A Virginia family was allegedly kicked off a Jet Blue flight because their toddler was crying and was treated as a safety risk by flight attendants.
Mona and Prashant Doshi, who were heading home from Boston to Baltimore, had just pushed back from the airport gate Monday morning when their son, Milin, 2, began to cry for his mother, according to Consumerist.
Following instructions she received during previous flights, Mona placed the child on her lap in an attempt to calm him down.
"I held him for takeoff and didn't know there was anything wrong with that," the mother told Yahoo! Parenting.
However, the flight attendants soon came over to tell her that the child had to be in his own seat, which Mona admits paying for since children ages 2 and up needed their own ticket.
This was allegedly the first time Mona had been on a flight with Milin since he turned 2, but she had previous experience with her daughter, Riya, 3, who never had any issues during flights.
Mona recalls not putting up a fight when she was given instructions, only choosing to ask a few questions.
"We were fine with that, but I did ask some questions since our instructions were different on our first flight," Mona said. "She said, 'These are the rules. I've been flying for nine years and I do know what I'm talking about.' She got very defensive very quickly, but when she said that I got him in his seat and was buckling him in."
A second flight attendant only added fuel to the fire by repeating the same instructions, Mona says.
"I was a bit irritated and I said, 'OK, I got it. I got the lecture and I'm putting him in his seat,'" Mona recalled. "She said, 'First of all, it wasn't a lecture, and I can turn this plane around.' I explained that I got the message, and I was focusing on settling my son down, who was now in his seat, but crying.'"
However, without further incident or warning, as the family strapped their son into his seat, the couple noticed the plane was moving back towards the gate.
"All of a sudden the captain came and ordered us off the plane. We asked questions, but he wouldn't answer. He just kept repeating, 'Get your bags, get off the plane.' We were treated like criminals," Mona said, according to The Daily Caller.
Upon returning to the terminal, the family was met by seven representatives of the airline and were ultimately able to get on another flight home.
One passenger, Mark Tofig, who was seated in front of the family tweeted about the incident:
Hey @JetBlue about 20 of us just witnessed your flight attendants power tripping and throw off @doshspy555 and his family for no good reason
— Mark Towfiq (@towfiq) July 27, 2015
The only effect it had (aside from boosting the egos of the attendants) was to make us all late and less enthusiastic about flying @JetBlue — Mark Towfiq (@towfiq) July 27, 2015
Jet Blue defended the actions of its employees, saying that safety should always be a top priority.
"We want our customers to have a safe and comfortable experience on board. Safety is always our top priority, and if our crew feels there is a situation where a customer is unable to follow safety procedures, those customers may need to be accommodated on a future flight," the company said in a statement.
On the other hand, Mona argues that the employee's actions were out of line and totally uncalled for.
"They had no patience for what is a normal situation for a family," Mona said. "They had no sensitivity to it and made no effort at all to try to resolve a situation with a squirmy toddler, even though I don't think it was a situation. The total lack of understanding or patience with our questions to me demonstrates unfair treatment of a family, and I would assume other families are treated the same way."
