Autistic girl kicked off flight because captain was uncomfor

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First class is expensive to fly in so they probably couldn't afford it in their budget.

The reality of it is that food, service and seats are put into one bill you pay beforehand. This is all calculated before. They have no idea how much to charge them for the food on its own. She should have thought about this beforehand and give the airline time to fit her daughter's needs.

as far as i have seen, the mother did not say that her daughter was autistic during the interaction.
not everyone knows what the term "meltdown" refers to, and so it is probable that the violent connotations of the word "meltdown" coupled with the absence of the information that the child was autistic made it sound like her daughter was simply a self entitled person prone to violence, and was in danger of becoming uncontrollable.

in any event, there was hardly any serious outcome for the girl as all she had to do was get off the plane and be more thoroughly examined in order to get to where she was going.

the mothers claim in my opinion is vexatious.

If you read the second article, some of the passengers were not happy, and thought the captain did the right thing.

Well if the daughter can't fly economy class, and they can't afford first class, then maybe they should find other means of transportation.

In my opinion airline travel is a terrible form of transportation for autistic people. If you are the parent of an autistic child, please don't be putting your kid through this. It's an extremely stressful and unpleasant experience. If you are an adult with autism, and think you can handle it, then fine, fly. But don't be putting autistic children through this. It's not good for them, it's not good for other passengers on the plane.

the girl was stressed due to the food issue, not the "stress" of the flight (as far as i know).
i enjoyed flying when i was a child, and so not all autistics are by default stressed by flying.

This is what I thought when I read the article as well. I don't think the mother even had a meltdown, but I don't think the mother should have been so... honest? Unprepared?

I have two kids that are tricky to travel with one is on the spectrum and one is ???. Anyway if I know that something like this is going to be an issue, and it would be because my ASD girl is also really really picky with food, I would make sure I had it taken care of myself ahead of time. You CAN bring food on a plane. My personal opinion is that the mom dropped the ball on multiple fronts (didn't take care of this issue herself, demanded special treatment, indicated that her daughter might be violent if her demands weren't met). I also read another article on this story where a passenger gave an interview indicating that she really didn't feel safe because the girl was making a lot of noise and fuss.

For example, my daughter cannot sit patiently on something like a plane for any length of time. She will meltdown. I know this. Now is the better approach to 1) get on the plane with nothing prepared in advance and demand from the steward that they let her have the movie (available only in first class) so that she doesn't freak out and self harm or harm other passengers OR 2) make darned sure her little android tablet is ready with a ton of games and downloaded movies so that she doesn't freak out on the plane?

More parents need to be like you. Like, really, if this mother was anything at all like you her kid would have most likely been fine, and they definitely wouldn't have been forced off the plane.

Also, link to the other article? It sounds interesting.

I remember being in Paris, I was hungry that one day so I was grumpy and grouchy and we walked into a cafe and the workers there were unfriendly because we were obviously not from the area because we were not dressed all fancy so they were ignoring us. My mom told them if I don't eat I will have a meltdown. But if she had said "She will have a meltdown and maybe she will start throwing things and pushing over tables and chairs and then you guys finally decide to serve us" I bet that will get us kicked out immediately. Note: I wouldn't really do that but if she had said that just to get them to do what she wanted, then that will backfire on us big time.

Honestly I think the mother reinforced the stigma about autism and meltdowns when she said her daughter may try and scratch because that there is violence. She could have meant scratching herself but the people may have thought the mom meant trying to scratch others and it was seen as a threat.

I know not all meltdowns equals violence but that is the word many parents use for their autistic kids when they get aggressive, they call it a meltdown and what message does that send people? Even autistic people will say someone was having a meltdown when a kid on the spectrum showed aggression so they are contributing to the bigotry too about autism. Then I will see some others say that isn't a meltdown and it's just a tantrum or say meltdowns do not trigger other people, they will either self harm or shut down.

Here is another article with more detail


https://gma.yahoo.com/woman-claims-she- ... ories.html


It also explains why she couldn't bring food on the plane and she said her daughter was special needs not autistic. But she still said she would try and scratch after she mentioned the word meltdown.

Video blocked in my country

Can you still see the article that was written?


In case anyone wasn't able to view it, here is a quote from the article:

The mother said she will be trying to scratch in frustration after she mentioned the word meltdown. Also I saw in two other articles that she will lash out at others so the mother did mean that she will try and scratch others. She may not have meant it as a threat but it was perceived as one because safety comes first. I wouldn't want to sit next to someone who tends to scratch but if I sat away from her, then I wouldn't feel threatened because it's not my problem. It's someone else's problem who have to sit close to her. But I do have strong feelings about aggression which is why I am more on the pilot's side and I do not think it was fear of autism or due to autism that they got kicked off, it was due to the mother saying she will try and scratch and I do not like aggression.

Yeah, I can see the article. Just can't see the video.

And I do thing it's the mother's fear-creating not the autism that caused it.

If you are a flight attendant, it is your job to keep *everyone* on the airplane safe. If you have a passenger who is liable to start injuring other passengers at any time (according to her mother!), and you do not do something about that (i.e. get her off the airplane away from the other passengers), and then she does start injuring other passengers, then YOU are going to blamed for the injuries. So they HAD to do something. That's how customer service works. They could not just wait and hope she doesn't start injuring other people (and the reason they knew she might is because *the mother told them she might*). The other thing is, in customer service you REGULARLY have people demanding the rules to be broken for them. It's difficult to judge when you should break the rules for someone, and that's why they originally said "no".

I find this story very odd. Why didn't the parents bring their own food? It's really not that hard to anticipate how long an airplane ride will take. If you know your child is a "really picky eater" then the logical thing to do is bring food that you know she likes. Yes, you are allowed to bring food on an airplane. If there won't be enough time to buy something at the airport, ARRIVE EARLIER! If your child needs hot food, you make accommodations BEFORE you get on. They seem really unprepared to me. I've flown internationally with two autistic children a few times so I do have some experience doing this. I find that airlines are generally quite willing to help, if they have advance notice. I do not think they would be nearly as willing to help if I showed up and demanded stuff on the spot. It takes a lot of preparation. It's same with things with food allergies- they will accommodate those, but only if you gave them warning.

The girl liked her food hot.

The worst part of it was reading other people's responses on yahoo. Its amazing how ignorant and stupid the general public is toward people with AS. Yes the mom could have handled it better. But as a AS parent I can tell you that sometimes parents are under a lot of pressure because they are afraid of the repercussions. Still my belief is that it is not anyone's business how my child stims, or screams or cries, its his business and mine. If they don't want noise book a private flight. Unless she physically attacked someone on that plane she should not be considered a danger. Hope they win the case.