Kids and Planes

Hey all, reading yet another article about kids disturbing others on planes, and the inability of airlines to do anything about it.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/man-booted-off-plane-after-kid-kicks-seat/story-e6frfq80-1226559163563

I have had similar things where kids kicking seats me etc over the years and parents not wanting to do anything about it.

The worst occasion happened on a regional flight from Sydney to Albury in NSW.  Three children were on the flight with no adult supervision.  15 minutes into the flight they were out of control, yelling screaming and running around the cabin.  The flight attendent did her best to keep them settled and was in constant communication with the pilot.

Then it happened.  One of the boys grabbed hold of the emergency mask panel and pulled it down, breaking the panel and exposing electrical wires on the plane.  The attendant was next to me when it happened.  I turned to her and said, its my turn if thats ok with you ?  I got up and made my intentions clear as I approached from behind.  Telling the kids that they had put mine and other peoples lives in danger because of their actions and if they didn't sit down that everyone would sit on top of them until we landed.  The kids complied in a fashion.

The seatbelt lights were now on and I was moved to a seat directly behind them.

I was furious that this had happened my life and the 30 others were put in direct danger by those kids actions.  When we landed the pilot came into the cabin and told the kids they were not to leave, and he asked me to stay also. 

When we left the plane the kids parents were waiting, having spoken with the pilot and attendant we had a consistant timeline of events.  The poilot spoke with the parents, who basically said they didn't care and there was no way it was their kids.  I then chimed in and told them they were lucky we weren't strewn all over a field somewhere.

In the end the police turned up and the children and their parents were charged with various offences.  The airline refunded everyones fairs and gave us a free flight and I got a bottle os scotch delivered for my help.  Repairs to the aircraft came to $125,000 and downtime came to another $60,000  the parents were ordered to pay and last I heard they were losing their home over the incident.

The moral of this story is that children can be very dangerous on an aircraft, and that airlines need to be tough about the situation as was done in this case.  Kids are a lot of things but angels with and idea of what they can do is dangerous isnt one of them.


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