ATLANTA - A woman said she and her toddler son were kicked off a plane after she refused a flight attendant's request to medicate her son to get him to quiet down and stop saying "Bye bye, plane."

Kate Penland, of suburban Atlanta, said she and her 19-month-old son, Garren, were flying from Atlanta to Oklahoma last month on a Continental Express flight that made a stop in Houston.

As the plane was taxiing in Houston en route to Oklahoma, "he started saying 'Bye, bye plane,' Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta. The flight attendant objected, she said At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, 'It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up,'" Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta. When Penland asked the woman if she was joking, she said the stewardess replied, "You know, it's called baby Benadryl.And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight,'" Penland told the TV station Penland said other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, and the flight attendant announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.

Penland and her son were let off the plane and did not complete the trip to Oklahoma, said Kristy Nicholas, spokeswoman for Express Jet Airlines, which flies as Continental Express on behalf of Continental Airlines. Wanted: Child-free flights and no wind chimes
Airline defends removing family from flight ...
Baby on board: Traveling with youngsters ...

 

Attempts by the Associated Press to reach Penland under a telephone listing that matched her last name were unsuccessful. I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, 'What am I going to do? I don't have anything with me, I don't have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk," Penland told WSB.

Nicholas said, "We received Ms. Penland's letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19735896/ ... 

This News report ENRAGED me when I saw last week on news ... I may have to travel w babies one day ... and I Certainly have in past ... so this  REALLY burned me up .. Ive had to fly w sloppy obnoxious drunks and NEVER turned round to remove  to do a Mom and Baby  and stewerdess suggestions alone  worth her Firing  seems to me ..  Share Your feelings  and contact airlines to SHARE   also  This may soon affect all travlers ...                                                                                

http://3runningincircles.blogspot.com/2008/06 ...

Heres a lil more detail on circumstances  and the commentary  is so Right On ..    Please if this bothers you  go here also ..

I guess they'll kick you off for snoring too loud next. She needs to sue. While normally I'm against frivolous law suits, this is one time were its certainly not frivolous, not where such a young child is involved.

This is so ridiculous!! Next they are going to tell us that there is no farting, znoring, or they are even going to tell you too make sure you eat somethig so your tummy doesn't growl!! lol. That is how silly it sounds. I feel bad for the mom because she must have felt angry and sad that they were treated like this!!

This last trip we took was crazy with the airlines-they're OUT OF CONTROL. When we checked in at the airport the redid our boarding passes so we were had 4 tickets in Row 8, Row 10, Row 20 and Row 23. We had bought tickets all together, but they reassigned us and since our connection was tight we didn't have time to deal with it before boarding the next plane.

Ok, so there was me, my husband, my FOUR year old, my TWO year old and my lap baby.

When I told the flight attendant my two year old and four year old couldn't sit in their own rows, you know what she told me, "There's NOTHING I can do about it, I can't force anyone to move, you'll have to find someone to switch seats with you." 

It ended up being a real pain, with the first person I asked telling me he'd only switch with me if I had a window seat to give him (I didn't) and me telling him I was going to set my two year old in Row 8 with him and I was going to sit back in Row 20 and my husband promptly pushing me on down the aisle before my head exploded. 

Either way, it should have been the airlines responsibility, they rearranged us, they should have fixed it, instead we were treated like garbage.

We did however find a very nice lady traveling with teenagers that switched with us so I could sit with my kids.

It will be a long time before I fly again. 

What an AWFUL experience!!  Im SO Sorry  Did you ever  pursue that??!! That would have Head roller  grrr 

Flying with kids can be difficult and it is really up to the parents.  I know most airlines try to accomodate sitting 1 parent or adult with 1 child - I often hear them and have had to move before to help make that happen.

I just flew with Rivers from Phoenix to Portland, OR.  Going was fine, it was early in the day.  Coming home was still fine, just more challenging because we had a 2 hour drive before getting on the plane.  By the time we were on the plane, we was ready to move around.

At times, he was loud and talking.  However, I always told him "inside" voice and people were napping (the flight was after 7 PM).  He understood and would be quiet.  After awhile, something would get him excited and he would talk louder, so it was a repetitive process for myself.  Also, if we established the ground rule of not being allowed to touch the seat in front of him so that it did not disturb the person in front.  And when he did not touch, I always reminded him it was "hurting" the person in that seat. 

He understood and by communicating these things to him, I was teaching him and making sure those around us knew that I was trying to aware of how his behaviors made him feel.  Even though he may have been loud a few times, he was not screeching or screaming.  He was just happy and having fun. 

When we took off and landed, he kept  saying, "mommy, I go fast", "mommy plane go fast". 

For a stewersess to get sarcastic and demand you give your baby benydryl or any other med is just UNCONTIONABLE I Believe !! I dont think really a mommyy on this site would  take this lying down !!  Fact is momma was doing her best   After an 11 hour layover ... no less ... I this and Katies experiences probably Not the norm  but Airlines lax attitudes  are getting worse .. From All reports !!

This is sad. Some people now expect parents to drug their kids to get them to be quiet. Kids will be kids, duh. I might have to fly in the future, and I hope I don't have any problems with flight attendants or anything. CRAZY!!! Especially since she didn't have anything she needed to be able to take care of her son. -and it really didn't sound like he was making a huge scene or anything.....