Family Kicked Off Plane for Too Many Kids – Tried to Fit Six People in Three Seats

I am more shocked about all the negative comments on this story, then the story itself. Are there really this many judgmental, hypocritical people in the world? The parents may have some responsibility in this, but the airline as well. No one stopped them before boarding and if I read the story correctly, they bought the tickets according to airline policy. Someone also offered to hold a child or buy the family an additional ticket. The whole thing was handled incorrectly to begin with. As for those of you passing judgement on how many kids they have, keep it to yourself. You have no idea if this family can "afford" their children or not.

The flight crew did the correct thing for the safety of the children.

Really? What's with all the hate on here? 20 month old is almost 2 years. The child can sit on his/her own in hte seat with the 3 year old and buckle into the same lap belt without any trouble. As long as mom or dad is right there beside the 3yo and toddler then they can handle it. Honestly, they have twins, I'm sure both parents are accustomed to carrying 2 kids at a time and could easily handle both in such a situation. There were offers to resolve the situation and the flight attendants accepted them then changed their minds? Really?! They could have made the flight without any trouble and completely legally! Just because a family has more than 1 or 2 children is no reason to discriminate against them!

Duh......a 3yo has a hard enough time sitting still on a plane, much less to have an even younger child sitting with them.

You cant even do this in your own vehicle. so why on an airplane.

Glad I did most of my airline travel 20 years ago when it was more dignified. Now, its a bus with wings

There are safety rules.

Why would the parents think that a 3 year old can hold a child during a flight when many 3 year olds would not sit still for 10 minutes, let alone an entire flight.

We as a nation will not survive unless common sense and personal accountability makes a dramatic return. It is amazing that anyone anywhere in the world takes us seriously.

The safety concerns are very apparent here....and, the parents should have known better.

When I flew with my children, every one, even the baby, had a seat. I took my car seat and even called to make sure that I would be able to properly restrain the seat. The flight attendants were very helpful in assisting me in doing so. DOES ANYONE THINK THEY COULD REALLY HOLD ONTO A CHILD IN TURBULENCE?? If so, why do we have to have children restrained in a car? If you value your children, do them and the airlines a favor and purchase a seat for everyone. If you can't afford a seat, maybe you need to rethink your vacation plans. Having a 3 year old hold another child is beyond stupidity, it's child endangerment for both children. The airlines were entirely within their rights to refuse them.

If the plane lost cabin pressure and the oxygen masks dropped who would secure the childrens? Mom?, Dad? Next time bring an adult with each child. Its more expensive but, are your children worth it?

For goodness sakes parents, be rational. Can you fit six in the front or for that matter, the back seat of your car? This is your own fault; stop the pity party already!

My sister in law has the same mindset this family has. She feels that since she has 6 kids she is entitled to more than any other family with fewer kids. She is always tryng to work an angle to get out of paying her fair share, getting something for nothing because she has six children. For example she feels her family should not have to pay taxes since they have 6 children, she also feels they should get government assistance (Yes Welfare) because it's expensive to have six children. For the record her and the X husband are both employed but feel that the government does not do enough for them because they have six children. And every time they are asked to leave a public place (Church, Supermarkets and so on) they raise a stink because they claim they are discriminated against because they have so many children. Not the fact that their children are unruly, disrespectful of others and have no clue how to act in public places. Only in America could a person feel that they are entitled to a free ride, and should be allowed to act anyway they wish just because they chose to have six children.

The parents should have provided more information to the airlines when they purchased their tickets. What if Octo-mom had tried to board a plane with 8 kids all under 2 years of age? If she had used the same strategy, she would not have had to mentioned any kids under 2 years of age. An intentional omission of all the facts is dishonest. Gotta go with the airlines on this one.

The flight attendant was right in this situation. You really aren't suppose to put 2 people in 1 seat. There is only 1 seat belt per seat. Had there been some kinda of in-flight incident that caused the plane to lurch forward, I could see these parents trying to sue the airline for physical harm brought to their children because of their (the parents) gross negligence. That, and I'm pretty sure these kids were screaming their heads off even before they left the gate.

Got to go with the airlines on this one... In fact I think they looked at to many options in an attempt to accomodate which inconvienanced a plane load of people.. Without a doubt if something would have happened in flight they would have held the airline completely responsible.. Hold your ground US Airways...

Oh, please. These parents had to know better. They were taking advantage of what they though was a loophole. Just out of courtesy, don't fly unless you can buy each child a ticket. Sheesh.

Haha wow... you shouldn't fly if you can not afford to buy seats... if you have more than 3 kids and there are only 2 parents! And how the heck did they get through even checking in with just 3 tickets if that's a policy. The whole thing is stupid.

“I felt we were discriminated against because we had too many children in their eyes,” mother Kathy Fickes told ABC 7.

Uh, no. You were discriminated against because you had too many children and not enough seats. No one would've given two craps if you'd purchased an extra seat, cheapos.