Airline Kicks Students Off Plane

[PolynesianPrincess]

It seems these days, it's the chaperone's who are starting things (chanting, singing, etc..) and actually cause this unruley behavior. Most chaperones (especially if their parents of kids on the trip) want to be friends with the kids and appear "cool" to them, not lead them as real chaperones should.

At All Star Sports last week, we were getting ready to leave the hotel room. We had 2 rooms facing the football field and we left around 7:30am. As we were walking down the football field toward the food court, a HUGE group of students on a senior trip were all gathered on the football field, maybe about 65-75 kids. On the second story balcony walkway thingy of the building they were standing in front of was their team leader. He started yelling at the top of his lungs making sure everyone could hear him. He was standing in front of doors to several guest rooms. Quiet hours are from 10pm to 8am. If I had been in one of those rooms he was standing in front of (or in any of the rooms facing the football field really) I would be REALLY angry if I had been woken up. My cousin said he could hear him clear as day while he was getting ready after some of us had left the room. By the time we had reached the door to the food court, he was leading them in a chant and singing and cheering that was so loud we could still hear it when we were inside the food court and the door was closed. I'm sorry but if your trip leader isn't going to follow the rules (being loud during quiet hours..) what makes you think the kids will? Why should they if their leader didn't? Kids learn by example and the chaperones for trips and tour groups these days are pretty terrible examples.

 

[bsiev1977]

It seems these days, it's the chaperone's who are starting things (chanting, singing, etc..) and actually cause this unruley behavior. Most chaperones (especially if their parents of kids on the trip) want to be friends with the kids and appear "cool" to them, not lead them as real chaperones should.

At All Star Sports last week, we were getting ready to leave the hotel room. We had 2 rooms facing the football field and we left around 7:30am. As we were walking down the football field toward the food court, a HUGE group of students on a senior trip were all gathered on the football field, maybe about 65-75 kids. On the second story balcony walkway thingy of the building they were standing in front of was their team leader. He started yelling at the top of his lungs making sure everyone could hear him. He was standing in front of doors to several guest rooms. Quiet hours are from 10pm to 8am. If I had been in one of those rooms he was standing in front of (or in any of the rooms facing the football field really) I would be REALLY angry if I had been woken up. My cousin said he could hear him clear as day while he was getting ready after some of us had left the room. By the time we had reached the door to the food court, he was leading them in a chant and singing and cheering that was so loud we could still hear it when we were inside the food court and the door was closed. I'm sorry but if your trip leader isn't going to follow the rules (being loud during quiet hours..) what makes you think the kids will? Why should they if their leader didn't? Kids learn by example and the chaperones for trips and tour groups these days are pretty terrible examples.

You've named a big part of the problem. Adults who want to be "cool" to the kids, and be their friends rather than being properly responsible for the behavior if their charges.

 

[Master Yoda]

You've named a big part of the problem. Adults who want to be "cool" to the kids, and be their friends rather than being properly responsible for the behavior if their charges.

What is even worse is that far to many parents also follow this philosophy.

 

[lilclerk]

snip

Oh my goodness, at 7:30am?? I mean, I'm always up at that time anyway, but I would have flipped. That's ridiculous.

 

[bsiev1977]

What is even worse is that far to many parents also follow this philosophy.

I work in public schools. Believe me, I know exactly what you are talking about.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

How many seats does the average AirTran plane have?
I wonder because I'd love to hear from any passengers from that flight that weren't affiliated with the group in question.

Average 150 give or take depending on plane type. We always fly Airtran because of the direct flights from Akron/Canton. I love Southwest too but to take their flight from CAK always has an hour or so layover.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

You've named a big part of the problem. Adults who want to be "cool" to the kids, and be their friends rather than being properly responsible for the behavior if their charges.

What is even worse is that far to many parents also follow this philosophy.

And I see this happen ALL the time. My cousin is 14 and dresses and wears make up like she's 20. Her Mom lets her because she doesn't want her daughter to hate her and call her unfair. Parents don't discipline these days. It's like a competition.. who can be the coolest parent! When I was younger, if I acted up and was yelling and screaming when I shouldn't have been my father would have given me a swift smack on the bottom and I would have been brought back to the room or not allowed on rides for awhile. Parents don't do that these days though.

 

[bsiev1977]

Average 150 give or take depending on plane type. We always fly Airtran because of the direct flights from Akron/Canton. I love Southwest too but to take their flight from CAK always has an hour or so layover.

O.K.
That means there are potentially 40 or so witnesses I'd like to hear from about how this whole thing really went down.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Oh my goodness, at 7:30am?? I mean, I'm always up at that time anyway, but I would have flipped. That's ridiculous.

We were up so it wasn't a big deal to us but not everyone rises with the sun at Disney. Some people stay out late and then get a late start at the parks. That's why there are quiet hours in the morning. It's just rude and disrespectful to other guests when you're obnoxious that early in the morning (or even at 2am like some other tour groups were, deciding to yell and scream and play on the football field with no group leaders to tell them to knock it off..)

 

[eeyoremum]

It seems these days, it's the chaperone's who are starting things (chanting, singing, etc..) and actually cause this unruley behavior. Most chaperones (especially if their parents of kids on the trip) want to be friends with the kids and appear "cool" to them, not lead them as real chaperones should.

