I say “supposedly” because not everything has been made known. It’s been all over the news: Porter flight PD444 on 6 August was cancelled because a kid wouldn’t put on his seatbelt. As a dad who has travelled with kids numerous times, I thought long and hard about weighing in on this debate, but wanted to get the facts straight before I give my two cents.
At the outset, I’d like to make two things very clear as the AvDOG, the AvGeek Dad on the Ground. Firstly, I do believe that flying should be safe for everyone. Flight attendants are not just there to ask whether you want chicken or beef. Their main job is to make sure that the flight is safe. If a flight isn’t safe to fly, it’s not safe, period. Secondly, as a dad and a full time teacher, I am not a proponent of so-called gentle parenting, however I do believe that parents are responsible for their own children ensuring they can behave within acceptable social boundaries. I don’t expect every child to be an angel, especially if they’re young, but if something goes wrong, parents should be there. That’s also why I think that low cost carriers should seat parents and kids together.
So on to the incident.
Very quickly: PD444 was cancelled because a child could not be safely secured for take off. News outlets report that Porter decided to return to the gate to deplane, but in order to get everyone off and back on again, they would miss the runway closure at 00:30, so instead the flight cancelled and passengers were rebooked for the next day.
Soon, passengers started sharing details of what happened on the flight. One passenger mentioned that the child kept sliding and hiding under their seat, while Porter said that the child was standing on their seat. Online commentary has been, well, very colourful to say the least.
But let’s look at the facts, or lack thereof.
PD444 was already delayed. The scheduled time of departure was 22:30, it only pushed back from the gate at 23:04 according to Flightradar24. If you trace the playback, there seems to be a 10 minute gap from 23:16-23:26 just before the runway when the aircraft was standing still. There’s no record about what happened in those ten minutes but I’m assuming that’s when the ultimatum was given to the parents while the crew did the final checks before takeoff. At 23:26 the plane moves onto the runway again only to take a right turn back to the airport to deplane the family. The plane ultimately returned to the terminal at 23:42 which gave Porter 48 minutes to deplane, board again and take off. A slightly tall ask unless you are Ryanair.
As a parent, flying with kids is one of the most stressful things. I remember our first flight with my second born. We thought we’d already figured it out with my oldest, we prepared everything well ahead of time, got to the airport with three hours to spare, bought lounge entries for the whole family so everyone could relax. We got to the lounge only to realize that we brought everything except my 3 month old son’s nursing bottle. Flying with kids is just different. I’m not saying that the parents are not to blame (I’ll get to that later), but before you keyboard warriors come at me, have a little empathy for the minority of us flying with kids.
Many people blame the parents for being too soft. I wasn’t on the flight so I’m not sure whether the parents were gentle parenting or just over it by this point (remember the flight was already delayed by 30 minutes at this point). Many say that parents need to be mindful of other passengers and their travel plans but as a parent it’s always a losing battle. I’m not a gentle parent, but I am also very mindful of all the judging looks around me on an aircraft when I tell my kids off. If I was that gentle parent that didn’t tell my kids off, I’d still be blamed for cancelling the whole flight. Cut us some slack.
Also, we really do not know all the details to judge these parents. Firstly, there is no official report about the child’s age. But reports saying that the child slid out from underneath the seatbelt suggest that they couldn’t have been too old. But travelling with a child is not just about getting to your gate on time. It’s about keeping disruption to your child’s schedule to a minimum so that those around them (both parents and other passengers) can remain sane. But as a passenger correctly pointed out, a child sliding out and hiding under a seat suggests that there was more going on. The child was scared, they were in an unfamiliar environment, overstimulated and probably already way past their bedtime. We don’t even know if it’s their first time flying. Put all of this together, putting on a seat belt is not going to be easy for the child or parents. Either that or the parents gave the child seven cans of Coke before takeoff.
