Child forced to urinate in seat of plane

[Minette]

I disagree. I think the mother got an apology because of the media fuss, not because the airline was wrong. They didn't want the bad publicity, but this does not mean that the next time a mother wants to take her toddler to the restroom when the plane is in queue for takeoff she'll just be allowed to do so, no questions asked. Or are you in favor of any and all passengers who need to go being allowed to get up and go to the toilet when they are supposed to be restrained in their seats?

 

[gitana1]

It only takes one. I am glad you had awesome service but that does not mean that everyone else does.

Yup. It only takes one to get hurt while the plane is taxiing.

As to how how everyone else feels about their service, I don't think it's just me who "had awesome service" (BTW, it's "has", not "had". I've flown with them multiple times and always have a great experience):

JetBlue, Southwest top airline customer satisfaction survey http://www.azcentral.com/story/nowd...irlines-tops-in-airline-satisfaction/8013587/

A new survey says that JetBlue leads all airlines in passenger satisfaction for the third consecutive year, while Delta leads the legacy airlines as it continues a multi-year trend of sharply improving service. http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed...-united-lags-in-customer-satisfaction-survey/

Alaska Air, JetBlue top airline satisfaction ratings

Alaska Airlines and JetBlue continued their stranglehold at the top of the annual North America Airline Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power & Associates. http://www.usatoday.com/story/today...lue-top-airline-satisfaction-ratings/2161535/

Just because one person complains doesn't meant there is a problem.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

I disagree. I think the mother got an apology because of the media fuss, not because the airline was wrong. They didn't want the bad publicity, but this does not mean that the next time a mother wants to take her toddler to the restroom when the plane is in queue for takeoff she'll just be allowed to do so, no questions asked. Or are you in favor of any and all passengers who need to go being allowed to get up and go to the toilet when they are supposed to be restrained in their seats?

Nope. She got the apology because they looked into and it was coorberated. If not they would not have apologized. They would have come forth with a different story and made an example of her. They did it because it was the right thing to do.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

Yup. It only takes one to get hurt while the plane is taxiing.

As to how how everyone else feels about their service, I don't think it's just me who "had awesome service" (BTW, it's "has", not "had". I've flown with them multiple times and always have a great experience):

JetBlue, Southwest top airline customer satisfaction survey http://www.azcentral.com/story/nowd...irlines-tops-in-airline-satisfaction/8013587/

A new survey says that JetBlue leads all airlines in passenger satisfaction for the third consecutive year, while Delta leads the legacy airlines as it continues a multi-year trend of sharply improving service. http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed...-united-lags-in-customer-satisfaction-survey/

Alaska Air, JetBlue top airline satisfaction ratings

Alaska Airlines and JetBlue continued their stranglehold at the top of the annual North America Airline Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power & Associates. http://www.usatoday.com/story/today...lue-top-airline-satisfaction-ratings/2161535/

Just because one person complains doesn't meant there is a problem.

Sorry, just because you have had great service does not mean everyone gets the same service.

The point is that they rectified it because the FA was wrong.

 

[LinasK]

How is this about the mother. I wonder if this happened to some people here how they would feel watching most likely a recently potty trained child forced to wet herself. IT is really degrading and embarrassing for a child.

The mother got an apology and did not plan to sue, Did not even want a voucher, Just a dang apology. And she got it, You know why? Because they know they were wrong.

I forced my own daughter to do it, and from the experience she learned not to do it again because she was so embarrassed. She was young and we told her that she had to use the bathroom at her cousins' house then because her adult male cousin needed to use the bathroom to take a shower and they only had one bathroom. She refused to go, and then when it became an emergency she couldn't use it because cousin Aaron was taking his shower. She did wet her pants and the embarrassment she suffered caused her to never do it again!

 

[gitana1]

Sorry, just because you have had great service does not mean everyone gets the same service.

The point is that they rectified it because the FA was wrong.

You could be right that the flight attendant was wrong here. I don't know. But an apology does not necessarily indicate that, (although if it was an issue that could create significant liability on the part of the company, I feel they would avoid an apology). Instead, it may indicate that a business that is in the business of customer service, and has a great reputation, cannot afford to have angry customers who go on the news and make scenes.

And yes, clearly not everyone always gets the same service. But my links plainly support, once again, that it is not just me receiving great service from JetBlue.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

I forced my own daughter to do it, and from the experience she learned not to do it again because she was so embarrassed. She was young and we told her that she had to use the bathroom at her cousins' house then because her adult male cousin needed to use the bathroom to take a shower and they only had one bathroom. She refused to go, and then when it became an emergency she couldn't use it because cousin Aaron was taking his shower. She did wet her pants and the embarrassment she suffered caused her to never do it again!

