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Delta Kicks Family Off Flight For Refusing to Give Up Son's Seat

Mink777

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United may have some light competition, well, not really. Delta has kicked a family off a floght for refusing to give up their son's seat. Delta even threatened them for an arrest. Thoughts?
 
It's important to know the details about things like this, though. Like, did they pay for a seat for their son? What were the circumstances?
 
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It's important to know the details about things like this, though. Like, did they pay for a sit for their son? What were the circumstances?

The seat was originally purchased for their teenage son. They decided to send him on an earlier flight so their two-year-old could be strapped into a carseat for a red-eye flight. The plane staff were trying to say they had to give up the seat and carry their son so they could give the already-paid-for seat to another passenger because they overbooked the flight.

Both the FAA and Delta itself encourage people to buy seats and strap young children into approved carseats for a flight.
 
Looks like the airline industry may start facing backlash now that two airline companies disrespected their passengers.
 
They need to stop overbooking flights intentionally. It's causing waaaay too much problems that are not customers' fault.
 
They need to stop overbooking flights intentionally. It's causing waaaay too much problems that are not customers' fault.

if they don't overbook it an can actually cause underbooked planes - a lot of the time people will book but never show up, so if they don't overbook there could be a LOT of empty seats. it's not just planes too, this happens with most things.
 
been hearing a lot about American airlines kicking people off there flights, one guy whom was a doctor got kicked off, he had somewhere important to be... like, they paid for there seats and they cant even sit in them?? :confused: people shouldn't have to give up there PAID for seats because they overbook!!
 
Its terrible to hear these stories, but I'm suspicious of the fact that these kinds of events are things that have happened before.

I speculate it's like a kind of watchdog bandwagoning, much like with police brutality cases. When one example of terrible events happens to make news, people are on the lookout for the next time it happens, and from that point on it's a social issue. Planes have always overbooked flights, and I'm sure people have been asked to get off of flights they fairly paid for - presumably with much less conflict than recent events.

Though there's a lot of sociological theory involved, I choose to keep it simple for myself and just hope plane companies choose to mandate fair economic practices.
 
In this case, I can see Delta's side. They did not book that seat for that kid and should have done so if they wanted to. If you don't check into your seat, yes even teens have to check in, then your seat goes to overbooked passengers.

Also sidenote, I have flown with Delta about 8 times and not once were overbooked. These overbooking situations are far and few between and unlike United, Delta was following their stated policy.

If you want the seat for your 2-year old, register it for him. Delta cannot bend it's policy to fit an ignorant family who cannot read the terms of service that you HAVE TO CHECK OFF THAT YOU AGREE TO when you buy the ticket. Anyone who thinks this family was treated badly doesn't seem to realize that just because you paid to be on the plane, doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want with the seats.
 
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They were kicked off the flight, they weren't beaten into the next century because of it. They didn't register the child for the seat, they didn't have a right to it.

Encouraging people to strap children in =/= free seat for the tot.
 
Hey so. If this is the same video I just saw on Facebook and read an article about there are a couple things I feel the need to add:

1:They BOUGHT the seat for their 18 year old son who flew home earlier. They weren't just trying to stick him in an unoccupied seat. They PAID for it. I don't know if they tried to compensate them for the seat or not.

2:the woman in the video tells them that putting a child in a car seat is against faa policy, when in fact the faa reccomends that children under 2 fly in a car seat. DELTA ITSELF also recommends this on its website. If you want to dispute technicalities they're technically in the wrong also. Anyone in the airlines position should know faa regulations and that they're trying to tell these people is absolutely false.

You can say all you want that the airline was "technically" in the right, but airline policy can be confusing as crap. And as the guy in the video says they violate their own policy all the time. Any way you look at it this is lousy customer service that could have been avoided with clearer communication.
 
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Hey so. If this is the same video I just saw on Facebook and read an article about there are a couple things I feel the need to add:

1:They BOUGHT the seat for their 18 year old son who flew home earlier. They weren't just trying to stick him in an unoccupied seat. They PAID for it. I don't know if they tried to compensate them for the seat or not.

2:the woman in the video tells them that putting a child in a car seat is against faa policy, when in fact the faa reccomends that children under 2 fly in a car seat. DELTA ITSELF also recommends this on its website. If you want to dispute technicalities they're technically in the wrong also. Anyone in the airlines position should know faa regulations and that they're trying to tell these people is absolutely false.

You can say all you want that the airline was "technically" in the right, but airline policy can be confusing as crap. And as the guy in the video says they violate their own policy all the time. Any way you look at it this is lousy customer service that could have been avoided with clearer communication.

