Flight diverted after family complains about flight movie

[Ramona]

Hmmm. I've never been on a flight that forced everyone to watch the same movie (any planes I've been on had tvs in the seat in front of you, or none at all) but I wouldn't have been very pleased as a parent either -- that movie is rated 14A here, one step down from R.

(this rating here means that nobody under the age of 14 is permitted into the theater without a parent present - and that means staying, watching the movie. You can't just go in and give permission... you have to be staying and supervising)

I wouldn't have complained at that point - but yes, I'd have sent a note or made a polite phone call after, suggesting that it may be more appropriate to keep to a more 'general audience' type of movie in that situation. I'm not saying play cartoons - but there are plenty of family friendly movies, documentaries, etc that could be played.

Just my opinion. :)

[HeckBound]

I devoutly hope to never live in a world in which everything is appropriate for 5 year olds. I felt this way when my kids were little as well.

[Jana814]

I agree w/ someone who said "their had to be more to the story". Also flights can't just turn off a movie because 1 parent does not like the movie!

[Californiacicle]

I was on the side of the airlines until I checked the parental guide on IMDB. Hell no, would I want my 3.5 year old to see that! I understand wanting to offer films that a wide variety of people would enjoy but this one seems to be crossing a line and showed bad judgement on the part of United.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1712170/par ... tt_stry_pg

Sex & Nudity

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A woman wears a bikini at a cage-fighting event. A woman strips down to her underwear. A man ties her to the bed in a prelude to sexual activity. Sexual sounds are heard and a brief shot of a couple in bed is seen along with clothes strewn across the floor. Derogatory sexual comments are made.

Violence & Gore

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Characters are frequently shot, beaten, punched and threatened. During a cage fight a mans arm is broken after a serious battle. A man injects a paralyzing drug in a womans neck. A man catches on fire from a stove. Bloody injuries and surroundings are depicted along with numerous dead bodies. A man sets off several explosions in and outside of office buildings. A speeding vehicle rams a characters car. Men are shot after taunting a character. A character cuts off the fingers of a woman and puts them in a bowl. Other depictions of tortured women are seen. A man cauterizes bloody wounds and exposes himself to other pain-inducing activities. Characters are hit with a golf club, kicked in the groin, stabbed, hit with a club and taken captive by an angry mob.

Profanity

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5/10 1 use of GD. 3 uses of F (two are mouthed). shit is said sometimes. son of a bitch is used.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking

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A man injects a paralyzing drug into his victims. A woman appears to be high on drugs. References to illegal drugs like Cocaine.

Frightening/Intense Scenes

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Picasso is a serial killer that is very brutal. Picasso's death is disturbing.

Edited because the word "disturbing" didn't c&p.

[ShesCrafty]

All movies shown on flights are edited for content, so any scenes that showed violence or nudity would be edited out. While that movie isn't for children, I seriously doubt they saw anything too adult oriented. And if something did come up on screen the parents didn't want them to see, guess what? Distract your kids, play games with them, bring portable DVD players, coloring books, etc. This is also known as "parenting". As someone up thread said, I hope I never live in a world where everything has to be appropriate for a five year old.

[NurseNell]

Why do we even need movies on flights today? In my mind they were never needed but I know a lot of people who fly appreciate having them. But with all the electronic devices today I don't see a need for showing movies. Get rid of the TV screens and give us more leg room.

[Californiacicle]

All movies shown on flights are edited for content, so any scenes that showed violence or nudity would be edited out. While that movie isn't for children, I seriously doubt they saw anything too adult oriented. And if something did come up on screen the parents didn't want them to see, guess what? Distract your kids, play games with them, bring portable DVD players, coloring books, etc. This is also known as "parenting". As someone up thread said, I hope I never live in a world where everything has to be appropriate for a five year old.

Do you have kids? Do you really think it's that easy? Guess what, we do parent and part of our parenting is making sure our preschooler isn't exposed to such things. You can't edit out a whole movie, you can't "distract" them enough to keep them from possibly looking at multiple screens on an airplane. To infer that someone isn't parenting because their child can't not look at screen in close proximity is ridiculous.

Additionally, I don't give a crap about his exposure to mild sexuality or nudity in movies. I do care about him seeing people getting shot, caught on fire, or having body parts severed.

[Ramona]

I devoutly hope to never live in a world in which everything is appropriate for 5 year olds. I felt this way when my kids were little as well.

