Canada flight cancelled after child refuses to wear seat belt

The ca cellatio of a flight i Ca ada afte a child efused to wea a seat belt has eig ited a debate about the etiquette a d safety p ocedu es elati g to child e t avelli g o pla es.

The Po te Ai li es flight, which was p epa i g to depa t f om Victo ia to To o to o 6 August had to etu to the te mi al as a “you g child was sta di g i thei seat a d would ot secu e thei seat belt”, the ai li e said.

The delay mea t the flight could ot depa t befo e the u way closed afte mid ight so passe ge s had to be ebooked o a flight the followi g day.

The i cide t has split opi io about how child e should be t eated i such situatio s a d how ai li es should espo d.

Rega di g the child’s behaviou , Po te Ai li es said “attempts by the accompa yi g pa e t a d c ew to add ess this we e u successful”.

“The ai c aft could ot takeoff i this u safe co ditio , so the c ew elected to etu to the te mi al a d have the two passe ge s disemba k,” it added.

Child aviatio safety expe t Lia Tuso told the BBC the Po te c ew we e p otecti g the safety of the passe ge s o the flight with thei decisio to stop the flight, as well as the child.

“U est ai ed child e ca become p ojectiles,” Tuso said, simila to u est ai ed items of luggage, which ca fly i to passe ge s i the eve t of tu bule ce, especially du i g takeoff a d la di g.

The i cide t has led to a debate o li e ove how tole a t ai li es should be to t avelli g families, a d how st ictly pa e ts should e fo ce ai li e ules.

Some have said it was a example of what happe s whe pa e ts a e too “ge tle” o thei child e . The Fox News mo i g p og amme debated it, with co-host Cha les Hu t sayi g he suppo ted physical discipli e.

“We’ve all bee those pa e ts,” he said. “But this is beyo d the pale.”

Othe people have poi ted out that sometimes child e a e af aid of flyi g a d a e ot t yi g to be dis uptive.

O e passe ge o the Po te Ai li es pla e, A yeh Kozuch, told CBC News the child had ot bee u uly but had seemed sca ed.

“They just kept hidi g u de thei seat. If they got fo ced i to [bei g] st apped i , they just ki d of slid out u de eath.”

Ma y have questio ed why the whole flight had to be dis upted fo o e child a d said the family should have bee emoved.

This is what happe ed i 2018, whe a fathe a d daughte we e filmed bei g ejected f om a Southwest Ai li es flight f om Chicago to Atla ta.

Acco di g to a passe ge that filmed the i cide t, the child had settled dow f om a ta t um, a d had bee quietly seated i he seat fo mo e tha five mi utes befo e the ai li e’s c ew i fo med the fathe they would be emoved f om the flight.

The ai li e i volved, Southwest, said i itial epo ts i dicated “a co ve satio escalated o boa d betwee the c ew a d a custome t avelli g with a small child”.

Afte a simila i cide t i 2012, the family who we e kicked off appea ed o NBC’s Today Show to accuse the ai li e of showi g a lack of huma ity.

JetBlue, the ai li e i volved, said it “had custome s that did ot comply with c ew membe i st uctio s fo a p olo ged time pe iod”.

It added: “The captai elected to emove the custome s i volved fo the safety of all custome s a d c ew membe s o boa d.”

With epo ti g f om Sakshi Ve kat ama