Someone commented that parents shouldn’t book a late night flight, but that may be exactly why parents book it, hoping that the child may sleep on board as opposed to being super energetic kicking the seat in front of them. I’ve experienced both. I do prefer to book a late night flight (especially if it’s long haul), get the kids asleep before they get on the plane and pray they sleep throughout taxi and takeoff. If it’s short haul, I try to book a day time flight that coincides with their nap times or meal times if flights are available. This increases the odds of them eating or sleeping on the flight and not treating the plane as a jumping castle.
Did Porter respond correctly to the situation? We don’t know all the details. However, just by looking at the timestamps on Flightradar24, I think their hands were pretty tied. Many say Porter should’ve responded sooner, but the flight was already delayed and I don’t think they were prepared for an uncooperative child to delay the flight even further. It’s not their fault the airport closes at 00:30. Had it been another airport without a curfew, this incident wouldn’t have gotten the coverage it has.
I know parenting is a sensitive topic and even as parents we are very wary of giving others parenting advice. As I’ve mentioned the children are the parents’ responsibility and not the crew’s. I do believe, or hope, that the crew at least told the parents that not putting the seat belt on the child wasn’t gonna fly (no pun intended) and that they were given an acceptable time duration to comply. Many said the parents should’ve physically pinned the child in their seats which I’m sure would’ve garnered some concerned looks from fellow passengers, but there are just too many unknowns for us to put the blame on any party.
I already had a conversation with my wife about this and what we would’ve done in this situation. In fact, we did a long haul flight a few years ago with my daughter that had just turned two. We were in an awkward spot because legally she was just over two and required her own seat, but emotionally she lacked the maturity to sit by herself. She still needed her mom when she was scared, like most two year olds do.
And that’s exactly what happened when we were taxiing. We had multiple flights in that journey where some cabin crew understood and made an exception for her since she was just over two and she got a child seatbelt instead. But on this particular flight the crew were very by-the-book about the fact that she had to be in her own seat for takeoff and landing even if she was only 2.00001 years old.
We found ourselves in a similar position to the family on PD444. Our connecting flight was delayed, we were put on the next flight 24 hours later. We were stuck in a country which we didn’t plan to visit and by the time we were on our flight home, my daughter was having none of it. She, like the child on PD444, slid out from underneath her seatbelt and asked my wife to carry and hold her. The flight attendant came and told us she had to be in her own seat. I told him that on the previous legs on the same airline, the flight attendants gave us a child safety belt and asked if we could have one as well for this flight. He refused and insisted that she had to be in her own seat. My wife and I then proceeded to hold her down in her seat while she was screaming and shouting for taxi and takeoff on a midnight flight, an experience which was traumatic for all of us but at least the plane took off.
Some online are calling for a total ban on kids flying which I wholeheartedly disagree with. But I do hope that there could be more measures put in place for kids flying so that everyone remains safe and similar incidents can be avoided in future. Airlines can provide additional training or timetable certain flight attendants if they see a flight will have a number of young travellers on board. I also think the seatbelts on a commercial aircraft is not necessarily suited for toddlers. Many airlines require kids over two to be seated in their seat but at the same time it is so easy for them to slide out, as in the case of PD444
While not the regulation in Canada where Porter operates, I am forever grateful to the flight attendants that gave our daughter a child seat belt and didn’t insist on her sitting by herself like the flight attendant on our last flight. I’ve written about this before, that flying with kids does not give you a free pass with flying parent privileges, but a little bit of humanity and empathy would go a long way for all involved.
Flying with kids is already stressful enough, and the judgy looks we get when we board the plane with our kids aren’t helping. Yes, we understand other passengers also have travel plans, a wedding or job interview to get to, but we also do. Trust me, when we as parents fly, we do not want to make it any more difficult for anyone. We definitely do not board the plane and plot how we can cancel the flight for everyone.
We are already dealing diapers, and a blue cup that is apparently not the perfect shade of blue. If you would like to take over my parenting duties for the 16 hour flight, by all means I’d be willing for you to do so. Just remember to change the diapers when there’s diarrhoea because the kids aren’t used to airplane food. Oh, earplugs are in the right pocket in case they have a meltdown.
So before we judge whatever happened on PD444, let’s wait for facts to become clearer before we start pointing fingers.
For now, just a few less judgy looks would be a good start.