I don't want the entire world to be that way either... but I don't think it's asking much for a movie being shown (large scale and without any way to opt out - the screens aren't individual) to a an audience of many ages to be something a little more appropriate for all. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a 14A movie here -- theaters aren't even allowed to admit under 14s without a parent present and willing for them to watch it.

I don't want my WHOLE world "appropriate for five year olds" ~ but I'd be happy to have my flight movies that way. If I want to watch something violent or whatever, I can do that in private on my laptop or other device. :)

[ShesCrafty]

Do you have kids? Do you really think it's that easy? Guess what, we do parent and part of our parenting is making sure our preschooler isn't exposed to such things. You can't edit out a whole movie, you can't "distract" them enough to keep them from possibly looking at multiple screens on an airplane. To infer that someone isn't parenting because their child can't not look at screen in close proximity is ridiculous.

Additionally, I don't give a crap about his exposure to mild sexuality or nudity in movies. I do care about him seeing people getting shot, caught on fire, or having body parts severed.

My statement was in reference to the parents in this story, not to you personally. The fact is, there are some things in this world that are not appropriate for children and it is impossible to keep kids away from it 100% of the time. In those instances when you can't remove your children from the situation (such as when you're on an airplane), it's probably best to distract them with games rather than expect the pilot and flight attendants to inconvenience the rest of the people on the plane that didn't seem to have a problem with the movie. But if you think that causing a scene that required the pilot to kick the family off in Chicago and be questioned by police is easier and less traumatizing to the kids than them attempting to distract their children for an hour and a half, then we'll just have to agree to disagree.

[Freyacat]

I already have post-its in the diaper bag because of auto-flush toilets...I'm guessing they'd work here too?

Hasn't come up yet, but 3 deep, I'd imagine post its would blank it out OK :)

Oh wow. I had never thought of post its for auto flush toilets. I have a 3 year old who is completely petrified of them. Seriously, I'm getting some post its tomorrow, and you have just made going out with my son easier!

On the topic of this flight - It could be that the parents got too intense, or it could be that the captain was on a power trip. Who knows. Either way, I have to say I'd be pretty unhappy if there was a monitor showing a violent pg-13 movie and no way to turn it off so my kid didn't see it. I mean, he had nightmares for weeks after seeing Peter Pan because Captain Hook was mean. And that's not uncommon for a kid that age. Parents shouldn't have to blindfold their kids to avoid weeks of nightmares from a plane movie.

[salex]

Honestly, I'm glad this came up. We've never flown with our kids, so I don't think this would've occurred to me. We are going to be soon, so I wonder if I can find out what is being shown? If you haven't been around a child with autism, you might not understand why it's a big deal, but it really, really is. Because they obsess on things, he'd be afraid for weeks or even months.

If your child has a favorite movie, you might consider taking a dvd player and headphones for him, so he can have his own movie. We often watch our own movies on our laptops when we fly, as do many other people. (we usually fly Southwest, so they don't have movies in the first place)

[DarkAnts]

Landing the plane sounds like a major over-reaction, unless there is more to the story.

As for the movie, I'm torn. I haven't seen that one, but I've read all the books, and I'm guessing there was some violence in the movie. If my kids saw on the screen what I read in the books, they'd have horrible nightmares. My son has autism and it would be a huge, huge deal with him. It's easy to say just distract them, but if the screen is right in front of them, they are going to watch. Seems like maybe pg movies would be a better choice if there's no option to turn it off.

Bring a laptop or other DVD playing device. Let your child pick which movies they want to watch and have noise canceling headphones. Also, bring new activities and snacks.

[NurseNell]

I must be dense, I don't understand the self flush toilets and post it notes connection. :penguin-no:

[keen23]

I must be dense, I don't understand the self flush toilets and post it notes connection. :penguin-no:

The post-its block the sensor, so you don't get "surprise" flush when you least expect it!

[Mom23Girls]

I must be dense, I don't understand the self flush toilets and post it notes connection. :penguin-no:

It's a wonderful idea that I haven't heard of before and am glad I read here. You put the post it note in front of the sensor on the auto-flush toilet and it won't flush on the child and scare the heck out of them. These toilets flush when the sense movement so it will go off suddenly and usually before you even get up, lol. My oldest daughter has an anxiety disorder and things that seem small to me can freak her out. I sure wish I'd thought of that before but I'll be prepared because my middle daughter doesn't like them either.

