Resolution: I received one email from the station manager within 8 hours of the incident reaffirming that my miles used to upgrade would be returned to my account; a second email from the airline within 12 hours of the incident stating their service commitment to their passengers; today I received a snail mail letter reconfirming all of the above and an additional apology.
I consider this an excellent proactive service resolution, especially as I had only suggested that 1/3 of my miles be returned. Am I loyal to my favourite airline? Definitely. Do they make mistakes? of course. But it is all about how the situation is handled and in this case the outcome was appropriate (of course, I don't know if the family is still flying!
)
Some of you may recall when AirTran removed a family from a flight as they could not get their toddler seated and buckled in well after boarding (see here for that long thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1334828)
Earlier this week I was on a flight which had to decide whether to abort the landing as we came in for final approach - all due to a similar situation.
The flight was 6+ hours; I was in row 1. Next to me was a woman; her extended family was in row 6, including a toddler of 2-3 year. Before boarding the woman was calling back to her family in Portuguese (I don't speak it but can understand some words). The toddler was whining and then began to shout.
All through takeoff and into the flight, the mother continued to call back whenever the toddler called for her, or shouted. Finally well into the meal service the purser asked her to stop shouting (I was trying to sleep; impossible with a woman next to me shouting every few minutes). Mother and father switched seats.
Their carryon luggage was in the first class closet; as a result there was an endless stream of family coming up to open the closet and remove items. The toddler would run down the aisle every few minutes to visit dad, who essentially ignored him.
This continued throughout the flight; at one point I smelled a bad smell and realized that it was the toddler standing next to me with a soiled diaper. (Some of the contents actually dripped onto the floor and the mother wiped it up)
At various times the toddler banged on the cockpit door, the exit door, and the galley. His mother wouldn't use the lav in her ticketed cabin, but came forward every time. He was shouting throughout the long flight; there was very few stretches of silence. (note that these were happy shouts, or 'outside voice' type of shouts, not distress)
After five hours I mentioned to the purser that this was outrageous, and someone should have asked the family to control their behaviour.
As we were landing, dad refused to put his seat back, and left his laptop out (I assumed that he didn't speak english, but later he was chatting with his seatmate in english)
Suddenly on the approach, the purser who was in the jumpseat in front of me grabbed the phone to the cockpit, and shouted 'we have an unrestrained child!' The toddler had been shouting for the last 20 minutes, and had unbuckled his seatbelt for another dash down the aisle.
The purser ran to the aisle, phone cord stretched as far as possible, and began shouting at the family to restrain the child. She then had to decide if we should land, or abort and circle around until the child was safely seated.
She suddenly shouted into the phone 'LAND, LAND, LAND NOW!' and took her seat. On landing she immediately jumped up again to ensure that the child was safe. Later she showed me her hands, which were shaking and red from the phone cord, and said that she had been terrified that something was going to happen.
Moral of the story - had this been addressed as a safety issue earlier in the flight, we may have avoided a potential aborted landing or even worse.
I continue to fully support AirTran's decision to remove the child in the first incident.
I consider this an excellent proactive service resolution, especially as I had only suggested that 1/3 of my miles be returned. Am I loyal to my favourite airline? Definitely. Do they make mistakes? of course. But it is all about how the situation is handled and in this case the outcome was appropriate (of course, I don't know if the family is still flying!
)Some of you may recall when AirTran removed a family from a flight as they could not get their toddler seated and buckled in well after boarding (see here for that long thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1334828)
Earlier this week I was on a flight which had to decide whether to abort the landing as we came in for final approach - all due to a similar situation.
The flight was 6+ hours; I was in row 1. Next to me was a woman; her extended family was in row 6, including a toddler of 2-3 year. Before boarding the woman was calling back to her family in Portuguese (I don't speak it but can understand some words). The toddler was whining and then began to shout.
All through takeoff and into the flight, the mother continued to call back whenever the toddler called for her, or shouted. Finally well into the meal service the purser asked her to stop shouting (I was trying to sleep; impossible with a woman next to me shouting every few minutes). Mother and father switched seats.
Their carryon luggage was in the first class closet; as a result there was an endless stream of family coming up to open the closet and remove items. The toddler would run down the aisle every few minutes to visit dad, who essentially ignored him.
This continued throughout the flight; at one point I smelled a bad smell and realized that it was the toddler standing next to me with a soiled diaper. (Some of the contents actually dripped onto the floor and the mother wiped it up)
At various times the toddler banged on the cockpit door, the exit door, and the galley. His mother wouldn't use the lav in her ticketed cabin, but came forward every time. He was shouting throughout the long flight; there was very few stretches of silence. (note that these were happy shouts, or 'outside voice' type of shouts, not distress)
After five hours I mentioned to the purser that this was outrageous, and someone should have asked the family to control their behaviour.
As we were landing, dad refused to put his seat back, and left his laptop out (I assumed that he didn't speak english, but later he was chatting with his seatmate in english)
Suddenly on the approach, the purser who was in the jumpseat in front of me grabbed the phone to the cockpit, and shouted 'we have an unrestrained child!' The toddler had been shouting for the last 20 minutes, and had unbuckled his seatbelt for another dash down the aisle.
The purser ran to the aisle, phone cord stretched as far as possible, and began shouting at the family to restrain the child. She then had to decide if we should land, or abort and circle around until the child was safely seated.
She suddenly shouted into the phone 'LAND, LAND, LAND NOW!' and took her seat. On landing she immediately jumped up again to ensure that the child was safe. Later she showed me her hands, which were shaking and red from the phone cord, and said that she had been terrified that something was going to happen.
Moral of the story - had this been addressed as a safety issue earlier in the flight, we may have avoided a potential aborted landing or even worse.
I continue to fully support AirTran's decision to remove the child in the first incident.
since it was the exit door diagonally across from me, I knew that I would be the first one sucked out if that door opened during flight!!!! 
