Flight Attendant Boots Gwinnett Mom, Baby From Plane

**FibrillatorD** · 12 Jul 07,, 23:43

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- A Gwinnett County mother says she wants answers and action after she and her baby were kicked off a plane.

Kate Penland said she was glad to board the plane in Houston after an 11-hour delay to visit her father in Oklahoma. But she said a rude and aggressive flight attendant caused her to get to Oklahoma a day late.

Penland thinks her 19-month-old son, Garren, has a bubbly personality. But Penland said when they were aboard a Continental Express plane, a flight attendant became annoyed by Garren’s personality when he kept saying three words.

“As we started taxiing, he started saying ‘Bye, bye plane,’ said Penland. “At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, ‘It’s not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up.’

In disbelief, Penland asked the woman if she was kidding. It was then, Penland said, the flight attendant went too far.

“She then said, ‘You know, it’s called baby Benadryl. And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight.'

Penland said when the other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, the flight attendant got angrier and soon announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.

“I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do? I don’t have anything with me, I don’t have anymore diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk,” said Penland.

The young mother said she later learned the flight attendant told the pilot that she had threatened her. Penland said that never happened.

Express Jet Airlines released a statement that said, "We received Ms. Penland’s letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents."

A fellow passenger told Channel 2's Rachel Kim none of the other passengers had problems with Garren and that Penland never threatened the flight attendant.

Penland is considering legal action.

Flight Attendant Boots Gwinnett Mom, Baby From Plane - News Story - WSB Atlanta

A cold case of "chanting angel-babies haunt my dreams!?"

**TopHatter** · 13 Jul 07,, 00:36

Sounds like the flight attendent was pretty heavy-handed.

Personally I can't #$%&@ stand being on an airplane anywhere near children.

Air travel is stressful enough without having to deal with kids (and their parents)

Can't say that I would have had a problem with them being removed. Especially if I was in the seat next to Mom and Junior.

**Southie** · 13 Jul 07,, 01:15

Originally Posted by TopHatter

Sounds like the flight attendent was pretty heavy-handed.

Personally I can't #$%&@ stand being on an airplane anywhere near children.

Air travel is stressful enough without having to deal with kids (and their parents)

Can't say that I would have had a problem with them being removed. Especially if I was in the seat next to Mom and Junior.

I agree if the child is being a pain, but I have also been on a few flights where the adults were bigger pains! My flight to Las Vegas in Jan...the whole right side of the plane was one big party. Very annoying!

**wkllaw** · 13 Jul 07,, 02:40

This article seems a bit one sided and bias, however, to kick out the passenger was wrong.

**Kernow** · 13 Jul 07,, 04:26

PMS I believe.

**Ray** · 13 Jul 07,, 04:32

Maybe the flight attendant thought the 19 month baby was a terrorist. After all, the baby said "Bye Bye Plane" meaning once in the air,the baby has planned to do some terrorist act and the plane would explode!

**Southie** · 13 Jul 07,, 12:38

Originally Posted by wkllaw

This article seems a bit one sided and bias, however, to kick out the passenger was wrong.

But according to the article none of the other passengers had a problem with it and no one heard any threats to the flight attendant. However parents should make every effort to keep children quiet on airplanes. It is annoying, as it is with rowdy adults on a 7 hour flight!

**wkllaw** · 13 Jul 07,, 19:01

Originally Posted by Southie

But according to the article none of the other passengers had a problem with it and no one heard any threats to the flight attendant. However parents should make every effort to keep children quiet on airplanes. It is annoying, as it is with rowdy adults on a 7 hour flight!

True, but we should hear the flight attendant's side of the story, I generally don't like to jump to conclusions untill I hear both sides.

**FibrillatorD** · 13 Jul 07,, 21:26

Originally Posted by wkllaw

This article seems a bit one sided and bias, however, to kick out the passenger was wrong.

If you thought that article was bad...

UPDATED: 3:40 p.m. July 13, 2007
Booted baby's TV appearance cut short

By JENNIFER BRETT, JEFF D'ALESSIO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/12/07

Here's the latest in the tale of the toddler booted off an airplane for making too much racket: little Garron Penland told his side of the story on national television Friday morning.

