Rhode Island family says they were kicked off flight after 2-year-old daughter threw tantrum


Published March 09, 2012
| FoxNews.com
A Rhode Island family of four claims they were kicked off a flight from the Turks and Caicos Islands to Boston after their 2-year-old daughter threw a tantrum.
Colette Vieau said she was on board a JetBlue plane last month with her husband and two daughters -- Natalie, 2, and Cecilia, 3 -- when Natalie began acting up before take-off, WJAR-TV reported Thursday.
According to the family's account, Natalie, who was refusing to sit down, had to be held in place by her parents. Vieau said she and her husband eventually managed to fasten the girl's seat belt, while also dealing with their other daughter.
"We were holding them down with all of our might, seat belt on," Vieau said. "And I said, 'We have them seated. Can we go now?'"
However, JetBlue's captain reportedly ruled that the aircraft could not take off safely with the family on board and ordered them off the plane. With no other planes departing that night, the family ended up paying $2,000 for an extra night in a hotel and to rebook their flights, Vieau said.
"We did what we were asked to do. We weren't belligerent, drunk, angry or screaming. We were just having a hard time struggling with our children," Vieau said.
"I don't know that I could blame JetBlue, to be totally fair. I just feel like it's airplane travel today in general. I was certainly upset by the way this flight attendant handled the situation."
In a statement, JetBlue said that the flight "had customers that did not comply with crew member instructions for a prolonged time period. The captain elected to remove the customers involved for the safety of all customers and crew members on board."
Newscore contributed to this report.

I feel bad for them. Too bad someone wont hammer all the jerks who ignore the "fasten seatbelt" sign.

You have to be kidding me. $2000.00 for a hotel room. I wouldn't give you $2000 for the whole island

$2,000 hotel room so they can include that in their lawsuit......

You feel bad for wimpy parents who can't control their kid in public places?

In a way yes, in a way no! I feel bad they paid $2000 for a hotel room and flights but not that they got kicked off. Its seems there is an epidemic of people who dont control their damn kids.

Oh you can control them though you may be facing a visit from the Department of Child Services when someone complains that they thought you were dealing with YOUR out-of-control children in an inappropriate manner.

USMCFLYR

I bet Raul the lawyer was on board.

Bottom line is....perhaps they should have thought about just that situation before even attempting such a vacation. Hell I wouldn't even take my 2 or 3 year old child (when they were that age) to the movies much less put them on a plane for 4+ hours.... crazy. Its not even controlling a child... these are toddlers that are going to act up... people should be courteous of others and not put themselves in that situation.

Hopefully this sets a precedence for all the kids misbehaving on the plane that the parents think are "just being kids"...