Airline Apologizes After Kicking Mom, Unruly Toddler Off Flight

November 2, 2009 4:34 p.m. EST

San Jose, CA (AHN) - Southwest Airlines apologized to a mother who was booted off a plane last Monday after her son was deemed too unruly for flight.

The flight crew asked Pamela Root and her 2-year-old son Adam to leave the plane bound for San Jose, Calif. after flight attendants couldn't deliver the pre-flight safety instructions over the Adam's screams, the San Jose Mercury-News reported.

Already out on the tarmac, Southwest Flight 637 was called back to the gate, where flight attendants asked Root to leave the plane. Root, stuck in Amarillo, Texas without her luggage, had to buy more diapers and a portable crib to stay an unexpected extra night with her parents.

When flying with her son, Root usually waits until take off to feed her son, at which point he usually calms down and takes a nap. Southwest flight attendants didn't have as much confidence in her plan. Root told the Mercury-News a flight attendant said they wouldn't be able to tolerate the anxious child's screams for two hours.