blessyourheart: blog 
blessyourheart's blog
autistic child and mom kicked off plane
Published Jun. 25, 2008
With autism becoming more prevalent in today's society, how empathetic should businesses be in situations similar to this?
CARY (WTVD) -- The mother is telling her story exclusively to Eyewitness News.
An American Eagle flight taxiing to a Raleigh-Durham Airport runway was turned around Monday, but not because of a terrorist threat.
The crew was kicking an autistic Cary toddler and his mother off the plane.
Story continues belowAdvertisementAs the American Eagle flight headed down the taxiway, two-and-a-half-year-old Jarett Farrell wasn't a happy traveler.
His mother says she was doing all she could to calm the autistic boy, but got no sympathy from the flight crew.
"If they just would have been a little more understanding I think that none of this would have been a problem," Mother, Janice Farrell said.
But it became a big problem for everyone on the plane. Farrell says that's because the flight attendant was indignant.
"She kept coming over and tugging his seatbelt to make it tighter, 'This has to stay tight'. And then he was wiggling around and trying to get out of his seatbelt. And she kept coming over and reprimanding him and yelling at him," Farrell said.
One of the pilots came back to the cabin with a stern warning and Farrell says the frustration level escalated.
She says Jarrett picked up on that and things only got worse.
"He just melted down. He saw me getting upset. He was upset. He was on the floor rolling around," she said.
The pilot returned to the cockpit, turned the plane around and headed back to the terminal.
"The pilot made an announcement that there was a woman and her child on the plane and the child is uncontrollable. And at that point I just broke down," Farrell said.
Farrell says when she got back to her home in Cary she called her husband and they decided that she should call American Airlines corporate. She says a company representative apologized and said the incident should never have happened.
But that's not what American Airlines told Eyewitness News.
A spokesman in Dallas says Jarret was pitching a "raging fit".
And that Janice, who was in a front-row seat, refused to allow her bag to be placed in an overhead compartment, even though there was no under seat stowage.
He says that with a "passenger not complying with FAA regulations, this was the right decision."
Farrell says even though her travel bag had things to calm Jarrett, she did indeed give it to the flight attendant.
"She took my bag and put it up top," Farrell said.
Farrell is taking the train to see family in New Jersey and she and her husband say they will never fly American again.
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Some autistic children have extreme sensory problems and having a seatbelt tight across them is asking for trouble. Autistic children become very frightened of people they don't know, especially when they touch them. Many of them freak out when their primary care givers or parents touch them or hug them to hard. So some *itch flight attendant (most of whom are on power trips)coming by and yanking on this kid's seatbelt repeatedly was a recipe for disaster. And the mother (in conjuction with the child's physician) should consider a mild sedative, like Geodon or Ativan, for future flights. The entire airline industry has a God-complex that they need to be stripped of. Let them remember that we are the customers here, and they are here to SERVE us. The fact that they get federal dollars to bail them out of bankruptcy is unacceptable, when they screwed up and lost business.
July 29, 2008 1:39 p.m.
In cases like this I need to stand back and look at both sides, all 3 sides actually.
Before I had kids, I worked for american suck airlines. I used to be a parent of a non autistic child ( before he was evaluated ) and now I am a parent of an autistic child.
Okay first and FOREMOST I want to ask the mom if she considered a mild sedation, barbaric ? not for a child who might have sensory issues of being restraint for a period of time.
second of all, some flight attendants are **tches they think they are GODS of the airline industry and 90 percent of them are hateful and mean
third of all when it comes to this child. Some people might say well he doesn't know what's going on anyway, WRONG just cause they can't speak doesnt mean they dont know
unless YOU have a child with autism YOU would NEVER be able to understand the effort it takes just to go on a 3 day vacation somewhere.
GOLO member since December 11, 2007
June 25, 2008 9:12 p.m.
June 25, 2008 7:17 p.m.
That's what I thought, too, DJ. Which is why I only egged him on -- I can be a terd that way.
Wish I could stick around to watch the fun, but I have to go pick up my own kids -- whom I'll be sure to keep out of Mr. Crisp's path! ;-)
GOLO member since August 1, 2007
June 25, 2008 4:09 p.m.
The description "autism" covers such a wide scale of behavior that it tells us little. In general, autistic children keep to themselves, bother no one, and never commit mass murder, terrorist acts, or go to jail at rates of "normal" people.
A mother loves her child, and when a parent gets a gift of a child that 'needs' her love more, she gets more from somewhere, and she stands up to the public, even to a grizzly bear, if need be to defend and fight for her child.
This mother was being a mother, and as stated, got emotional and started to lose her composure. So, it will happen a lot in her life, for she deals with difficulty, ignorance, misunderstanding every day. Still, she will accommodate the public.
We all know, that flight attendant hirself, might be a high functioning autistic person, holing tight to the routine.
GOLO member since January 20, 2008
June 25, 2008 4:04 p.m.
You can make all the allowances you want in a school, a business, or out on the street where egress is simple and multiple, but when it comes to a confined space with limited egress in an emergency, NO ONE is gonna block my path. Not for a second. And that included those spineless idiots who freeze under pressure.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
June 25, 2008 3:54 p.m.
IF I were on the plane, or in a movie, or on a bus, I would want this child or a disrupting adult or whomever off the plane, out to the lobby, and off at the next station.
Schools have to accommodate, busses and buildings accommodate handicapped, but so far, the public doesn't have to accommodate behavior disorders, acted out mental illness, OBD or other "out of hand" conditions.
Have you ever been on a bus with a delusional man shouting out about sin, hades, devils and evil? Can you seen him getting off the bus at the next stop?
Autistic children can fly, ride and do just fine, but there are times they might need to try later. This isn't about autism, but about WHO is supposed to control behavior. Other fliers are tense and don't need added turmoil trapped on an hour long "elevator" ride.
GOLO member since January 20, 2008
June 25, 2008 3:47 p.m.
My infant daughter was a perfect child during flights... she didn't make a sound, but without fail as we would board the plane, the flight attendants and those around me would be rude... But that said I try to be very respectful to those around me. I even let the people next to me know that my daughter nursed and if it made them feel uncomfortable, I could see about moving to a different seat...
I understand the whole post 9/11 thing...but I think that people have used it for an excuse to be rude. And Steve, if I ever saw someone trying to throw a child out the window to save themselves, I would be helping that person make a new door...
GOLO member since July 5, 2007
June 25, 2008 3:45 p.m.
June 25, 2008 3:43 p.m.
Where exactly in the article does it define what political alliance each of the flight attendants have or the pilot?
Nice jab at conservatives - though we do tend to be MORE compassionate and tolerant, I don't think that is eithter imporant or at issue in this particular article.
Of which the article - if this happened to the woman, is both sad and why in the world would they have chosen to fly American in the first place... that was a mistake in and of itself
GOLO member since December 18, 2007
June 25, 2008 3:38 p.m.
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