I'm sorry but that is horrible.

 

[LinasK]

I'm sorry but that is horrible.

And effective. Maybe forced was the wrong word, but how would you have handled it? Only her cousins were present and supported us, and we cleaned her up. I certainly wouldn't have had her barge in on her adult male cousin!!!

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

You could be right that the flight attendant was wrong here. I don't know. But an apology does not necessarily indicate that, (although if it was an issue that could create significant liability on the part of the company, I feel they would avoid an apology). Instead, it may indicate that a business that is in the business of customer service, and has a great reputation, cannot afford to have angry customers who go on the news and make scenes.

And yes, clearly not everyone always gets the same service. But my links plainly support, once again, that it is not just me receiving great service from JetBlue.

I think it does. Because we have seen FA's have to deal with unruly flyers and in every case they are charged or the airline stands up to them. This was not the case here. There had to be others to substantiate it.

It only takes one bad apple to spoil the bushel.

 

[Montjoy]

What passenger plane has no bathrooms and easy access to cargo holds? I've never heard of such a thing!! Is it a tiny one or something? Private plane?

Good question, of course...But I don't want to name any airlines here, and frankly, it won't matter for most readers. I fly frequently parts of the arctic where there are airlines that are almost charter airlines, but they have some regularly scheduled routes at some times of the year for passengers. The aircraft they use are very small -- some can hold about 12 passengers, tops. The only 'flight attendant' is the co-pilot. But this is the way things are done in some places, and the pilots are really excellent, the planes well maintained, and the ground-crew/support staff are excellent as well. But they do not have bathrooms. Passengers are cautioned about this in advance.

Oh, and there is no security between the passenger area and the cargo hold -- or for that matter, the cockpit (or I guess I should use the term 'flight deck' nowadays, but for the sake of clarity I will give both). The north is huge, and frankly, even if there was enough business to justify weekly jet service (which would not itself be enough), the cost of building landing strips and upgrading jets to fly and land up north would not be anywhere close to cost effective.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I forced my own daughter to do it, and from the experience she learned not to do it again because she was so embarrassed. She was young and we told her that she had to use the bathroom at her cousins' house then because her adult male cousin needed to use the bathroom to take a shower and they only had one bathroom. She refused to go, and then when it became an emergency she couldn't use it because cousin Aaron was taking his shower. She did wet her pants and the embarrassment she suffered caused her to never do it again!

I'm horrified.


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[Linda7NJ]

I love JetBlue. I am a nervous flier (used to be a phobic flier), and customer service is super important to me. JetBlue has always gone above and beyond for me. Love them.



Well, if you have to go when strapped into a roller coaster waiting to launch, what do you do? Or if you are in an elevator? Or in a long line for a bathroom and there aren't any other bathrooms nearby? Or in a car on a bridge in a traffic jam? Or out on the street somewhere and no bathrooms are close or available for you to use?

It is silly to expect that one's individual needs must take precedence over safety protocols. Things happen. Pee happens. If the plane was just sitting there for a long period with no imminent take off, and refusing to allow any bathroom breaks or snacks, etc., that's one thing. (I read half an hour but that is not unreasonable). But if it was just about to taxi, sorry, you have to hold it until it's in the air and stable. Safety and timetables should not take a back seat to one person's bladder issues, whether 3 or 60. Planes are huge hunks of steel that whirl into the air at a massive rate of speed. Being a nervous flier, I am panicked by people who start causing problems or try to break the rules.

You can't hold it? Well, you'll have to deal with the clean up after the plane is stable.



What passenger plane has no bathrooms and easy access to cargo holds? I've never heard of such a thing!! Is it a tiny one or something? Private plane?



JetBlue takes customer service very, very seriously. It's founder and first CEO flew the planes himself weekly, cleaned up the aisles himself, etc., and had an alarm that let him know when any of his planes left the gate late. I have never met one of their staff who wasn't super lovely to deal with. I doubt they have any "smartazzed childless" flight attendants.



Customer service is religion for JetBlue. Of course they would apologize for any inconvenience. As they should.

You'll never catch me strapped in on a roller coaster

I've had to go many times when the line to the women's bathroom was ridiculously long. Especially at concerts when I was much younger. I've went in the men's room..( never seems to be a line there) I've went outside in bushes, wooded areas, behind trees, behind buildings, once I was stuck on the Walt Whitman Bridge for two hours because someone was being talked out of jumping off of it. They stopped all traffic. I had an SUV at the time, thankfully with tinted windows. I climbed in the back and peed in a empty cup.
I've gotten up and went on a plane when I wasn't supposed to.

