‘Bye Bye Plane’ Gets Toddler and Mom Removed from Airline Flight

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Kate Penland was initially just relieved to board a Continental Express flight from Houston to Oklahoma City last month, after an 11-hour delay in the airport with her young son Garren, 19 months old.

When the plane began to taxi down the runway, Garren said, "Bye bye plane!" He kept repeating the three-word phrase.

Apparently in these tense, post- 9/11 days, saying "Bye bye plane" is considered threatening – even if it comes from the mouth of a toddler.

The flight attendant approached Penland and asked her to make Garren stop repeating the phrase.

According to Penland, who spoke to reporters from Atlanta’s WSB television station, the flight attendant then said, "It’s not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up."

After Penland asked her if she was serious, the flight attendant added, "You know, it’s called baby Benadryl."

Penland told reporters that she responded with, "Well, I’m not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight," adding that none of the other passengers were having an issue with Garren.

Penland later discovered that at that point the flight attendant reported her to the pilot for making threats, which she claims she never did. Another passenger seated near Penland corroborated her story.

What the passengers on the plane were told was that they were returning to the boarding gate to put the mother and toddler off of the flight, despite their protests that neither was causing a problem.

Penland said to reporters, "I was crying, I was upset, and I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do? I don’t have anything with me. I don’t have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk."

Airport authorities received communication from the pilot that they were returning to the gate because of a "passenger disturbance," and when they arrived, the scary toddler armed with his threatening phrase and his mother were indeed escorted off of the plane.

The two were later able to secure seats on another flight which proceeded without any commotion, and they arrived in Oklahoma City a day late.

Penland wrote a letter Express Jet Airlines, which runs Continental Express flights, about her experience. The company released a statement to the press stating, "We received Ms. Penland’s letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents."