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• Toddler (and Mom) Thrown Off Plane for Saying Buh-Bye

  Anybody who's been on a plane with their kids knows what a job it is keeping everyone happy. Cranky toddlers + airplane + vacation excitement/lack of sleep = disaster. I should know, since as the former wife of an airline pilot I got to travel a lot. Woo! With 3 kids in tow! Traveling stand-by! Which means you never know if you're getting on the plane until the last minute, if at all (you are SO jealous right now, I can tell)! It also means that I know the drill for having someone removed from a plane. The Captain (pilot) is completely in charge of the plane. After all, he's got your life in his hands. So if he says you're off the plane, you're off. Just like that. No questions asked. The thing is, the pilots mostly stay up in the cockpit, flying the airplane. For which we should be glad. But that means that they're not exactly privy to all that goes on in "the back", where the unwashed masses passengers are. So who's really in charge back there? Why, the flight attendants, of course. Which means that if one doesn't take a shine to you, for whatever reason, there's a chance she/he can convince Mr. Bigshot Pilot to have you thrown off. Because he's got to make a snap judgment, along with pushing buttons and levers and talking to the tower and calculating how much fuel they have and using words like "vector" and thinking about the fight he had with his wife or the flight attendant he'd like to boink or maybe both, based on what some flight attendant, who chances are he's never even worked with before because pilot crews and flight attendant crews travel in different circles, is telling him. And he's got, like, maybe seconds to do this. So the fact that Kate Penland and her 1.5 year old son Garron were thrown off a Continental ExpressJet flight recently doesn't altogether surprise me. But it does sicken me. Read More... Posted Jul 13 2007, 08:06 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 21 comment(s) Filed under: kids, toddlers, Continental airlines, flying with kids, Garron Penland, Continental ExpressJet, pilots, Houston, Kate Penland, flight attendants

• Airline Travel Tips for Flying With Kids

  I just got done reading an article called 7 Must-Know Airplane Travel Tips for Parents. Written by Debra Holtzman, it focuses on traveling with babies or toddlers. Let me quickly tell you the tips that I agree with; Tip 1 - Fly Non-Stop and Tip 2 - Plan Ahead for the Appropriate Car Seat. Clearly, flying non-stop is easier even without small children, but switching planes with little ones can be a huge challenge, especially if you end up running through an airport to catch your connection. The car seat thing is important. I almost found out the hard way that some of the rental car companies at the Little Rock airport don't even have car seats to rent. (You probably don't have to worry about that flying into a large family destination like Orlando). I also don't have much of a problem with Holtzman's advice to keep your seatbelt on (tip 5). And although I think that her tip to play attention to the safety announcements (4) is a touch alarmist, it probably isn't a bad idea. If you are looking for even more alarming tips - I mean she only numbers seven of them, tip six is about remembering to put on your oxygen mask first. I've flown hundreds of times and I have never needed my oxygen mask (knocking wood like crazy). Tip seven is not to panic. That applies to everything in parenting. I guess that these are safety tips, but still the whole article makes me kind of paranoid. I really don't think I'd be giving this lady a hard time if it weren't for the first paragraph. In the introductory paragraph Holtzman quotes someone that suggest packing plenty of things to keep your children busy in your carry-on. I couldn't agree more with that, but this same paragraph leads me to the most upsetting thing is the article. The quote suggests that besides diapers and medicine your carry-on necessities include formula and breast milk. La leche would go ballistic. I don't mean to get all of the breast feedinfg moms all riled up again, but what the hell is wrong with just carrying the milk in your body? This whole thing is making me crazy. I'm flying to Florida in two weeks. I think I'll just leave my kids at home.  Posted May 31 2007, 06:06 PM by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: travel tips for parents, travel advice, flying with kids