Reducing Child Turbulence on Airline Flights

The story of an autistic child and his mother being kicked off a plane -- because he was having a meltdown, she needed her carry-on handy to try to soothe him, and the flight crew seemed to feel the best way to handle the situation was to yell at them -- undoubtedly brings back memories of stressful flying experiences for many moms and dads.

Probably the worst flying-with-child experience we had was our very first one, when we were bringing our newly adopted children home from Russia. We'd assumed the big challenge would be keeping control of our very-hyper son, but we lucked it out -- he slept almost the whole way. Our daughter, then four-and-a-half, was content most of the way to color and play games and do other little activities we'd planned for her ... until, that is, it was time to put her tray table up for landing. Unable to understand why she had to, and unwilling to give up that nice coloring surface, she began to wail and continued all the way down to the ground. Fortunately, flight crews can't throw you off a plane when it's up in the air already.

Lisa Jo Rudy, About.com's guide to Autism, writes that the story of the family being deplaned is less a call for more autism awareness and tolerance than an indication that having a special-needs child does not give parents license to ignore safety rules and respect for the needs of others. It seems to me that it's a little of both: The flight crew could have made the situation better instead of worse if they knew of the child's disability and how best to handle a young passenger in those circumstances; but it doesn't sound as though the mother planned as well as she could have, and maybe depending on the tolerance of strangers is not the best policy in these cranky traveling times.

Either way, it's a lesson for those of us unavoidably headed for air travel to consider how we'd prevent such a situation from disrupting our vacation plans. Read How to Reduce Child Turbulence on Plane Flights for some ideas on keeping your child comfortable and safe and not a public menace, then check out how airlines say they'll accommodate special needs.