I have never been forced to sit and soil myself. Never.
And
I would never force a child to either.
IMO it's inhumane.


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[K_Z]

Good question, of course...But I don't want to name any airlines here, and frankly, it won't matter for most readers. I fly frequently parts of the arctic where there are airlines that are almost charter airlines, but they have some regularly scheduled routes at some times of the year for passengers. The aircraft they use are very small -- some can hold about 12 passengers, tops. The only 'flight attendant' is the co-pilot. But this is the way things are done in some places, and the pilots are really excellent, the planes well maintained, and the ground-crew/support staff are excellent as well. But they do not have bathrooms. Passengers are cautioned about this in advance.

Oh, and there is no security between the passenger area and the cargo hold -- or for that matter, the cockpit (or I guess I should use the term 'flight deck' nowadays, but for the sake of clarity I will give both). The north is huge, and frankly, even if there was enough business to justify weekly jet service (which would not itself be enough), the cost of building landing strips and upgrading jets to fly and land up north would not be anywhere close to cost effective.

Agree with all of the above. I lived in such an area for a while a few years back. These were commercial planes-- just a pilot and co pilot. One of them would turn around and tell passengers to buckle up, we were lining up for takeoff. Sometimes a curtain between passengers and flight crew, but mostly not. Passengers were extremely courteous and responsible. I cannot imagine anyone acting up or causing a disturbance on these flights in these geographic areas. They would never set foot on an aircraft again if they acted up only once.

 

[Steft50]

And effective. Maybe forced was the wrong word, but how would you have handled it? Only her cousins were present and supported us, and we cleaned her up. I certainly wouldn't have had her barge in on her adult male cousin!!!

I'm horrified too, but lets look at the differences between your experience and this womans with her daughter.

1. You were in a home, not a public place.
2. Your daughter was embarrassed in front of family, this child was embarrassed in front of dozens of strangers.
3. You promptly (I'm hoping) cleaned your daughter up, changing her clothes and such, this woman was not permitted to clean her child up or change her clothes, when she attempted to the FA called the pilot.

Seeing any differences here?? I certainly do.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Agree with all of the above. I lived in such an area for a while a few years back. These were commercial planes-- just a pilot and co pilot. One of them would turn around and tell passengers to buckle up, we were lining up for takeoff. Sometimes a curtain between passengers and flight crew, but mostly not. Passengers were extremely courteous and responsible. I cannot imagine anyone acting up or causing a disturbance on these flights in these geographic areas. They would never set foot on an aircraft again if they acted up only once.

I don't understand how a biological function some of us are better at controlling than others can ever be viewed as irresponsible or discourteous.

I wasn't "blessed" with a bladder the size of a basketball.

Look, I'm all for rules and safety.
For gods sake let's not toss out common sense and decency.
We are NOT SHEEP. Have people become so conditioned they just blindly follow rules? Forgotten how to think for themselves? Terrorists and racism? Good grief..We are human beings. And nothing disturbs me more than the b.s. "Just following the rules" as an excuse to be an idiot.

All IMO


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[Disguiseduser0308]

How is this about the mother. I wonder if this happened to some people here how they would feel watching most likely a recently potty trained child forced to wet herself. IT is really degrading and embarrassing for a child.

The mother got an apology and did not plan to sue, Did not even want a voucher, Just a dang apology. And she got it, You know why? Because they know they were wrong.

RBBM -- I want to believe there isn't a mother alive who hasn't had to comfort their child after a potty accident. My own had their fair share. The difference is: I reassured them that everyone has accidents (showing them they make adult diapers) and gave them lots of hugs and kisses to make it better. Some things really are out of our control.

We are our children's first teachers. One of the greatest gifts a mother can give her child is how to handle life's problems with grace. Instead, she threw a fit on a plane.... sorry, just not my opinion of how mama should have handled this.

Can we consider how baby girl felt as she watched her mother go ballistic over this issue? Feeling it was her fault because she had an accident? :banghead:

 

[Disguiseduser0308]

I'm horrified too, but lets look at the differences between your experience and this womans with her daughter.

1. You were in a home, not a public place.
2. Your daughter was embarrassed in front of family, this child was embarrassed in front of dozens of strangers.
3. You promptly (I'm hoping) cleaned your daughter up, changing her clothes and such, this woman was not permitted to clean her child up or change her clothes, when she attempted to the FA called the pilot.

Seeing any differences here?? I certainly do.

RBBM -- this child was further embarrassed by her own mother overreacting to the situation as well.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I'm horrified too, but lets look at the differences between your experience and this womans with her daughter.



