# "Flight Is Canceled After a Child Refuses to Be Seated" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 10, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260 "2026-08-10T01:32:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/101 "2026-08-10T17:33:01Z")
I have a friend whose first child was very easy. Happy and good natured. If she cried, there was always something wrong that they could fix. He said they got very judgemental about other people with crying kids in public. Then they had a second child… Let’s just say they stopped being judgemental about that really fast. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/102 "2026-08-10T17:37:54Z")
It just occurred to me that even if it was free, you can’t “just” put a bunch of new safety devices on a plane. I have very familiar with how it works with automotive and it’s can’t be much different with aircraft. Something like that would have to go through extensive and very expensive testing before it would ever be allowed to be used by airplane employees. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/103 "2026-08-10T18:03:02Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yes, i can’t imagine that hitting a terrified toddler would improve any situation. Getting the parents to cough up the ransom? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/104 "2026-08-10T18:20:53Z")
The more I read the cite I posted, the more I’m inclined to fault the crew for how they handled it. Either the cabin crew didn’t alert the captain that there was a child who refused to sit down and get buckled up **before** the captain pushed away from the gate or the captain told the cabin crew, “We’re leaving now, get the kid buckled up” and pushed back anyway. Tell me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it the responsibility of the cabin crew to make sure the passengers are buckled in during the taxi as well as at take off and landing? And shouldn’t the captain not taxi all the way out to the runway until they’re sure all the passengers are secure? If I had been the captain, I would have given the parent and the crew a reasonable amount of time (5 minutes?) to get things squared away before ordering the cabin doors locked, and putting the family off it kid still wouldn’t sit down. If the passenger had been a drunken adult who refused to cooperate, they would have been removed before the doors were closed. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/105 "2026-08-10T18:23:46Z")
According to the admittedly slim reporting so far, the kid was seated and then slipped out of the restraints. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/106 "2026-08-10T18:29:34Z")
This is why you begin at home training a child to act right in pu,blic It’s harder with some kids. My youngest granddaughter, when she was 3 would never have given in, unless she decided she wanted too. They walked out of many places, her wailing, hanging on to her for dear life(she was a runner too). I wouldn’t have taken her on a flight for all the tea in China. She was, still is, a mess. Much much better as she’s aged up As a toddler, all bets were off. When you’re out in public with an unruly toddler you get judged(fairly, or unfairly) about everything. A seasoned grandma, a mother of boys or a childless executive type will tsk tsk you, offer bad advice or more likely making it worse. An experienced parent would have seen this coming on. That’s when the behavior adjustment should have happened. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/107 "2026-08-10T18:43:19Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > An experienced parent would have seen this coming on. How do you know that? Maybe that kid is generally pretty well behaved, but that day, for whatever reason, they got scared shitless about being on a plane. Toddlers can be pretty unpredictable. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/108 "2026-08-10T18:44:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > None of my kids would ever have dared to try shit like that. Who the fuck is in charge in that family? I certainly never would have, as a child of any age. But then, I was terrified of my father and his violence (which really helped us get along as adults \s) so in my case stuff like that was pre-emptively prevented. > [@Jasmine](#): > > So, when the mom asked, “Please, PLEASE sit down so I can buckle your seat belt, oh pretty, pretty, PRETTY please?!”, and was unsuccessful, she and the crew then gave up and an untold number of passengers were punished instead? I can’t imagine why you think this is how they attempted to handle it. This thread has been very educational to me, a non-parent. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/109 "2026-08-10T18:49:33Z")
Maybe @LSLGuy can comment for US standards, but i think they check to make sure everyone is buckled as the plane rumbles off to line up for takeoff. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/110 "2026-08-10T18:51:02Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Indeed thanks for posting that, I’ll note your article mentions an FAA approved CARES harness. Yes a harness. Apparently it’s lightweight easy to use and relatively inexpensive. While airlines may provide infant bassinets on long haul flights and loop belts that attach an infant in arms to the adult belt, they don’t provide the CARES harness. Here’s the one we use in the car. Much easier to deal with than a car seat. I’ve heard of people taking these on planes but I’m not sure how it works because the purpose is to adjust the over the shoulder part. Planes generally don’t have that. Note the price - these aren’t cheap. > **[Amazon.com : RideSafer Travel Vest Gen 6 - Large (50-80 lbs) - Blue -...](https://www.amazon.com/RideSafer-Travel-Vest-Gen-Lightweight/dp/B0GPL1WPLG)** > > RideSafer Travel Vest Gen 6 is the portable child restraint meeting federal safety standards, trusted by families since 2000. Weighing less than 1.5 pounds and folding flat, it's perfect for rental cars, rideshares, and grandparents. Most kids ages... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/111 "2026-08-10T18:51:31Z")