At All Star Sports last week, we were getting ready to leave the hotel room. We had 2 rooms facing the football field and we left around 7:30am. As we were walking down the football field toward the food court, a HUGE group of students on a senior trip were all gathered on the football field, maybe about 65-75 kids. On the second story balcony walkway thingy of the building they were standing in front of was their team leader. He started yelling at the top of his lungs making sure everyone could hear him. He was standing in front of doors to several guest rooms. Quiet hours are from 10pm to 8am. If I had been in one of those rooms he was standing in front of (or in any of the rooms facing the football field really) I would be REALLY angry if I had been woken up. My cousin said he could hear him clear as day while he was getting ready after some of us had left the room. By the time we had reached the door to the food court, he was leading them in a chant and singing and cheering that was so loud we could still hear it when we were inside the food court and the door was closed. I'm sorry but if your trip leader isn't going to follow the rules (being loud during quiet hours..) what makes you think the kids will? Why should they if their leader didn't? Kids learn by example and the chaperones for trips and tour groups these days are pretty terrible examples.

You are also describing what I call the new fangled parenting of today. On our first band trip my son told me that I scared his one friend. A very sweet if not a little nervous little thing. That being said we were the ones the students came to if they wanted to say up past curfew because they knew we would be willing to stay up with them. My attitude with my kids and their friends has always been I am not your friend we can have fun together but I am not suppose to be a friend I am a parent.

The second cruise we had some mothers that wanted to follow the students around the ship...yikes. I saw them one day and they said to me do you know where the kids are we lost them. I said no haven't seen them. Ya, I lied, I had just left them at the ice cream station. These mothers wanted to be cool and spend every second with them. My attitude, let them know where you hang out on the ship and they will get you if needed. Again this cruise I agreed to chaperone during the all ages dance so the kids could stay until 1am, the teacher didn't want to stay up that late. The kids were actually shocked that I knew all the words to all the songs

 

[draybook]

Well, I've known enough FedEx pilots to know that they're not all nice and polite. I'm not sure of how many in the commercial industry are like that.

 

[Nemo14]

You've named a big part of the problem. Adults who want to be "cool" to the kids, and be their friends rather than being properly responsible for the behavior if their charges.

This is exactly why we refused to let parents chaperone our eighth graders final trip in middle school. It was always a 3 day, 2 night thing, and we never allowed parents to go on these trips. Field trips were hard enough when parents came along.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Just saw this on the CBSNews site that not only did they put the students on different flights to get them to their destination but...Southwest also gave future flight vouchers to each student and chaperone. SO next time you go on a flight act like an , get escorted off the plane, and you'll have your next ticket to WDW! That's freaking ridiculous.

 

[fractal]

A sentence should be ended with a period.

Love this.

 

[jw24]

I recall on my senior class trip back in '09, we actually had two planes booked all to our class and chaperones that came. I'd say about 300 total, including chaperones went on our trip to WDW out of a class of about 430. A lot of people couldn't go because our high school orchestra got to play in Austria that year and they had to leave only a few days after our senior class trip came home. A good majority of senior classmates I knew fairly well went on that trip over the Disney one because I mean, an orchestra is hard to replace. But I remember vividly that we were told many times that any funny business aka bad behavior would result to being on the first plane back home and would lose prom and graduation privileges and believe me, none of us wanted to go back home, face classwork and confront the ramifications of bad behavior of any sort! I can't recall anyone I know getting in trouble on that trip fortunately. But still, as tedious and reptitious those safety annoucements are, rules are in place and need to be followed. There's no place to sacrifice rudeness.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Just saw this on the CBSNews site that not only did they put the students on different flights to get them to their destination but...Southwest also gave future flight vouchers to each student and chaperone. SO next time you go on a flight act like an , get escorted off the plane, and you'll have your next ticket to WDW! That's freaking ridiculous.

That makes it seem like the flight attendants may have over reacted. I wonder what actually happened on the plane?

 

[BoarderPhreak]

How is this news? Sounds like they had it coming. Maybe next time the chaperones will do their job so the flight crew wouldn't have had to do theirs. Next!

 

[RandomPrincess]

CNN has updated the story following an interview with one of the other passengers who backs up the flight crew completely.

"But business passenger Brad Rinschler, who takes the commuter flight three times a month, said he saw "definitely less than eight" chaperones with the students. He saw only two adults walk off the plane with the kids. And the chaperones sat in the front of the plane, while the noisy students sat in the back. Rinschler sat in business class, he said.

He said about 10 of the more than 100 students didn't listen to the flight crew's instructions and were noisy, swapping seats to sit beside friends and using their cell phones.

"They were laughing at them and ignoring them," Rinschler said of the 10 students.

The crew gave the students "multiple chances" to heed preflight instructions.

"They pilot warned them. They did not comply. They thought it was a joke. You know, it wasn't a joke," Rinschler said.

"I've never seen this," he added. "It's a commuter flight. There's no families on it."

Rinschler didn't witness any anti-Semitic events. "Absolutely not," he said. "There was not one ethnic slur from anyone on the flight crew or anyone who was inconvenienced for two hours.

"If they were adults, they wouldn't have even had that many chances. That's the bottom line," Rinschler said.
One chaperone pleaded with the pilot and security for another chance.

"One chaperone — not two, not eight — one talked to them asking for a second chance. The pilot said, 'You had a second chance, you had a third chance. There's other people; we have to go. It's not stopping,' " Rinschler said."

 

[Jo DeVil]

The article has the High School group saying the flight attendants over-reacted and the flight attendants saying the group was unruly - should be interesting once the other passengers (and their cell phone cameras) weigh in on the situation.

Surely none of them would have had their Cell phones switched!!!! LOL

 

[bsiev1977]

Surely none of them would have had their Cell phones switched!!!! LOL

Exactly what I expected to hear.