Hot topic on my show today is the family that was thrown off an AirTran flight because they couldn't get their 3-year-old daughter under control and into her seat. The flight was already late, the kid was crying on the floor, and the flight attendants made the decision to remove the family and get the flight in the air.
The family could have flown home on another, connecting flight, later that day, but insisted on a non-stop flight that didn't leave until the next day. So they had to get a hotel room, and the father missed a 16-hour shift at work.
Almost all of my callers are siding with the airline, some on the safety issue, but mostly on the annoyance angle -- not just with these parents, but with the epidemic of poor parenting and lack of discipline we're all exposed to every day. That's why it's nice that the airline took everyone else's needs into account. And one caller made a great point -- if the father had to be at work that much, he could have stayed on board and gone home while his wife and daughter stayed in Florida until the next day.
Update 9:31pm: According to AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson, who says the public response has been overwhelmingly supportive, the problem with the kid went on for about 20 minutes.