This Thursday, September 1, 2016, Kadeja, a childcare worker who lives in London, took the plane with her son to spend the holidays with her parents in Toulouse. But unfortunately, the flight did not go as planned…
“I have a two and a half year old little boy, Isaac, who suffers from very severe autistic disorders. As is often the case with children with this disease, the slightest change in their routine, such as trips or vacations, disturbs them enormously, says the young mother. Every time I fly with him, it’s stressful because I know he’s likely to have a meltdown. Also, I always warn the company of its troubles as soon as I arrive at the airport”.
Usually, Kadeja travels with British Airways, “with which everything goes well and whose staff is very understanding. It was the first time I had flown with Easy Jet”. Also, upon his arrival at theLondon Gatwick Airport (in England), the young woman informed the ground staff and then the flight attendants of her little boy’s troubles. But immediately, she has a bad feeling: “I immediately felt that the staff had absolutely nothing to do with what I was telling them”.
“He told me that my son was angry and that I had only to calm him down”
The flight goes smoothly. But 20 minutes before landing, Isaac had an incredibly violent fit. “His crisis was really atrocious, says, in tears, the young mother, relayed by our colleagues from The Dispatch. The only way to calm him down is to take him in my arms and rock. I did but a steward came and told me in a very aggressive way to immediately put him back in his seat and strap him in. »
“Isaac is two and a half years old, he is very frail for his age. When you have children under the age of two, they travel sitting on your lap. For landing and take-off, they put on an over-belt. That’s what I asked the steward to give me. But he refused. He spoke to me in a humiliating way, told me that I was unconscious, that if Isaac was on my knees and there was a problem landing I was going to crush my child. »
“He told me that my son was angry and that I just had to calm him down. It was humiliating, he made me cry in front of all the passengers, who were very shocked by what was happening. But the steward didn’t want to hear anything. My child was screaming in his seat, trying to pull away, he was in a trance. The situation was so terrible that a passenger ended up getting up just before landing and coming to sit next to us to help me hold Isaac. »
“It was so violent and degrading that I am totally panicked at the idea of making the return flight with the same company. This perspective is literally going to ruin my vacation. Have a autistic child, it’s already very difficult to live with but being treated as if you were a bad mother unable to manage a badly raised child, it’s just unbearable, ”she concludes. For the moment, no reaction from EasyJet…
