Anonymous wrote:Mom should have fed kid before plane like others have said. They easily could have arrived early and gotten a hot meal. Or, she should have made arrangements ahead of time with the airlines. I have a special needs kid so I am empathetic but there are so many flight restrictions if you have a child who is that disabled, it may not be best to fly. There is a section on some airlines that you can document any special needs and get assistance. We have a child with mild autism and noted it on the flight documents. Some were nicer about it than others but on one flight the flight attendant came to check on us. My kid loves flying so its a non-issue but there is probably a lot more to this story. As a parent, I pack everything I need and plenty of extra just in case. I'm sure mom is exhausted and all that, but its her responsibility to meet her child's needs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a case where I really feel like I need more information about what actually happened before I pass judgment. We have the mother's best-case version of what happened, but even that raises questions, like why didn't she plan for this accordingly (such as packing food in a heated thermos), and what was her back-up plan if, for some reason, the flight attendants actually couldn't get her hot food? Also, exactly what did she tell the flight attendant would happen if her daughter didn't settle down? If what she said gave the flight attendant cause to be concerned about the safety of others on the plane (i.e., would she become violent if mom couldn't settle her), that might be good reason to divert and remove her from the plane *before* she became violent rather than waiting until she did and someone got hurt.

Yes, and I wonder at what point they decided to divert. We don't know what the pilot was told and what information he/she used to decide to divert the plane. Perhaps by the time the girl calmed down after getting the food, the plane had already changed its flight plan and started the emergency landing so it was too late at that point to continue on to Portland.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Utterly insane. How hard is it to heat up a sandwich for a girl who might have issues without it? The other passengers on the plane said at no time did the girl get upset, mom was trying to avoid the meltdown, and the first class flight attendant was an ass. In one video you could hear other passengers saying to leave them alone.

The attendant has rules to follow or she could lose her job. I am so sick of people with children, irrespective of SN, age, etc., think the rest of us have to to tiptoe around so your snowflakes aren't inconvenienced or they throw their "developmentally appropriate" tantrums. The mother knew her kid wanted hot food and she should have fed her ay a restaurant in the airport.

Kid free flights are the answer.

Anonymous wrote:The other passengers sided with the mother and daughter. Well except one old WT woman. There are still so many in our society that think autism is really a result of bad parenting. Dealing with kids who have autism is not easy. Their meltdowns are big and real... And not a result of the kid being a brat or the parents being bad parents!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Utterly insane. How hard is it to heat up a sandwich for a girl who might have issues without it? The other passengers on the plane said at no time did the girl get upset, mom was trying to avoid the meltdown, and the first class flight attendant was an ass. In one video you could hear other passengers saying to leave them alone.

The attendant has rules to follow or she could lose her job. I am so sick of people with children, irrespective of SN, age, etc., think the rest of us have to to tiptoe around so your snowflakes aren't inconvenienced or they throw their "developmentally appropriate" tantrums. The mother knew her kid wanted hot food and she should have fed her ay a restaurant in the airport.

Kid free flights are the answer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Utterly insane. How hard is it to heat up a sandwich for a girl who might have issues without it? The other passengers on the plane said at no time did the girl get upset, mom was trying to avoid the meltdown, and the first class flight attendant was an ass. In one video you could hear other passengers saying to leave them alone.

The attendant has rules to follow or she could lose her job. I am so sick of people with children, irrespective of SN, age, etc., think the rest of us have to to tiptoe around so your snowflakes aren't inconvenienced or they throw their "developmentally appropriate" tantrums. The mother knew her kid wanted hot food and she should have fed her ay a restaurant in the airport.

Kid free flights are the answer.

Anonymous wrote:Utterly insane. How hard is it to heat up a sandwich for a girl who might have issues without it? The other passengers on the plane said at no time did the girl get upset, mom was trying to avoid the meltdown, and the first class flight attendant was an ass. In one video you could hear other passengers saying to leave them alone.

Anonymous wrote:The mother paid for the food. She wasn't asking for it for free. The child never got upset, according to the article I read.

Since most people are cranky and self-focused on airplanes to begin with, the fact that almost all the other passengers sided with the family is significant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been on planes that didn't have hot food. What would she have done at that point?

My guess would be that the kid saw a specific food go by, and wanted that particular food, and couldn't understand why it wasn't available to her.

If there hadn't been hot food on the plane, she wouldn't have seen it in the first place.

Uh you do realize that they were not in first class....hence they sit BEHIND those people and would not have seen it.

The kitchen on most planes is in the back, so the food is carried up the aisle.

Having said that, I just read the article. The mom asked them to heat up a chicken sandwich. The flight attendant refused.