Delta Kicks Family off Plane for Seating Toddler in Unused Seat

What is it with airlines these days? It seems like every week, we hear about a new and completely awful experience a passenger had on a flight. There were the girls who were forced by United to change their clothes over some misogynistic rules about wearing leggings. Then there was the doctor who was assaulted and dragged off of an overbooked United flight. This time, United can breathe easy, because it’s Delta that’s up the creek. The charge? Kicking a family off a flight for seating their child in an unused seat (that they had already paid for). Oh, and threatening them with jail time and taking away their children.

On April 23rd, Brittany and Brian Schear of Huntington Beach, California, along with their twin toddlers, were set to return home from a trip to Hawaii. The family purchased four tickets ahead of time, with one under the name of their 18-year-old son, Mason. However, Mason decided to take an earlier flight and give up his unused seat for one of the toddler boys, Grayson. Sounds reasonable enough, yes? Delta employees didn’t see it that way, though.

When flight attendants for the airline got wind of the Schear’s plans to use the unused seat for a car seat for their two year old, they informed them that they would have to give up the seat or get off the flight entirely.

That’s When Things Got Ugly

Part of the scene (which took roughly an hour to resolve) was recorded by a fellow passenger and uploaded to YouTube. In the video, you can hear a voice off screen telling the father, “You have to give up the seat of you’re going to jail, your wife is going to jail, and they’ll take your kids from you.”

You can see the full video below:

[youtube_iframe id=”p7pM8IyxpTc”]
How absolutely nightmarish is that? No parent wants to face unnecessary jail time, and much worse have their children taken from them. The parents were merely trying to do what was best for their child, which was to have him in a car seat, as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for children his age. Maybe Delta needs a refresher course on safety as well as on being decent human beings.

According to ABC News, Delta has since reached out to refund the family for their travel and “provided additional compensation.”

(Image: YouTube / Brian S)

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