Airlines have another public relations nightmare to deal with, and this time it’s Delta dealing with a 2-year-old’s family.
An Orange County couple says they were kicked off a Los Angeles-bound Delta flight originating in Hawaii last month after airline staff insisted their 2-year-old son could not sit by himself, even though the family had paid for the seat.
The incident comes after airline executives were hauled before Congress to explain their treatment of passengers in the wake of a much-publicized United incident in which a physician was dragged off a flight by law enforcement officers for refusing to give up his seat.
In this newest incident with Delta, Brian and Brittany Schear of Huntington Beach say they were removed from the flight with their two toddlers, had to find a hotel room and wound up paying $2,000 for another flight home the next day. A video of the April 23 incident uploaded to YouTube shows an airline employee threatening the family with arrest if they don’t leave the cabin.
Staff members began arguing with the Schears because they wanted their 2- year-old son to be allowed to fly in an individual seat while fastened into a car seat. Brian Schear told airline staff that the seat was originally intended for his 18-year-old son, who was sent back to California on another flight so that the 2-year-old could use the seat.
“I paid for the seat,” Brian Schear said in the video.
Airline employees can be heard telling Schear that Delta’s guidelines and Federal Aviation Administration rules stipulate that a 2-year-old child must fly while seated on their parent’s laps. But rules posted on each agency’s website appear to contradict that, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Another employee can be heard saying the child could not fly because the seat had been assigned to the family’s teenage son, not the 2-year-old.
After several minutes of arguing, Brian Schear relented and agreed to fly with his son in his lap. But at that point, the flight staff ordered his family off the flight.
Brian Schear asked where his family was supposed to stay or how they were supposed to get back to Los Angeles.
“Sir, you should have thought about that in the beginning,” the attendant responds. “At this point you guys are on your own.”
Legislators this week warned airline executives during a hearing before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that issues of overbooked flights and poor customer service must be resolved immediately or Congress will step in.
— City News Service