A new episode involving the removal of passengers from a flight is controversial in the US.
A New York family has accused low-cost airline JetBlue of having dropped them off the plane because of the behavior of its little Eden girl of only one year.
Tamir Raanan and Mandy Ifrah are from Brooklyn but were heading home from Fort Lauderdale airport with their three daughters on June 21, when they were unexpectedly removed from the flight.
In an interview with the New York Post , Ifrah said that after her one-year-old girl kicked in the front seat, an altercation began with the affected passenger as the plane prepared to take off.
The mother says that the passenger asked her to tie her daughter's feet and then apologize. Although she decided to change seats, the pilot made the decision to return the plane to the boarding gate, where the family was asked to get off the plane.
Ifrah recorded a video of the moment a cabin crew member asks him to get off the plane. The mother was quoted saying “This is ridiculous".
JetBlue spokespersons communicated their own version of the facts.
The door of the plane was reopened and our team politely asked the customers to get off the plane to discuss the situation. The customers refused before the repeated requests, reason why our crew decided to make lower all the passengers. Security guards escorted the family out of the embarkation area, where they were reimbursed.
The family claims that despite having received USD 500, the next day they had to pay USD 2,000 to buy the new tickets. In addition, their luggage continued on their way to New York while they were stranded all night in Florida. When they finally landed at destination, the suitcases had been returned to Florida.
The father of the family has been included in the list of passengers who will not be able to fly with JetBlue so they now consider initiating legal actions against the airline for "slander and insults and provocation of emotional stress."
Last May the family had been removed from another flight after causing an altercation by placing a birthday cake in the upper compartments, normally used for carry-on luggage.