Passengers heading to Toronto from Victoria, British Columbia, were delayed overnight more than 12 hours because of an obstinate toddler. The Porter Airlines E195-2 was ready to line up for the six-hour redeye last Thursday when the kid won a standoff against a parent and crew members. As the plane idled at the end of the runway, the child “was standing in their seat and would not secure their seatbelt,” a statement from the airline said. “Attempts by the accompanying parent and crew to address this were unsuccessful. The aircraft could not takeoff in this unsafe condition, so the crew elected to return to the terminal and have the passengers disembark.”
At first, only the parent and child were taken off the plane, but eventually all passengers headed back to the gate. The airline did the match and decided they didn’t have time to dig out the parent and child’s luggage and do all the paperwork before the runway closed. The flight was canceled and the passengers rebooked for the following afternoon. “We apologize for the effect this had on other passengers,” the airline said in the statement. It’s not clear if the airline paid for hotel rooms for the stranded passengers.
A toddler you say? We recently flew with our 2 year old, and he wasn’t going to sit and be strapped either. Fortunately he had a mom that made it happen regardless without consulting his wishes. I wonder if they considered that option?
Seeing some of the “free spirits” that occupy space and take up oxygen in BC I would say no. That option of parenting probably is as foreign to these jokers as daily bathing probably is
Failure to parent.
Most ridiculous thing I’ve read lately. Take their luggage to the destination and then send it back the next day. Being without their luggage for a day is their penalty for being incompetent parents.
True to a large degree, but there are ways for parents to still be parents effectively.
It does seem surprising that the cabin crew and the parent couldn’t restrain a toddler in a seat. Don’t they carry tie-wraps on board for restraining unruly passengers?
Hopefully the parent paid for the 100+ hotel rooms, but I doubt it.
I’ll bet that family is permanently blocked from that airline!
One would sincerely hope so. A clear parenting failure on someone’s part. A timeout and perhaps a “private discussion” in the restroom would be in order. I’m amazed at how people having kids today are barely more mature and socially conscious than their children. And they think that’s okay….!
Dear Lord…
I realize that I’m old (71+), but had I been that toddler, my parents would have made me sit and the act of sitting would have been a bit more uncomfortable due to the glow from my arse…
And no, it would not have been child abuse. It was called discipline and I owe a great measure of whatever success I’ve had in life to its application by parents who cared.
Come on, surely there must be comments on this!!
Just remember that AI data centers are recording these comments for use in the future.
Strangely, I posted my query when there were no comments visible, which I thought was odd on such a story! Yet according to this system there were comments posted quite a bit earlier. Not sure why I could not see them or wouldn’t have wasted my breath
Freedom isn’t free. Our founding fathers had to fight for it too. Don’t give up.
Apparently you don’t, regardless of the negative reactions to your posts.
The truth is not determined by how many people agree with it.
Some quality parenting going on there. I’d hope Porter bans these clowns from flying in their airline for life.
wow. Just wow.
New luggage rules for the family with a toddler. All their luggage gets a tag that says “Load Last” and indeed is closest to the door so it can be found and extracted quickly.
In 2005 I boarded a British Airways 747 in business class for a flight from Heathrow to O’Hare. An obviously priveleged (expensive clothes) young teenage girl and her strikingly beautiful mother sat down about 10 feet away, but the girl simply refused to buckle her seat belt. They were told the aircraft could not taxi or fly unless she was belted. The standoff lasted about 15-20 minutes, with flight attendants and the mother entreating the girl to buckle up. Then she abruptly stood up and vomited all over the floor in front of her seat. It looked to me as if she had simply willed herself to do this as a way to win this argument. Now the flight attendants had to clean up this mess as the girl calmly looked on, smirking at them. However, after about another 15 minutes the mother did succeed in getting the girl to put on her seat belt, and we departed, albeit 30 minutes late.
Spare the rod, spoil the child. Most of us were raised with spankings, both at home and in schools. Pity that we now have laws that prevent the creation of a well-mannered, behaved society.
‘Obstinate Toddler Cancels Flight’
At first the headline made me think that it was a story about Trump flying so of course I had to read the rest of the story.
This kid is probably going to be a future Trump supporter even if he or she is Canadian.
This story was bound to provoke strong feelings and I don’t mind that but let’s remember that none of us was there and the circumstances are not likely fully captured by the airline’s statement. Any comments that (in my opinion) go over the top will be trashed.
That’s ok Russ. But just remember, that works both ways. When we censor the heartfelt opinions of others who sincerely have the best interests of our nation in mind, simply because of bowing to leftists who hate the truth, we tend to lose the participation of the nations best people. Probably not a good thing.
I don’t think the politics of anyone involved in this incident was a factor, Jay.
Lots Of truth gets pigeonholed and ignored by labeling it as politics, but the consequences to society still remain.
Look deeper
Of all the clients that I flew for 15 years of fractional, owner, and charter, I can remember only two trips where I could tell that the parents were in charge of their children. I refused to take my sister’s kids for an airplane ride because I felt they had absolutely no appreciation for what it takes to be a passenger or pilot on an airplane. I had one family where when I offered to take their luggage to the airplane the mom said, “thats ok, my teenage boys can handle that”. I can’t imagine the frustration the airline crew felt dealing with parents who can’t or won’t control their own children. Bruce_S said it perfectly. If that had been me refusing to act appropriately, my father would have, to put it mildly, tanned my backside!
It’s interesting to me that almost all the comments focus on the inability to get the child to do what was wanted. To me the interaction should have been between the airline and the adult parent. The airline should have insisted that the parent get off the flight with the child just like they would do with any unruly adult. If the adult balked, enlist security to make it happen. Ridiculous for the airline to act as the victim of an unruly child.
So the adults involved couldn’t get a toddler to sit but succeeded to remove the child from the aircraft apparently without incident.
Has to be a story from the Onion – Russ throwing in some humor, keepin’ us on our toes.
If not, we’re sleepwalking into madness.