JetBlue Responds to Family Kicked Off Flight Over Toddler's Seating Arrangement
The Doshi family says they were told to put their 2-year-old son in his own seat
— -- JetBlue Airlines has responded to the online controversy that erupted after a family says it was kicked off a flight Monday because their 2-year-old son was sitting in his mom’s lap instead of his own seat.
The airline told ABC News in a statement that, “If a customer is unable to follow federally-mandated safety regulations, it is our crew’s responsibility to put safety first and may accommodate those customers on a future flight.”
Mona Doshi, of Arlington, Virginia, says she and her family of four were on a flight from Boston to Baltimore Monday when she put her son, Milin, in her lap because he was fussy. After one flight attendant told her Milin needed to be in his own seat, according to flight rules, Doshi says a second flight attendant came up to her and repeated the same message.
“Not even one minute later, another stewardess came by and told me, 'You need to keep him in his seat,'" Doshi told WUSA-TV. "And I said, ‘I got it, you know, I'm working on it,' and she said, ‘What?'"
"I said, ‘I got the lecture from the other stewardess,'" Doshi told the station. “That just set her off."
Doshi, who declined to comment to ABC News, told WUSA she put Milin in his own seat but then noticed the plane turning around and taxiing back to the gate, where she, Milin, her husband, Prashant, and their 3-year-old daughter, were escorted off the plane.
“They ordered us to collect all of our bags and marched us off the plane,” Doshi told WUSA, adding that seven JetBlue representatives met the family at the gate.
The incident caused a firestorm on social media, starting with tweets from passengers on the Doshi family’s same flight.
The family was able to return home on another flight later Monday without incident but told WUSA they are still awaiting a response from JetBlue.