(Disturbing - injured baby)

sndravt · August 2014

I saw the most horrifying thing yesterday and I had to share with people that I know would be equally horrified.

I was boarding a plane, about to step on from the jetway. There was a couple in front of me that had a small baby, around 5 or 6 months in front of me. They had their car seat snapped into the stroller and the dad removed the car seat from the stroller. He didn't realize the baby was not strapped in, flung the car seat out of the stroller quickly and the baby went flying. He hit the ground of the jetway so hard. It was horrifying.

I literally had an anxiety attack when I got to my seat. It was awful. I'm still shaken up just thinking about the THUMP the poor baby made.

They boarded the plane for our 3.5 hour flight still. I probably wouldn't have.

And this is the reason kids should always be strapped in. I know most of our babies are too old to be in the carrier car seats, but sheesh. Horrible!

(P.S. I changed my user name in case anyone is like "who are you." I was sndravt.)

ConnieRob · August 2014

Same goes for the stroller. We were at the aquarium years ago with Jack and a small baby (under a year for sure, maybe 9 months) was in the stroller, but not strapped. The Dad was pushing him around and he was sliding out the bottom. My Mom saw it first and hollered at him to stop. Team always strapped over here as well.

musicalsilver · August 2014

That was not what I was expecting when I opened this thread.

Super disturbing.

Monkeybutt80 · August 2014

That's scary! I always strap Colton in and double check because that kid is sooo squirmy!

BunnyLove416 · August 2014

ConnieRob said:

Same goes for the stroller. We were at the aquarium years ago with Jack and a small baby (under a year for sure, maybe 9 months) was in the stroller, but not strapped. The Dad was pushing him around and he was sliding out the bottom. My Mom saw it first and hollered at him to stop. Team always strapped over here as well.

My husband was just telling me that he saw a dad walking down the sidewalk pushing his toddler in a stroller unstrapped, they hit a bump in the sidewalk and the stroller stopped but the kid didn't! Poor dad, must have scared the bejesus out of him

ConnieRob · August 2014

BunnyLove416 said:

ConnieRob said:

Same goes for the stroller. We were at the aquarium years ago with Jack and a small baby (under a year for sure, maybe 9 months) was in the stroller, but not strapped. The Dad was pushing him around and he was sliding out the bottom. My Mom saw it first and hollered at him to stop. Team always strapped over here as well.

My husband was just telling me that he saw a dad walking down the sidewalk pushing his toddler in a stroller unstrapped, they hit a bump in the sidewalk and the stroller stopped but the kid didn't! Poor dad, must have scared the bejesus out of him
Yikes! I would have had a heart attack!

sndravt · August 2014

@ConnieRob‌ also horrifying. I need a new adjective. But horrifying is what all of this is.

Eta quote fail

sndravt · August 2014

kari5186 said:
Holy crap. No way would I be able to get on that plane after something like that happened to my kid. We ALWAYS buckle Isla in. I had to have a talk with my MIL about strapping her into the City Mini GT--as MIL and DD were coming back up the driveway from a walk in the damn road.

Right? I didn't expect them to board after that. I would have taken him to the ER. He fell THAT hard.

tiffletons518 · August 2014

But, did you really HAVE to share? Honestly. I hate reading stuff like this. It's horrible what happened. I opened this not expecting it to be a story about some poor baby getting what was quite possibly more seriously hurt than the parents realized. Normally, the title gives you warning and I purposely don't open it. I don't really have any desire to read any story about children getting hurt.

WasNotWas · August 2014

Can you please put a warning in the title

ASmallWonder · August 2014

I agree - posts about disturbing topics really should have a giveaway in the title so people aren't taken by surprise

sndravt · August 2014

Sorry @tiffletons518‌ and @WasNotWas‌ I fixed the title. I've read more disturbing stuff here without warnings. But fixed anyhow.

sndravt · August 2014

@melOHdy‌ & @ASmallWonder‌ it's already been changed. Is it not showing up as changed? It does to me.

ASmallWonder · August 2014

It hadn't when I opened it but it does now, thanks

lioness13 · August 2014

Thanks for changing the title.

emschmeid · August 2014

What airline/airport was this? I feel like there's a responsibility preventing passengers from boarding who may have sustained significant (head) injury. I assume you were not the only witness?

sndravt · August 2014

@emschmeid It was at LAX heading to Chicago on Southwest. I was definitely not the only person who saw it. It was during the "family" boarding time and there was a ton of people all lined up in the jetway. I mean, it was a 3.5 half hour flight. I really don't believe I could have boarded the plane if that was my kid. I would have literally called 911... due to the fact that it was a LONG walk to even get out of the airport.

Seriously - I know it's disturbing to read about this. Imagine actually seeing it. It's been 3 days and I'm still completely shaken up. I'm not perfect and I had an incident with my own baby when she was small and I fell asleep nursing her out of complete exhaustion and she fell on the floor. But as a responsible parent I took her to the ER right away. I can't imagine just getting on a damn plane with basically no medical help if needed. I used to be a flight attendant, and we were trained for super basic stuff. But infant head injuries? Um... no.

emschmeid · August 2014

This is just me being curious, but when you were an attendant, could you prevent someone for boarding? Or do you have to allow the customer to board? As a follow up to the story, did the baby seem okay on the flight?

sndravt · August 2014

emschmeid said:
This is just me being curious, but when you were an attendant, could you prevent someone for boarding? Or do you have to allow the customer to board? As a follow up to the story, did the baby seem okay on the flight?

I personally could not allow someone not to board. But if I had a concern I would voice it to the Captain and they would make the call. That would be in the case of a suspected intoxicated person or someone unruly etc.

If an incident like this occurs though where there was an injury and it is either witnessed or reported to us (if my memory is correct) we would need to write a report about it. We would need to discuss it with the passenger and if they chose to board they would be allowed to providing they weren't bleeding or something along those lines.

An incident occurred where a lady slipped on ice while boarding. We weren't using a jetway. It was where the passengers walk on the Tarmac and up the stairs. She felt as if she could board, I later wrote the report. Then years after I left that company I received a letter about it asking if I had a copy of the report still. Thankfully I did and mailed it in.

In my opinion I would have definitely told the Captain if this baby incident happened and I was the flight attendant. I would have made it clear to everyone involved that they shouldn't board. I'm not sure if that's what happened and the passengers insisted on boarding or if the crew said anything at all. When it happened I was so horrified that I just boarded and got to my seat. They ended up sitting near the back of the plane. So I really don't know if he seemed ok or not.

Normally I think I am a more proactive person. But I was already dealing with anxiety due to traveling without DD for the first time. This really put me over the edge. I got to my seat and cried as privately as I could for a minute.

TL;DR: I would need to report it to the Captain.

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