demo and asked for the mother to keep the baby quiet. Dont know if you have children yourselves but I have four and I have never mastered the art of keeping any of mine quiet - particularly in confined spaces when they were small!
Poor mother could not make the baby conform and so they were eventually asked to vacate the plane - the reason being that they were a security risk! I am not sure if safety ever came into the equation at all.
I am VERY interested in your comments and views on this:- how the cabin crew dealt with this - would you have done the same? How are cabin crew trained to deal with children on flights - do you have special training or are you just left to deal with it when it happens? Does your airline acknowledge that children are special needs pax and what do they offer the pax to deal with this - childrens packs etc etc?
Your personal experiences travelling with your children - or dealing with others whilst on on a flight as cabin crew (good, bad or indifferent).
What thoughts do you hold regarding the way European airlines direct the use of infant lap straps - but other airlines do not use them at all (why not?). Has anyone used the Bab'air harness on flights over in the USA - and are they effective? How do babies/toddlers react to them?
I would VERY MUCH value your help on this one as I think we do give our children/babies/mums and dads a raw deal sometimes.
Very many thanks in anticipation.
Cab Svs Mgr
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Hi,
I don't understand where the security aspect comes in, is it because the baby was saying 'bye bye plane'?
I remember taking my eldest to CDG aged about 2. As we were taking off he started shouting "whhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee crassssssssh", after taking off he started shouting "bomb bang bang" (I have no idea where he got that from). The crew had a little chuckle, bearing in mind I'm crew myself so they did know me and could see I was embarrasssed). In no way were we a security risk, and a baby saying 'bye bye plane' I would think is lovely, and guess he's been sat in the terminal waving goodbye to the planes.
However, a child making a lot of noise during a safety briefing could be considered an issue. Everybody should be able to listen to the demo uninterrupted, so, I feel the crew would have been justified in requesting that the mother tries to quieten her child until the briefing is over. How they do this probably depends on how much interaction they've had with children/parents themselves, (I know as well as anyone how difficult it is to keep a screaming child quiet. And if someone asked me to 'shut my baby up' in the wrong way then I could become a security issue as I'd be livid).
I could however understand how crew could instigate an offload because the child was interrupting a safety briefing and the mother was doing nothing to try and quieten it down (saying that I don't think I would ever actaully do it myself, being a parent I know how stressful travelling with kids is anyway).
The only time I have ever considered (I don't want to use the word threatain because I'm not that kind of person) an offload involving children is when they refuse to sit down when the seatbelt signs are on -take off, landing and turbulance- the airline I work for are big on safety and I am too. I feel having a child not strapped in properly not only compromises it's safety but everyones. Imagine even a small 20lb child being flung through the air and hitting you, it'd cause both you and it damage. Plus lets face it if you cannot restrain your child for a few minutes then you and your child have serious issues. I've told parents they will have to hold their child down to keep it seated if necessary, otherwise I'm not happy to take them.
I don't know if that sounds harsh, but I feel I am qualified to comment, I travel frequently with my two very young children and make damn sure they sit down when they need to. They can scream and shout all they like (except during the safety demo lol), I'd rather have a screaming, upset kid, then crash and have two dead ones because I didn't strap them in.
Dunno if thats any help
And it's just my opinion,
Ezy
I don't understand where the security aspect comes in, is it because the baby was saying 'bye bye plane'?
I remember taking my eldest to CDG aged about 2. As we were taking off he started shouting "whhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee crassssssssh", after taking off he started shouting "bomb bang bang" (I have no idea where he got that from). The crew had a little chuckle, bearing in mind I'm crew myself so they did know me and could see I was embarrasssed). In no way were we a security risk, and a baby saying 'bye bye plane' I would think is lovely, and guess he's been sat in the terminal waving goodbye to the planes.
However, a child making a lot of noise during a safety briefing could be considered an issue. Everybody should be able to listen to the demo uninterrupted, so, I feel the crew would have been justified in requesting that the mother tries to quieten her child until the briefing is over. How they do this probably depends on how much interaction they've had with children/parents themselves, (I know as well as anyone how difficult it is to keep a screaming child quiet. And if someone asked me to 'shut my baby up' in the wrong way then I could become a security issue as I'd be livid).
I could however understand how crew could instigate an offload because the child was interrupting a safety briefing and the mother was doing nothing to try and quieten it down (saying that I don't think I would ever actaully do it myself, being a parent I know how stressful travelling with kids is anyway).
The only time I have ever considered (I don't want to use the word threatain because I'm not that kind of person) an offload involving children is when they refuse to sit down when the seatbelt signs are on -take off, landing and turbulance- the airline I work for are big on safety and I am too. I feel having a child not strapped in properly not only compromises it's safety but everyones. Imagine even a small 20lb child being flung through the air and hitting you, it'd cause both you and it damage. Plus lets face it if you cannot restrain your child for a few minutes then you and your child have serious issues. I've told parents they will have to hold their child down to keep it seated if necessary, otherwise I'm not happy to take them.
I don't know if that sounds harsh, but I feel I am qualified to comment, I travel frequently with my two very young children and make damn sure they sit down when they need to. They can scream and shout all they like (except during the safety demo lol), I'd rather have a screaming, upset kid, then crash and have two dead ones because I didn't strap them in.
Dunno if thats any help
And it's just my opinion,
Ezy
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I am VERY interested in your comments and views on this:- how the cabin crew dealt with this - would you have done the same?
It was obviously a smaller aircraft, with a great oppotunity to get some intelligent humour into the situation............... "I'm sorry, our youngest passenger hasn't yet read the rules about keeping quiet during the safety briefing. I'll start again..............."
Job done, and you're airborne.
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I followed this thread from start to finish, including links to press coverage and interviews with other pax sat nearby.
1. The child continually repeated the phrase "bye, bye airplane" as they taxied out.
2. CC suggested the mother administer some sort of sedative medication.
3. Mother quite rightly refused.
4. CC reported to captain that she had been threatened.
5. Captain returned a/c to stand where mother and child were disembarked.
Nowhere was there any mention of this interrupting a safety brief.
Pax nearby said no threat of any kind was made to the CC.
In my opinion just another example of pax being unable to address any form of defence or complaint against CC who are having a bad day. I accept that CC can also face pax who are having a bad day but either way it's always the pax who ends up refused boarding wherever the fault lies.
1. The child continually repeated the phrase "bye, bye airplane" as they taxied out.
2. CC suggested the mother administer some sort of sedative medication.
3. Mother quite rightly refused.
4. CC reported to captain that she had been threatened.
5. Captain returned a/c to stand where mother and child were disembarked.
Nowhere was there any mention of this interrupting a safety brief.
Pax nearby said no threat of any kind was made to the CC.
In my opinion just another example of pax being unable to address any form of defence or complaint against CC who are having a bad day. I accept that CC can also face pax who are having a bad day but either way it's always the pax who ends up refused boarding wherever the fault lies.
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Not directly related to this issue, but I have noticed an increase of number people talking during safety briefing over the last few months (I travel on two flights a week with work between Ireland/Uk and mainland Europe)). I would say less than 20% of briefings are stopped.
I find it very rude and people should be spoken too. However a toddler is completely different. That is unacceptable.
I find it very rude and people should be spoken too. However a toddler is completely different. That is unacceptable.
