Autistic child and family forced off plane

IMO, the mom created the situation threatening that her kid would start scratching (by her own quote):

Woman Claims She and Daughter With Autism Were Kicked Off United Airlines Flight - ABC News


If she wanted the "hot" first class food she should have paid for a first class ticket. I do typically side with parents here but she never should have threatened the scratching.

That's not threatening in my opinion, if it's true then it's a fact. I'd say she was warning them personally.

I don't understand why they wouldn't let her purchase a meal though, in these circumstances they could have allowed for it, they always carry a little spare food in case some is spoiled.

The pilot was correct in his decision though, as Biker said, it's his flight, in the plane he has the responsibility of getting the passengers down safely, but it never should have had to come to him. The airline could have saved themselves a fortune in staff, fuel, compensation, had they have made REASONABLE ADJUSTMENT and allowed them hot food.
 
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To respond in parts

That's not threatening in my opinion, if it's true then it's a fact. I'd say she was warning them personally.
Let's turn this around a bit. If I were to say to you "get her a hot sandwich or she will shoot you", would you take that as a threat? Probably. If she were armed and as unreasonable as they say would it be fact? Again, probably. This isn't any different. The type of bodily harm and with few exceptions the location where the threat was said, does not change the fact that this was a threat.

The only "location" exception that would be as you said a warning not a threat would be "get off of my property or my dog will bite you" as at that point you're warning against legitimate punishment.

I don't understand why they wouldn't let her purchase a meal though, in these circumstances they could have allowed for it, they always carry a little spare food in case some is spoiled.
The only way to "purchase" first class food is to pay the extra money for a first class ticket. If you don't do that you don't get it, period. When you buy that first-class ticket you pay for 4 things: More comfort, better food, better drinks, better service. The mom didn't pay so she shouldn't get. Now what the mom could have done when booking is make a special meal request then (just in case) so they had food for the child. The mom clearly didn't do that. Since she didn't, there's no way the airline would have extra meals just in case. More weight = more used fuel to carry it and they are not going to spend money on gas "just in case" a rowdy mother in coach wants a hot meal for her daughter.

The pilot was correct in his decision though, as Biker said, it's his flight, in the plane he has the responsibility of getting the passengers down safely, but it never should have had to come to him. The airline could have saved themselves a fortune in staff, fuel, compensation, had they have made REASONABLE ADJUSTMENT and allowed them hot food.

Again, this points to the difference between first class (and business class) and the rest of the plane. When I fly in coach for work I know that unless it's a long-haul over-seas flight that I'm going to be lucky if I get anything more than a bag of peanuts or pretzels. If I have special dietary needs (like even having something heated up) it's my responsibility to warn the airline before hand so they can make proper accommodations.
 
Let's turn this around a bit. If I were to say to you "get her a hot sandwich or she will shoot you", would you take that as a threat? Probably. If she were armed and as unreasonable as they say would it be fact? Again, probably. This isn't any different. The type of bodily harm and with few exceptions the location where the threat was said, does not change the fact that this was a threat.

This is simply the mother warning them that when the child gets frustrated she scratches. The "scratching" is not a weapon, it's obviously the way the child vents frustration. A friend of mine has a son who is autistic, but to vent his frustration he will pinch, make loud noises, and hit himself. To suggest that that comment was a threat and to compare it to "... or she will shoot you."

Besides, I'm sure she said "scratch," not "scratch you"

The only "location" exception that would be as you said a warning not a threat would be "get off of my property or my dog will bite you" as at that point you're warning against legitimate punishment.

She's not a dog, in your example here the dog is being used as a defence, an autistic child is totally different.



The only way to "purchase" first class food is to pay the extra money for a first class ticket. If you don't do that you don't get it, period. When you buy that first-class ticket you pay for 4 things: More comfort, better food, better drinks, better service. The mom didn't pay so she shouldn't get. Now what the mom could have done when booking is make a special meal request then (just in case) so they had food for the child. The mom clearly didn't do that. Since she didn't, there's no way the airline would have extra meals just in case. More weight = more used fuel to carry it and they are not going to spend money on gas "just in case" a rowdy mother in coach wants a hot meal for her daughter.