1. You were in a home, not a public place.

2. Your daughter was embarrassed in front of family, this child was embarrassed in front of dozens of strangers.

3. You promptly (I'm hoping) cleaned your daughter up, changing her clothes and such, this woman was not permitted to clean her child up or change her clothes, when she attempted to the FA called the pilot.



Seeing any differences here?? I certainly do.

Ya know...I find it all the more upsetting because it WAS family. Family is supposed to love you, care about you, protect you, and look out for you. Not stand around to watch the child urinate on herself so she could be embarrassed all in an effort to teach her some sort of a lesson.

As an adult, I would have no problem, stepping out of the shower, throwing my robe on, and leaving the bathroom for a minute so a young family member could use it. Id simply say, hey...it would be really great if next time, you'd try to go, before I get in the shower.





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[K_Z]

How is this about the mother. I wonder if this happened to some people here how they would feel watching most likely a recently potty trained child forced to wet herself. IT is really degrading and embarrassing for a child.

The mother got an apology and did not plan to sue, Did not even want a voucher, Just a dang apology. And she got it, You know why? Because they know they were wrong.

BBM. Good grief, not every incident of "hurt feelings" requires a nuisance lawsuit. No damages here. There is nothing to "sue" for.

I sincerely hope she wouldn't file a nuisance lawsuit! Sheesh! If every inconvenienced passenger filed a lawsuit, the system would break down!

Now, if you want to talk about a lawsuit, redheadedgal linked this article. That family has a legitimate gripe:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Child forced to urinate in seat of plane


Thousands and thousands of passengers have been "wronged" and had their feelings hurt during air travel, much more seriously than this mother. Pretty much every one commenting here could share stories.

I work with a surgeon who is of Pakistani descent- born in the U.S., and completely fluent in English. His name (somewhat unfortunately) is a traditional Pakistani name, and is shared by some "unsavory" people apparently on the no-fly list. His wife is blonde and Caucasian, and they have 3 beautiful daughters. When he travels alone, despite his GOES card, passport, and TSA pre-check, he is always delayed, pulled out of line, and spends lots of time in security scrutiny. He was almost not allowed to fly to a funeral, because he had NOT checked any luggage, and security thought that was suspicious. Before he was married, his fiancée would receive all kinds of scrutiny for flying WITH him (esp internationally)-- as if she was being coerced into some kind of illegal activity or terrorism.

One of my patients has a prosthetic leg. A couple years ago, he was put in a wheelchair and made to take it off and "surrender" it to TSA security for "special screening". They put him behind a little half screen-- the only privacy he got. He spent over an hour waiting to get his leg back, and almost missed his flight.

My daughter with a knee injury had her crutches taken from her, a few months back, and had to "hop" thru the metal detector to the end of the belt. (Not supposed to happen, but we were worried about time, so we didn't make a fuss.) On the way back she was put thru a full-grope patdown that would make a hardened prisoner embarrassed.

I sweat every time my small daughter with a full body TLSO brace goes thru security, because one of these days she will be made to take it off, and she will be very embarrassed.

Remember this case from just a few days later?

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hollering-man-spurs-pilot-divert-jetblue-flight-n131721

Was this man a threat? Should the pilot have diverted to Detroit? That is policy now. I don't see this family demanding an apology. Maybe the passenger had a mental disorder.

When I flew airevac with the military, all the psych patients were heavily sedated, for safety and security. Some were also in restraints.

Air travel is a special environment, that requires special rules, and special "passenger behavior".

Air travel sucks. Safety and security are strict, and need to be. This woman was not subjected to anything different than thousands of passengers experience every day. She's a snooty whiner, IMO, and needs to either get over herself and pull up her own big-girl panties, or simply not travel by air.

She is very lucky, IMO, to not have to deal with a federal arrest record now. They cut her a HUGE break. She should send Jet Blue a thank you card, IMO!

 

[Linda7NJ]

RBBM -- I want to believe there isn't a mother alive who hasn't had to comfort their child after a potty accident. My own had their fair share. The difference is: I reassured them that everyone has accidents (showing them they make adult diapers) and gave them lots of hugs and kisses to make it better. Some things really are out of our control.



We are our children's first teachers. One of the greatest gifts a mother can give her child is how to handle life's problems with grace. Instead, she threw a fit on a plane.... sorry, just not my opinion of how mama should have handled this.



Can we consider how baby girl felt as she watched her mother go ballistic over this issue? Feeling it was her fault because she had an accident? :banghead:

I need the source for "mom went ballistic" because no where have I read that. Quite the opposite.


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