By Michael Isenbeck
A recalcitrant toddler caused a major dispute aboard a Cathay Pacific flight earlier this week, resulting in the ejection of him and his family from the flight prior to takeoff, the South China Morning Post Hong Kong reported.
Flight CX654, due to take off from Bangkok, Thailand and land in Hong Kong was just minutes from departure when the 3-year-old boy, a member of a family from mainland China, refused to take his seat and buckle his seatbelt. Flight attendants requested that the parents get the tot to follow flight rules, but they denied the request, arguing that he could sit on the mother’s lap.
With commotion arising, an irked female passenger requested the crew to “call police,” and commented in Cantonese to the child’s parents, “We are customers too. Why are you allowed to harass the whole flight?”
The father, responding in Putonghua, said they would not be “bullied” into leaving, and declared “If others keep harassing us, we will not leave the plane.” But since they refused to follow the cabin crew’s instructions, that was grounds for their ejection from the flight, and so they were escorted off the plane.
Flight CX654 was delayed 27 minutes due to the incident.
Aviation rules are clear: Everyone in a seat with seatbelts fastened during takeoff and landing. The day before, something similar happened on a flight from Bali, Indonesia to Hong Kong, where police had to be called when the plane landed after a 3-year-old mainland Chinese child would not stay seated.
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