It is not confusing at all. Read your dang ticket before you buy it, you literally have to click that you agree to purchase it. It does not matter if they paid for the seat or not. They did NOT register it to the 2 year old, which means they did not check in the seat when boarding, which means that they do not have rights to the seat. Call it lousy customer service, but it's your job as a consumer to follow the regulations of a private business, not theirs.
 
It is not confusing at all. Read your dang ticket before you buy it, you literally have to click that you agree to purchase it. It does not matter if they paid for the seat or not. They did NOT register it to the 2 year old, which means they did not check in the seat when boarding, which means that they do not have rights to the seat. Call it lousy customer service, but it's your job as a consumer to follow the regulations of a private business, not theirs.

I recognize They are technical breaking a rule with the seat-name thing, but however: that rule only exists to keep criminals and terrorists off planes. I can see putting up a fuss if it were a grown person, but this is a 2 year old.

Secondly: the flight wasn't even overbooked. They didn't even need the seat. Delta was just being anal about the rules. Which they obviously don't even know well themselves because they didn't realize what they were saying about "a car seat being an faa violation" was complete and utter nonsense.

We can argue all day about this entire situation. But even if you're going to be a stickler about the name thing, this situation could have been handled in a much better way. It's bad customer service. And that's my point.
 
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I recognize They are technical breaking a rule with the seat-name thing, but however: that rule only exists to keep criminals and terrorists off planes. I can see putting up a fuss if it were a grown person, but this is a 2 year old.

Secondly: the flight wasn't even overbooked. They didn't even need the seat. Delta was just being anal about the rules. Which they obviously don't even know well themselves because they didn't realize what they were saying about "a car seat being an faa violation" was complete and utter nonsense.

We can argue all day about this entire situation. But even if you're going to be a stickler about the name thing, this situation could have been handled in a much better way. It's bad customer service. And that's my point.

It's there for more than criminals and terrorists but okay. The only thing that is "bad customer service" about this is that they are bad customers for pitching a fit about the rules THEY AGREED TO. They don't need their business if they are not going to read the terms of service *as I have said twice now*. They could have just held their kids like they planned to do in the first place, but they refused to. Delta was patient enough with them and they have a *flight* to do. They don't have all day to cater to a family who thinks they are better than the regulation they signed up for. If they changed it for a kid, they would have to change it for adults too, especially if someone took them to court over it.
 
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It's there for more than criminals and terrorists but okay. The only thing that is "bad customer service" about this is that they are bad customers for pitching a fit about the rules THEY AGREED TO. They don't need their business if they are not going to read the terms of service *as I have said twice now*. They could have just held their kids like they planned to do in the first place, but they refused to. Delta was patient enough with them and they have a *flight* to do. They don't have all day to cater to a family who thinks they are better than the regulation they signed up for. If they changed it for a kid, they would have to change it for adults too, especially if someone took them to court over it.

Agreed. The customer was the one who messed up here.
 
I've flown with delta both domestically and internationally like 50+ times in my life, probably more. (My family likes to travel) This has never happened, and people have even been kind enough to swap seats with me so little minor me could sit with my mom (14 and under).

This may sound harsh, but I agree with dogemon.
 
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The only thing that is "bad customer service" about this is that they are bad customers for pitching a fit about the rules THEY AGREED TO.

...And lying about/not knowing about the child seat policy.

You can be in the right and still be giving bad customer service.
 
...And lying about/not knowing about the child seat policy.

You can be in the right and still be giving bad customer service.

Actually, if you read FAA policy, not all car seats fall under their guidelines, it is very possible that the carseat WAS in against the FAA guidelines, and therefore not allowed. Not all car seats are approved or labeled for use in an aircraft and all booster-style seats are banned. It is also recommended to get approval of the seat by a worker of the airlines prior to boarding to ensure the seat is allowed. Seats located near exits or emergency exits are not allowed to have child safety seats, seats below bulky overhead storage also do not allow these seats.

Aisle seats as well as flat-bed seats are also banned from being used with a child safety seat, however they were clearly in this case not seeming to be putting it in a aisle seat, it seems like they were trying to put him in a middle seat, so it could be one of the other reasons I listed above. In any of those situations, they would not be lying about the policy, they would be following it correctly.

Delta has reached out and attempted to compensate the family for any and all trouble they recieved as a result of this inconvenience as well as give them tickets for future trips in addition to all this. I primarily have a problem with this being compared to United's issues, but the thing is that United blames the victims even when it is the airline's fault. Delta was very clearly in the right here, possible debate of bad customer service response aside, yet still formally apologizes and I will find it a bit funny if people boycott them over this, though it is totally their right to choose who they fly with.
 
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