Yes, that is super weird. When we were in a 2-seat/1-seat situation, we put the car seat in the window seat, I sat next to it, and my husband sat across the aisle. The baby wasn’t alone, I could read to her, etc., and easily switched seats with my husband when I needed a break. I would NEVER expect a child that age to sit on an airplane alone. It seems almost cruel.
I don’t understand why it didn’t occur to them when the pregnancy stick showed the little “+” sign.
I agree with the airline’s decision to boot them from the plane, but there are so many stories that differ in details as to make the entire situation confusing, and range from making the parents a little clueless to making them ridiculously stupid in their own actions.
If the two seats/one seat story is true, that’s probably the worst one in regard to trusting them to actually make rational decisions. Seriously, who leaves a small child in the “single” seat that isn’t grouped with their parents?
Actually, I just went back and asked, and it was on a radio show. So it may be hearsay - if it is, I apologize - I thought it was a newspaper article.
Even so, I do think there are clueless parents out there who think it would be okay. I really hope the percentage of parents who think this is okay is very, very small, but it wouldn’t surprise me that they’re out there.
The crew did the right thing. I want to join the 92% of people who contact the airline to say, “Good job.” Can somebody post their email address? Or would that violate the no email campaigns rule?
I’m sure you could google AirTrans and find their site.
Haven’t you people ever heard of overhead lockers? Sheesh 
Or the airline should have offered them the option of an animal carrier in the baggage compartment.
This story reminds me of another clueless parent I observed once. This idiot, boorish mother had a seven-ish daughter with her who had nothing of her own to occupy her. No books, dolls, toys, coloring books, or comic books… nada. The poor thing was neglected and bored almost to tears (or a tantrum, whichever was going to come first). The mother was [self-]absorbed in a trashy novel she brought for herself, the fudgin’ witch. I found little things to slip the kid (who sat between us) from the in-flight magazines and my newspaper, and she was greatly relieved just to have something to look at and fiddle with.
Returning to the OP, what scares me is the 8% of the responses in favor of the parents. (Probably the same people who are most adamantly against any kind of spanking, ever, and who want to criminalize it.)
I am adamantly against spanking, I have a 3 1/2 year old, and I recently flew with him (and my husband, baby, and dog) from Australia to the East Coast of the U.S. There is no way in hell my son would have been allowed to cause this kind of disruption. I would have either just strapped him in or gotten off the plane. Just because I don’t spank doesn’t mean I think it’s okay to cause other people to be inconvenienced by my child’s behavior. Choosing not to spank does not (necessarily) mean an absence of discipline. I think the airline was totally justified in their actions.
Heck, just tell the kid that sitting in the passenger compartment is a privlige, not a right, and if she insists on misbehaving, there IS a nice, roomy cargo hold available…
Tell the kid to go play outside on the wing.
A story about the incident on abcnews.com offers this pearl of advice on how parents should cope with such problems (from a “parenting contributor” on Good Morning America"):
When in public, every parent’s mantra should be this: “I don’t know any of these people, and I’m never going to see them again.” Just focus on your child, not on the other people around you who are giving you dirty looks. Your goal is to be your child’s advocate, to be there for your child.
Yep. Don’t even give a moment’s thought to all those other people on the flight who are having their connections screwed up by the delay. Your goal during the extended tantrum is to “be there for your child”. :rolleyes:
I am reminded of the Charles Addams cartoon where Morticia answers the door to find a delivery man holding two locked pet carriers, each containing a child. She calls over her shoulder “Darling! It’s the children, home from summer camp!” 
On my last trip I really cracked up watching the 1 year old next to me on its mother’s lap watch a 2-3 year old diagonally across from us throw a huge stormy fit. The 1 year old was looking on in absolute disgust and the best part was how it would look up at its mother and then look back at the kid like “can you believe that one?”
It was a very sweet child. On the way back I sat next to a really cool 9 year old girl, too. I had a good time telling her about old school kids books (Wolves of Willoughby Chase etc.)
I’m not a huge kids person (I tend to take a liking to specific kids, not kids in general…usually it’s kids where I like the parents, I’ll like the child) but I have to say that it’s the obnoxious ones that stand out in my mind and their general awfulness drives all the well-behaved ones into the background.
Kudos to the airline for taking a stand on this one, though. I’d rather listen to a screaming live one and be on my way than spend 50 minutes on the ground waiting for the kid to come out of its lair.
There’s some philosophy out there called “child led parenting” or non-coercive parenting…maybe they were part of that group.
Seems they could have done something. Aren’t there cages for pet monkeys?
Thank you, C3 - I too strongly feel that corporal punishment is simply wrong. Yet I’m with the consensus on this thread.
“When in public, every parent’s mantra should be this: “I don’t know any of these people, and I’m never going to see them again.” Just focus on your child, not on the other people around you who are giving you dirty looks. Your goal is to be your child’s advocate, to be there for your child.”
The thing is, there’s a message here, and there’s a logic there, but it’s so misappropriated that you can forget about why it existed.
I was making fun of those to my roommate. I rolled my eyes at the one about holding the child in your lap for a few minutes. In this incident, the problem was exactly that the child wasn’t in her seat.
Her advice was probably added in without regard to context.
Three; wouldn’t want to separate the parents from the child now would we?
This is what pisses me off. When you become a parent, you’re not an advocate. You’re an executive. How the hell is this hard to understand?
I do not hold an instrument rating, but I’m under the impression that IFR departures must be made within a given ‘slot’. Miss your slot, and you may not be able to take off. First question (for ‘heavy’ pilots): Is this true? Second question: If it’s true, how wide is the slot?