Family kicked off Jet Blue Flight

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This morning I happen to turn on the Today show to catch the weather, and instead caught the above story about a family kicked off a Jet Blue flight because their daughter was having a temper tantrum before take off. Of course there is a little more to the story, but the headline caught me and as each minute passed I got more and more fired up about this predicament.

The Vieau family, from Rhode Island, were returning to Boston on a Jet Blue flight from Turks & Caicos last month. The doctor couple was traveling with their daughters who are 2 and 3 years old. While preparing for take-off Natalie, the 2 year old, began to throw a temper tantrum and was giving her parents a hard time about sitting by herself, as well as fastening her seatbelt. Natalie had been used to sitting on her mom's lap while flying and like a typical two year old was making her feelings heard, to the whole plane.

On the Today Show this morning the mother explained that the tantrum lasted 3-5 minutes, and that the flight attendants had repeatedly asked her during this time to secure her daughter in the seat with her seatbelt on. After approximately 3-5 minutes they had Natalie pinned down in the seat with her seatbelt on. I guess this wasn't good enough for the flight attendants, as the family was then informed that the Captain had made the decision to bring the plane back to the gate (it had began to taxi, but not yet on the tarmac/runway), and the family was to disembark the plane.

Understandably, the Vieau family was flabbergasted. They had settled the child down, and buckled her seatbelt as asked, but were still being kicked off the flight. Now this was the last flight out of Turks & Caicos that day, so they had to be rebooked on a flight the next day, and had to pay out of pocket for a night at a hotel room and transportation to and from the hotel. They are claiming they spent $2000 due to the ordeal.

Now if any of you have traveled with a toddler who throws a tantrum right at take-off you can understand this nightmare. In the 20+ flights I have taken with my daughter, I have never not had the flight attendants be sympathetic to both of our needs. I fly Jet Blue the majority of the time too, and always found the attendants to be more than helpful and understanding. Of course, I have never had the trouble of keeping her seated with her seatbelt on, as I always put her in a carseat on the plane, but if I did I am much stronger than all 30 pounds of her and would hold her down like my life depended on it, and buckle that child in.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall of that plane when all of this went down. Did the tantrum really last 3-5 minutes? What did the flight attendants actually tell the Captain was happening in the back of the plane? Did anyone offer to help them out? Dr. & Dr. Vieau seem like very calm people, at least in their interview with Matt Lauer they were, so how did they handle the whole thing? Was there outrage on their part, as there would have been if this happened to me? If I didn't have kids would I have been an angry passenger hoping the family did get kicked off? Isn't going back to the gate and kicking this poor family off going to take time than just taking off when the kid was calm??

There apparently was a poll done on the Today Show website, and 71% of respondents actually agreed with the way the airline handled the situation!

Watch the interview in the link above and tell me how you feel about all this...

Travelling with Toddler

Yesterday M and I completed our 16th flight together in the last 23 months. It was pretty much as smooth as could be, and I wanted to share with you some of my tips for travel so that your next flight experience with your toddler can be just as easy!

Well, I think "easy" is the wrong word choice there, because when you are traveling by yourself with your child it is never easy. Let's use the word "manageable."

Here are my tips for a manageable travel experience with your toddler:

1. Try to book a flight during nap/sleep times. This doesn't always work, but if you can get your kid to sleep on the plane you will be one lucky mama (or dada).

2. Fly JetBlue.

• They have more legroom than any other airline. This is huge when you are using a car seat, and your toddler has crazy long legs. This is also great because you can let your kid stand up and move around a bit in front of your seat. 
• If you can afford the Extra Legroom, jump on it! Not only do you get to board first (there is no pre-boarding on JetBlue, so if you don't have extra legroom you board when your row is called), but now you actually get to go through security in a separate line! It is amazing - and such a pleasant surprise when I got to bypass the huge security line at Logan. 
• They have TVs. M wasn't truly taking advantage of them, but if you have slightly older kids that can use headphones (and will keep them on) this is huge, especially when you can't use electronics for take off and landing (more on this in a sec)
• They have more room in the overhead cabin. This may not be true, but with my experience on Delta last month, this is totally true. The overhead cabin on our Delta flight was miniscule (as was the legroom - not good for 7 foot tall dad!). I am sure this depends on the type of plane, but all Jetblue planes I have been on have tons of overhead space. 
• They give you snacks, which a lot of airlines don't do anymore. And they have animal crackers, which are M's favorites. 
• You can check one bag per person for free, and you can check strollers and car seats without them counting as an actual checked bag.