Question for this group: At what point have you seen a child removed from a flight due to crying? Background: I travel frequently for my company and each year travel such that I earn A List Preferred and a Companion Pass. Being a loyal Southwest customer, I recommend this airline for my mother and my two nieces for travel. They enjoyed the family boarding and upon waiting for the rest of the flight to board, my 3 year old niece got restless and started crying. She continued to cry for several minutes, which I personally can understand how annoying that is. Before the gates were closed, my mother was approached by a flight attendant and asked to calm my niece down else the flight couldn't take off. My niece was not calming down and two gate agents arrived. Panicked and not understanding what was happening, my mom Facetimed me to ask me why this was happening. I was able to witness my niece was, indeed, crying, and two people kept hovering over my mother asking her to calm down my niece or they would force removal. My mother was continually reminded that my family was holding up the flight. From what I can see, my niece was not throwing a tantrum, was safely buckled in and simply crying (which again, very annoying, I understand.) Humiliated from the extra attention, my mother willingly left the flight and they were rebooked on a later flight. I am horrified this happened in the first place, and did, indeed, log a request with customer relations. Just curious from others, at what point is a child so disruptive they would need to be removed from the flight, or receive such pressure to do so? Has this been others' experience?
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