The three-year-old boy THROWN OFF Alaska Airline flight for refusing to fasten his se
 

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 00:37, 31 May 2012 | UPDATED: 03:49, 31 May 2012

A three-year-old boy has been kicked off an aeroplane after refusing to buckle his seatbelt while taxiing on the runway.

Mark Yanchak of Everett, Alaska admitted his son Daniel was a bit cranky while wanting to be near him during take-off, but said the crew aboard their Alaska Airlines flight out of Seattle, Washington was even crankier.

'I started putting him in his seat. I put his seatbelt on. But he was being cranky, trying to be close to me, so he wasn't fully fastened yet,' Mr Yanchak told My Northwest of their planned departure on Saturday.


Cranky: This 3-year-old boy and his father were kicked off an Alaska Airline flight on Saturday after the boy refused to buckle his seatbelt causing a tantrum

Taxiing on the runway of Sea-Tac International, the boy's mother seated in first class with their younger son and her mother, returned to help with a pacifier and some water for the boy.

By the time he had settled down, however, the pilot had already ordered it back to the gate.

It was then, to Mr Yanchak's claimed surprise, a representative asked him and his son to get off he says without explaining why.

'I’m like, "Do we have to?" I said, "He's fine. He's calm. Do we have to?" the father told KIRO-TV.


Returned: By the time the boy's father was able to get his son to settle down, the Alaska Airlines pilot had announced their return to the gate (file photo)

The airline said they spoke with the father three or four times, with the boy seen at one point laying across his seat and the seatbelt near his neck, before making their decision to return to the gate.

Alaska Airlines says it was a matter of safety and the pilot would rather deal with it on the ground than in mid-flight.

Mr Yanchak's wife Svetlana, told KIRO-TV she felt like they were treated like criminals.

'It was 23 rows (back). It was pretty embarrassing,' the father said of his family's exit.


Humiliated: Mark and Svetlana Yanchuck, pictured, admit their son was being fussy but say they were humiliated having to exit the plane even after calming their son down

The airliner offered to put the family on another flight but the father said after their experience, they don't want to fly with the airline again.

That certainly was the case for his son, he said.

'As soon as we got off the plane he was like, "Dad, no fly, go home. Let's go home," Mr Yanchak said. 'I think the whole ordeal just scared him off. He didn't want to fly again.'

Read more: Alaska Airlines flight returns to gate after three-year-old boy of Mark Yanchak refuses to buckle his seatbelt | Mail Online

I predict another feedy frensy on this one somewhere on this board :)

I sat next to a mum and a three year old yesterday on a flight and the child kept undoing her seat belt and standing up on the seat both on take off and approach. A sweet little girl but the mother didn't seem in the least concerned about the possible risk to the child or other passengers, nor did she attempt to support the cabin crew in doing their job. In the end I tightened the belt round the child and fastened it with the metal flap on the inside so she couldn't release it. Problem solved, not very elegantly, but solved.

Then when I was helping the mother to get her bag out of the overhead, a woman tried to force her way past everybody rudely, cursing and swearing at me when I suggested she learned some manners and patience. I sometimes wonder what happens to people when they get on an aircraft.

Well done the pilot - if parents cannot discipline and control their children, it's better they all stay on the ground.

I'm confused.

First they say he was thrown off, then they say he was kicked off. Which was it?

I suppose he was THROWN and KICKED. Wonder why didn't Daily use that kind of combination..
I imagine those parents would actually sue the company if their child impacted ceiling/floor/armrest because of the sudden braking during taxi/turbulence (you name it), so, a good decision by pilot.

At last ! Never had a single problem with my 3 who flew within weeks of being born , and regularly thereafter . If I had had a problem , the merest suggestion that the offender might have to stay home would have cured the problem instantly . People have to stop believing that infants ' have a choice ' , flying in the back has become a nightmare .

The parent in me would correct the story, as follows: The kid might've been fussy, but at age three it's the parent's job to make him follow the rules.

Should have told him that the bogeyman on the fin would get him if he didn't strap in :}

One side to the story. Presume that there is a little more to it then the parent is telling, no cabin crew is going to just turn back on a whim without giving fair warning to those concerned.
Surprising how many parents seem to be unable or unwilling to control their child. Mine have flown regularly, and they didn't like the safety belt, but were not given the chance to debate it with me.

Exactly, which is why I am surprised at how often I see examples of bad parenting which result in unruly children.

For some strange reason the term "Bolshy" springs to mind...

Is Everett in Alaska or has the DM got it wrong again?

No doubt if the crew allowed the flight to continue with the kid unsecured and he was seriously injured or killed in an RTO, the parents would be suing the airline. The parents are responsible here, and they may not appreciate it but the crew were doing the right thing. If there's a high speed rejected takeoff and you're not strapped in, it's going to be ugly.

Three year old with a pacifier.... kid is going to have problems later in life.

Torque Tonight, absolutely right. However, the child had calmed down and was complying by the time they returned to the gate and off-loaded them. For me it's yet another of many typically American OTT reactions we seem to witness more and more often these days.

HT, so they taxy out again and the kids plays up again, so they return to stand again and the kid calms down again, so they taxy out again...... ad infinitum.

Just like offloading bags for passengers who fail to get to the gate on time, and then once the bags are off pitch up and want to get on the aircraft. Once you start a process you have to see it through to completion otherwise not many aircraft would ever go anywhere with constant disruption.

Of course, what the Father should have done is to hold child down by force , tighten the seatbelt as much as possible and then keep the child pinned down into the seat no matter how much it screamed and fought back. At 36 months, it should damn well know better.
Without doubt, the passengers on the aircraft and a number of posters here, would have fully understood and approved of this action. Inevitably, there would be complaints about the noise but that could be dealt with by even firmer action from the parent perhaps by administering corporal punishment - liberally if necessary.
Quite frankly, it's the only way they'll ever learn how to behave.

You may notice that the family group was separated, with child and father in the back and three others up in first class.

Now nobody on US domestic flights pays for first class, it's all about scoring upgrades, which US travellers seem absolutely besotted with. It seems from reading that the mother felt she had better control of what they freely admitted was a difficult small child, despite which the desire to claim an upgrade was put first, and she deliberately put herself at the opposite end of the aircraft.

Wrong, of course. The incident was in Seattle. Everett is a suburb, sort of.