No, they carry a little extra food "just in case" food gets spoiled, or "just in case" they realise the food is contaminated.


Again, this points to the difference between first class (and business class) and the rest of the plane. When I fly in coach for work I know that unless it's a long-haul over-seas flight that I'm going to be lucky if I get anything more than a bag of peanuts or pretzels. If I have special dietary needs (like even having something heated up) it's my responsibility to warn the airline before hand so they can make proper accommodations.

I understand that she should have made them aware, it's possible that she did make them aware, we don't know for sure. But we sure as hell know that they've wasted more money by landing the aircraft instead of feeding an autistic child a hot meal in exceptional circumstances.
 
This is simply the mother warning them that when the child gets frustrated she scratches. The "scratching" is not a weapon, it's obviously the way the child vents frustration. A friend of mine has a son who is autistic, but to vent his frustration he will pinch, make loud noises, and hit himself. To suggest that that comment was a threat and to compare it to "... or she will shoot you."

Besides, I'm sure she said "scratch," not "scratch you"

Scratching is a violent act which airlines have no tolerance of. Your right, the mother didn't say "scratch you", at least according to the news articles but without specifying who it leaves the airlines open to interpretation. They got to look out for all the passengers including the mother and keep them from getting scratched. As such, they landed the plane. If I were the pilot I'd have done the same thing - only I'd have said it was because of the mother's threat of scratching and not because I was uncomfortable.

To again use my dog analogy since it works, it's just like saying "the dog will bite". I didn't say bite you, but I'm sure most people wouldn't think "this upset dog is going to bite itself" as their first thought.

She's not a dog, in your example here the dog is being used as a defence, an autistic child is totally different.
Yes it is, and I thought I made it clear that it was the only time a "threat" would be a warning which you said the mother's statements were.



No, they carry a little extra food "just in case" food gets spoiled, or "just in case" they realise the food is contaminated.
Still, a little extra food only for those in first class and a little extra for those in coach. If she thought she might need them to get hot food (and knowing her daughter she probably did think that ahead of time) she should have gotten the first class ticket.


Don't get me wrong. I'm not a United fan-boy. quite the opposite as I've refused to fly on them because of the crappy quality of their planes.
 
That woman did not pay for first class and yet expected special treatment for her daughter. The girl doesn't know what's going on but only what she wants. The mother is responsible for that.
 
That woman did not pay for first class and yet expected special treatment for her daughter. The girl doesn't know what's going on but only what she wants. The mother is responsible for that.

This. And she's flow before with her daughter so she should have known what kind of service level to expect and what is/is not available to them. Even if First class wasn't available the airline should have been made aware ahead of time that she might need special food. However it looks like the mother didn't do that so the blame is purely on her shoulders.
 
I agree with Celgorm, Celery, and iPwn. This is no big deal. The pilot put the concerns of ALL the passengers in front of one mother who started the trouble. It's all the mothers fault and I praise the pilot. I wouldn't want to be on a flight with a kid who's mother didn't make sure she had what she needed and then started causing havoc. I like my flights to be Calm, low noise, and stress free. And c'mon, there are MUCH bigger things happening in the world, this is nothing, leave it be in my opinion. :thumb:
 
Sorry to cut you guys off, but this might help to understand the situation a bit.
One of Cynthias brothers is Autistic, and he is at a pretty harsh level. That being said, he can still understand english, and knows what his mother is saying to him. He has flown before. Its almost crazy to think that someone would exploit their child to this degree. There has only been one time that Cynthias brother has caused dammage, and he ripped a majority of the home that he was in at the time to peaces. Why? Because he missed his mother. So you can see why this story bothers me personally. Also, I used to help out the special ed teacher at our school (not those with add/adhd...) and I can tell you that none of them where any more dangerous than they where allowed to be. In fact, I found the "Normal" population to be more dangerous and unpredictable than them.
 
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