Passengers claims DJ FA placed child in overhead locker

[yohy?!]

Natalie Williamson claims she, her 17-month-old son, Riley, and her now estranged husband were on a Virgin flight from Fiji to Sydney, when the flight attendant picked up Riley, placed him in the locker and closed the latch.​

Read more: Mum Natalie Williamson outraged after Virgin crew allegedly locked tot in overhead locker | News.com.au​

Weirrrrd and no explanation given to why the FA would want to place a child into the locker - smells fishy, there's more to this story that this (slightly-dodgy looking) mum isn't saying to news limited.

Mum Natalie Williamson outraged after Virgin crew allegedly locked tot in overhead locker | News.com.au

 

[Nigelinoz]

Virgin has admitted the incident took place and sacked the male flight attendant,seems that the womens "now estranged" husband was playing "peek a boo" with the child and the FA joined in.
If that is what actually happened it seems like a rather silly thing to do,the only thing I question is why it has only come to light three months later?
Cheers
N'oz

 

[yohy?!]

Virgin has admitted the incident took place and sacked the male flight attendant,seems that the womens "now estranged" husband was playing "peek a boo" with the child and the FA joined in.
If that is what actually happened it seems like a rather silly thing to do,the only thing I question is why it has only come to light three months later?
Cheers
N'oz

I would imagine they tried suing and the case collapsed or they are trying to pressure a settlement

 

[Nigelinoz]

I would imagine they tried suing and the case collapsed or they are trying to pressure a settlement

Yeah probably right,still I suppose it gets Qantas and Jetstar off the front page.:mrgreen:
Cheers
n'oz

 

[Mal]

Sniff, Sniff. The pungent smell of ambulance chasing lawyers seems to be in the air.

 

[samh004]

The story seems laughable… I don’t understand the big deal, it’s not like the overhead bin leads to Narnia?! And the way it’s worded suggests the father was already doing that before the FA joined in. And what’s this about the cabin manager then urging her to complain about a fellow staff member?

He might have been sacked but I don’t believe this is the real story.

Love what the story is advertised now as though, "Virgin blue after baby 'placed in locker'".

 

[anat0l]

At the very minimum, the act itself is certainly a violation of some sort. (No, peanut gallery, please do not entertain us with any pictures of people sitting in overheads - that's not the point.) That is, if it did happen. But assuming that it did....

If the father was doing it first then the FA joining in doesn't give the latter any mitigating circumstances. The FA instead should've been scolding the father for doing such a thing in the first place, citing air safety procedures. So the FA is not free of blame at all.

The estranged father is an idiot as well however it's going to be impossible to make him accountable to any kind of violation of law or regulation unless the child was hurt (in which case it sounds like the child wasn't hurt). The airline however could've prevented this whole shermozzle if the FA had just told the father off for putting the child up there in the first place.

Now as for the mother or the child (to a lesser extent) experiencing psychological damage as a result of this incident? That's pure hogwash - yes, that's a broad brush statement, but the feeling out of all of this for the mother I would've thought would be rage, not anxiety. Again, it's not as if the child was hurt or locked away without oxygen for a sizable length of time.

 

[wingspan]

That's pure hogwash - yes, that's a broad brush statement, but the feeling out of all of this for the mother I would've thought would be rage, not anxiety. Again, it's not as if the child was hurt or locked away without oxygen for a sizable length of time.

I agree with all the other points you made. But as for the anxiety, the mother doesn't claim to have that, she's claiming the toddler has that! And of course ANYONE would have anxiety if they've been dragged through "various specialists". If a toddler notices his mother reacting with despair to a situation, then the toddler is going to experience problems. But if the mother just acted like everything was ok (even if it was not) then the toddler would have been completely fine. She's a big part of the problem here.

 

[Homer]

I think the DJ culture is part of the problem. I couldn’t imagine this happening on QF, for example. But, in my admittedly limited experience with DJ, they seem to have a confusing mix of over-familiarity with pax but then switch into seriousness when ATSB regulations need to be followed. The result is that, as a pax, I have often felt as though I am being lectured to by a child. For sure sack the FA, if that’s what the situation demands, but also take a look at what in the DJ culture allows this sort of thing to even kick off in the first place.

 

[drron]

Well on the NZ safety video I watched in January Granny is put in the overhead bin.
so it's OK to put old folks there but the young are off limits?:shock:

 

[TonyHancock]

I was a touch disappointed when I read the article. I had stumbled into this thread in the hope that DJ had a new policy relating to children. I was all set to switch to DJ.

 

[pshepvic]

I was a touch disappointed when I read the article. I had stumbled into this thread in the hope that DJ had a new policy relating to children. I was all set to switch to DJ.

As long as they are in the lockers down the back!

On a domestic flight last year with China Eastern, there was a sign on one of the overhead lockers that said "Baby Bassinet". There was no arrow pointing to the bulkhead or anything, and I thought at the time "that's a good idea, as long as it's sound proof!"

 

[pauly7]

Non serious: If I was DJ I would have promoted this guy!

Serious: I'm sure DJ are quite happy to let an idiot like that go.

 

[VHOEJ]

Sniff, Sniff. The pungent smell of ambulance chasing lawyers seems to be in the air.

Exactly. You can tell there is legal action and money involed........that is why is in the media.

 

[Mal]

Exactly. You can tell there is legal action and money involed........that is why is in the media.

And hey ... Guess what! Today Tonight (tonight!) did feature this story. It was purely from a biased mother's view - nothing else. All part of the media battle leading to a lawsuit (IMHO).

Will be interesting to watch.

 

[elbarto]

Looks like the FA was trained by Fearghal O'Farrell of Our Lady Air

Vídeos - plus.es
(sorry link is in Spanish, watch the video)

 

[whereishome]

"We conducted a thorough investigation of the incident and the staff member involved was subsequently terminated," a Virgin spokeswoman said.

I hope she meant that the staff member's employment was terminated. It seems rather drastic to execute someone for that.

 

[anat0l]

I hope she meant that the staff member's employment was terminated. It seems rather drastic to execute someone for that.

It is probably understood that "terminated" in this context does mean her employment, not her life.

In any case, it wouldn't seem like many people would care whichever action was taken, though we may debate on the appropriateness of it, notwithstanding that the more "drastic" action is - unfortunately - categorically illegal.

 

[russ]

I think it's a joke, anat0l.

 

[jsd]

Honestly, I'm not quite sure how some of the people that work in media even got there, they can't even do a simple fact check, but they can use Photoshop (Very badly) to make things look worse than they actually are....

(First and only observation on the TT story)

It was a Pacific Blue flight, Not a Virgin Blue flight


And as for the mother....

I seen one of the stewardess guys pick him up and open the overhead locker, and put my son in there, and closed the overhead locker

The less said the better