Sort of.
• BLOG ABOUT IT

Garron, as cute and precocious as 19-month-olds come, accompanied his mom, Kate Penland of Buford, on Diane Sawyer's couch this morning. The veteran journalist had clearly prepared for her young guest, tossing balls and handing him a toy airplane at one point.

But a toddler on live television? Moms and dads, you know what happened.

Garron squirmed and bucked in his mothers arms as Sawyer tried to ask about the ordeal, in which a flight attendant ordered Penland and Garron off a plane when the child repeated, "Bye-bye, plane."

"Do you want to throw the ball, Garron?" Sawyer asked at the beginning of the interview. The child was placated for a few moments, then got adventurous.

"Garron, I don't want you to put that in your eye," Sawyer said, smoothly retrieving her pen from inquisitive little hands.

"When we first boarded, he was a little fussy, kind of like this," Penland said, as her son began climbing on the table. Shortly thereafter, Garron's television appearance was aborted, much like his plane ride. An assistant scooped him up so his mom could continue chatting with Sawyer.

Afterward, Sawyer said her little friend was a delight, on-camera meltdown notwithstanding.

"Before we got in the studio, we just had a wonderful time in my dressing room," Sawyer told the AJC. "I picked him up and we played. We were playing with this frog I have that blows kisses."

She understood that the under-2 set might struggle with the demands of live TV.

"He's just adorable," Sawyer said. "But we got into the studio with those lights, and it's just so hot. And he'd been awakened three hours early. I know how toddlers are. I have a granddaughter and a 2-year-old niece I babysit. They squirm and they talk. At least the 2-year-olds in my life do. But before we got in that hot studio, he was extremely well-behaved."

Kate Penland and her son were taking off from Houston last month, on their way to Oklahoma City.

As they taxied to the runway, Garron repeated "bye-bye, plane" to a plane on the tarmac while the flight attendant was giving safety instructions. After she was finished, Penland said the flight attendant told her, "It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up" and even suggested baby Benadryl. Penland objected, and says other passengers spoke up for her (some were interviewed on "Good Morning America," backing up her version). In the end, Penland and Garron were off the plane. ExpressJet says it will look into the matter, but the Penlands are considering a lawsuit. An ExpressJet spokeswoman couldn't discuss the case because of the possible legal action.

To be fair, apparently the baby in question behaved "extremely well" before he got under the lights and cracked like a newb comedian. Sure, nice try buddy.

Will anyone ever know exactly who boarded ExpressJet flight 222? Hard to say. We'll just have to keep tuning in, hoping that for one split second this twirp will forget the bright lights and blistering halogen heat and act the swiveling demon-baby who drove his stewardess to insanity.

Its the best one can do, I'm afraid. There's not a person in the world that can predict what one of these things will pull in direct confrontation. I like having all ten fingers and no broken shins. I'll leave the poking and oogling to experienced professionals like Ms. Sawyer, thanks.

**RustyBattleship** · 13 Jul 07,, 22:01

Sometimes, problems with very small children aboard a plane are not the child's fault.

Joan Rivers learned the hard way once. She was on a lone flight from Los Angeles to New York and made the mistake of playing peek-a-boo with the child in the seat ahead of her.

Five hours of peek-a-boo will make anybody want to jump out of the plane - regardless of altitude.

**omon** · 13 Jul 07,, 22:33

that flight attendant should be kept away from planes and ppl, if she couldn,t handle a 19 month old baby, i wonder how she would behave in emergency, she is a disaster waiting to happen, as for kid, they are pain in the ..s,(some adults even more so) in many places besides the plane, but that is life, babys always cry, and kids always do something annoying, but attendant must have a much longer fuse, than that attendant does, she is there to comfort ppl, (mostly), she got annoyed with the baby, (nobody else did), it is her problem. that comes with a job, flight lately became annoying by themselves, and she is only making it worst.

**THL** · 14 Jul 07,, 16:14

I would much rather have a kid saying "Bye bye plane" for two hours on a plane than to have him crying and yelling.

Being that I dont do well with other peoples children a lot of the time, I have a job where I do not have to deal with them...the flight attendant should consider the same.

**~~Bob Jones~~** · 16 Jul 07,, 14:32

Its a plain simple fact, annoying children should not be allowed on any form of public transport, period. no your kid isn`t amusing, cute, its annoying,