[NurseNell]

Thanks Keen23 and Mom23Girls, I get it now. I hate those toilets too. Did you know there was a documented case of a woman on a cruise having her intestines sucked out by one of those toilets? She was overweight and fit very snug on the seat. This created a vacuum. She survived, unlike the little girl in MN who accidentally sat on a swimming pool drain.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... nsides-out

[Full enough quiver]

I also wouldn't want to live in a world where everything is appropriate for 5 year olds, and it wasn't ok to make a scene. However, in a public place such as a plane, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a movie that is appropriate for "general audiences". Not just for children, but adults too can be "triggered" by certain things, for example, a war veteran seeing a battle scene. Yes, you can try to ignore it, but when it's right in front of you, it's not so easy.

[naysayersspeak]

James Fallows at the Atlantic has been hosting a pretty interesting conversation about this incident, including feedback from the family, United, and the film's director.

http://www.theatlantic.com/james-fallows/

(not breaking link because it's The Atlantic)

[AVENues]

All I see is this: dysfunctional parents, rotten brats. Selfish, stupid, rude adults with the result of their questionable childraising. They should try flying El Al sometime. They would get off the plane with their ears burning with embarrassment. And a lesson learned. They take the safety and comfort of every passenger very seriously. This couldn't have happened with them.

[norabrimstone]

What the fuck is wrong with some people???

[LostSamurai]

I've never flown before so feel free to correct me, but wouldn't most airplanes have a family friendly option?

I'm not condoning what these two dipshits did; if you're that scared about what your little snowflakes might see, then you should've asked first and bring some distractions....but I would think at least most airlines would offer some options for those with children.

[docmom]

I've never flown before so feel free to correct me, but wouldn't most airplanes have a family friendly option?

I'm not condoning what these two dipshits did; if you're that scared about what your little snowflakes might see, then you should've asked first and bring some distractions....but I would think at least most airlines would offer some options for those with children.

Airlines are determinedly family unfriendly these days. When I was little and we flew, the kids would get special snacks, plastic wings and a visit to the cockpit. One flight attendent played with my little sister all the way across the Atlantic having her "help" serve the drinks and stuff. Nowadays if you have kids you are seen as nusiance. On my most recent flight the FA had one more passenger on board than was listed on the manifest. She saw my sleeping three year old and asked if we had a ticket for her. I said we did. She didn't believe me. I showed her the boarding pass. She still didn't believe me. Another passenger said that he was the one whose name wasn't on the list. She ignored him and made me wake up my child so she could verify with my child that the name on the boarding pass was hers. Kid is in tears, other passenger, who really was the one whose name wasn't on the list was told to shut up, and we were completely stuck because if you try to argue they threaten to throw you off the plane. I don't condone what this family did in terms of raising a stink but flying is a pretty horrible way to travel with kids these days.

[infooverload]

The whole thing seems to be one of those over blown events the media loves. Also on a side note I wish I had known about the whole post-it thing when we flew a few years ago with my son. He was absolutely terrified of those toilets and he had just turned 3. On the way back home we knew he had to go and we tried to get him to go before take off, but he was too scared. So my husband turned to me and said I think we are going to have to blast offs when this plane gets going. Let me just say we joined the parenting mile high club that day, and I have to say the flight staff was absolutely wonderfull through the whole thing.

[TinyDancer87]

If an airplane is going to be showing a PG-13 movie to its passengers, then they should recieve permission from all parents with children under 18 to show the film. In cases like this, its not like a parent can leave the airplane to avoid the movie. Parents have enough already to worry about, and distracting a kid from a movie is added unneccessary stress.

I would not want my child to watch that movie. And its unrealistic to say "Ahh just put some toys or another movie in front of the kid and he won't see the film overhead." All it takes is one glance at the wrong time to see something that will haunt a child for the rest of his life. A parent shouldn't have to choose between transportation or his child's conscience just for the sake of mild entertainment for other passengers.

[Hane]

Airlines are determinedly family unfriendly these days. When I was little and we flew, the kids would get special snacks, plastic wings and a visit to the cockpit.

Our flights to and from Iceland, three years ago, were definitely family friendly, and the attendants were wonderful to my grandson, who was 2.5. And I remember my very first flight back in 1979--they gave my 7-month-old daughter a little American Airlines pin.

Now, air travel has all the glamor and panache of riding a city bus--with less leg room.