ATLANTA, July 12, 2007
Mom And Talkative Tot Kicked Off Plane
Ga. Woman Says Stewardess Told Her To Drug Her Child To Keep Him Quiet
-
Photo
(CBS/AP)
-
Photo Essay
Terminal Traffic
Four U.S. airports among the world's 10 busiest in 2007.
Kate Penland, who lives in Gwinnett County in suburban Atlanta, said she and her son, Garren, had boarded the Continental Express plane last month after an 11-hour delay in Houston on a flight from Atlanta to Oklahoma City.
Garren kept saying, "Bye bye, plane," Penland recalled. And she said the stewardess objected.
"At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, 'It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up,"' Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta.
When Penland asked the woman if she was kidding, she said the stewardess replied, "You know, it's called baby Benadryl."
"And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight,"' Penland told the TV station.
Penland said other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, and the flight attendant announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.
"I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, 'What am I going to do? I don't have anything with me, I don't have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk," Penland said.
The young mother said she later learned the flight attendant told the pilot that she had threatened her. Penland said that never happened.
Express Jet Airlines released a statement saying, "We received Ms. Penland's letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents." Express Jet did not immediately return a call Thursday from The Associated Press.
A fellow passenger told WSB none of the other passengers had problems with Garren and that Penland never threatened the flight attendant.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- next
See all 182 Commentsfirst the speaker lawyer idiot can't stop flying and now a lawyer in the making.
The town needs to get their baseball going again so they have something to do.
Meanwhile check with Homeland sekurity.
I have a gut feeling this may be some terrorist taktic.
What's your gut feeling Mickey?
Totalitarianism offers so many opportunities for fun and for profit!
Just make sure you are on good terms with your neighbors or you might be the next person getting your door kicked in and dragged out of your house at midnight...
Parents have been jailed for less! In my opinion the stewardess should lose her job at the very least! Rediculous is what this mess is!
Posted by foranc
Oh you poor thing, all that trauma at the grocery store. Now why didn't that Mom, after an 11 hour delay for her flight, just kick the cr*p our of the kid and gag it with a diaper?
Maybe you're the one who should be sedated so you don't whine and *** about little kids.
A 19 month old child with an 11 HOUR LAY OVER is not ready to be quiet, He is ready to talk and play!!!!
GET OVER YOURSELVES!!!!!
Bye-Bye stupid flight attendant and helllloooo to a college education for the child!
I prefer a quiet fight but would rather have the baby (which was not crying) than a bunch of men on their way home from their golf tournament and all of their loudness.
If you want a childfree, peaceful flight, charter yourself a plane. Because when you buy a ticket on an airline, you know you'll be in an airplane with a bunch of other people, and you'll have to just endure it. Whether it's a few people in the seat ahead who can do nothing but gossip about Paris Hilton, or a toddler repeating his new favorite phrase, or even a poor child in pain, screaming his lungs out - that's what you contract for with an airline ticket. We all pay our money to be there.
Drugging the child for silence is completely inappropriate. If he was in pain, sure. But he was just happy and chatting. The stewardess needs to be fired, the airline needs to compensate the mother for her time and inconvenience, and give an apology. If they choose to take that money out of the stewardess's paycheck, I think that'd be quite appropriate.
PS - if all the child was doing was the phrase and not crying, those of you without children would not know that that was amazing and unusual, almost like he had been drugged and to not have those accessories for the baby is pretty bad if she could not change a diaper and you are sitting next to them.
The attendant has no business in a people serving environment at all. She must "know" the pilots very well.
I don't agree with the way the airline attendant treated this poor woman. If the passengers around her weren't complaining, what is the problem? Maybe after a frustrating layover they were enjoying listening to him.
To those who don't have the patience for the really terrible kids who do nothing but scream and throw fits in public places, I'm right there with you, but it does no good to throw a tantrum yourself. Just try to pay attention to how many minivans are in the parking lot. If the number is high, pick another time to get your errands done.
The flight attendent should be fired. It was VERY unprofessional of her. I feel for the mother.
I dont think the money should come from the flight attendents pay check...she doesnt make enough to cover the "damage" that this airline will have deal with.
I may have asked the flight attendant for permission to throw both the mom and kid out while in flight over the Mohave.
at the time all the kid could say on the trip was"
"waaaaaaaaa, waaaaaaaa, waaaaaaaa, waaaaaa!"
thanks lady, you have a great kid and wonderful parenting skills.
WHAT??? I need a translator!!!
I don't think she'll be made to pay, and losing her job will be enough - but it's something maybe the next flight attendant should think about - that if they want to push someone off their airplane just for their own comfort or whatever reason it was - they should think about how much it will cost that person as if it is their own money.
Realistically, this doesn't happen often, usually those booted from a plane deserve it fully, and many who do deserve it are allowed to stay. This is a very atypical case.
Just like it is done with abusive passengers, fines and cost associated with returning a plane, should be directed to the responsible flight attendant.
WHAT??? I need a translator!!!
Posted by MissSuZQ
If I may I believe I can translate. Translation:
I be me 80 cause baby say so can see now then how me be then fly and so in conclusion many planes but then have cry then must be right.
-Hope that helps
If I was a fellow passenger, I would have requested to have the flight attendent removed as well since the flight had to go back at HER insistance.
"Posted by foranc"
II think the rest of the travelers are quite happy that you are nowhere near them and that many of us feel badly for your children and grandchildren.
What cold material is your heart made of?
It does not sound like this young woman and her son did anything wrong. They were on an 11 hour delay, so it could have been much worse.
That being said, if my son were acting up on an airplane, it would be difficult for me to discipline him. Where can you put a child in time-out on a plane? And there's no way a parent can spank their child in public in this day and age. There is always a holier-than-thou person standing by to accuse a parent of child abuse if they swat their child on the butt.
I would say to all of those who are against the mother in this story, "Got a solution?"
But that aside, one of my BIGGEST peeves is people that can't control their kids. Like someone else said: Why should we have to put up with someone elses bratty kids? First off if I had problems controling my child I most certainly wouldn't take him/her on a plane unless I was absolutely DESPARATE to get somewhere.
Also there is nothing worse than going into a restaurant and having some brat behind you jumping up and down in the seat and hanging over the back watching you eat. OR someone bringing in a baby and it cries the whole time they are there.
When my daughter graduated from college someone had a baby there and it cried almost the whole time and no one could hear what was being said.
If you have a child that cries a lot or a brat you can't control, STAY HOME!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- next
See all 182 Comments