Many of us have likely encountered families with young children out in public, where the parents clearly either have no interest in trying to manage their children’s behavior, or their efforts to do so are perfunctory and ineffectual. It feels like that’s what a number of posters in this thread assume happened. The details on exactly what happened aren’t entirely clear, as others have noted, but I’m not convinced that the incident was a matter of parental indifference or unwillingness to do what they could to get and keep the child in their seat. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/112 "2026-08-10T18:52:38Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Maybe @LSLGuy can comment for US standards, but i think they check to make sure everyone is buckled as the plane rumbles off to line up for takeoff. I’d also be curious if the Canadian standards are any different from the U.S., as the flight in question was on a Canadian airline traveling between Canadian airports. (I doubt it’d be substantially different, but I don’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/113 "2026-08-10T18:54:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’m not convinced that the incident was a matter of parental indifference or unwillingness to do what they could to get and keep the child in their seat. That seems unlikely. If that was all it took, we’d see a case like this every week. And we don’t. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/114 "2026-08-10T18:56:54Z")
Looking at related topics under this thread, there are discussions about children on planes going back to 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/115 "2026-08-10T18:58:02Z")
Kid Cheesesteak was generally a good kid, not too much trouble. Then he refused to get his annual vaccination. Yelling, crying, hiding under the table, etc. etc. etc. I came back with him a week later, he got the shot and said “That’s it?” I think a passenger saying that the kid wasn’t bratty, but was very scared, makes the analysis of this very different. Sometimes you can defuse the fear, sometimes it just doesn’t happen, and having a terrified kid thinking they’re going to die for the next couple hours is not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/116 "2026-08-10T18:59:39Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Looking at related topics under this thread, there are discussions about children on planes going back to 2000. No doubt; I’ve had my own issues on planes with fussy/kicky kids next to or behind me, and a couple of them were seemingly the product of parents (or, in one case, a grandmother) unwilling to effectively stop the bad behavior; most were just unhappy, overtired, and uncomfortable kids who were difficult to console. But, how many of those topics involved kid behavior which violated airline/aviation rules? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/117 "2026-08-10T19:01:17Z")
> [@chela](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > see parents strapping kids into car seats on airplanes all the time. You are seeking a solution to a problem that’s already been solved. > > Indeed thanks for posting that, I’ll note your article mentions an FAA approved CARES harness. Yes a harness. Apparently it’s lightweight easy to use and relatively inexpensive. While airlines may provide infant bassinets on long haul flights and loop belts that attach an infant in arms to the adult belt, they don’t provide the CARES harness. Some, not all, airlines provide bassinets. They require you to book in advance, and you need to be in bulkhead seating. That’s because the logistics of bassinets are complex. The logistics of child seats are easy. There’s a list of approved ones. I suspect it’s easier for parents who need one to just bring their own. I really think you are attempting to fix a system that isn’t broken. The problem seems to be that the parents didn’t realize they would need to tie up their kid. (And maybe if they’d known the flight would terrify their child, they would have made different choices altogether. Restraining a terrified toddler in a harness can’t be a terrific solution, either.) ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/118 "2026-08-10T19:10:44Z")
Nice alternative to a car seat for the older kids, can’t imagine lugging booster seats in and out of ride shares etc. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > But, how many of those topics involved kid behavior which violated airline/aviation rules? I see the first two topics relate to getting the boot off of the plane. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/119 "2026-08-10T19:15:31Z")
And when his grandfather was in town earlier this month we didn’t have to constantly swap out a car seat. It’s not nearly as challenging as trying to get a car seat hooked up. I had a friend recommend it for travel but I realized this was going to be the default even at home. My son likes it a lot better too. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260/120 "2026-08-10T19:17:41Z")
> [@chela](#): > > I see the first two topics relate to getting the boot off of the plane. One from 2007, and one from 2008, which suggests a pretty infrequent occurrence. _shrug_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-is-canceled-after-a-child-refuses-to-be-seated/1032260.md?page=7)