AIRLINES KICKS OFF 101 STUDENTS

 

School opens 'investigation' after airline kicks students off plane...

WHATTA YOU THINK?

By Morgan Winsor, CNN

 New York (CNN) -- The dispute surrounding a student vacation flight from New York to Atlanta is getting uglier.

One hundred one students and eight chaperones were kicked off an early morning AirTran flight before its scheduled departure Monday. The controversy now pits the airline against an Orthodox Jewish high school.

"We take this matter seriously and have started our own investigation," said a statement released Tuesday by Rabbi Seth Linfield, executive director of the Yeshiva of Flatbush school. "Preliminarily, it does not appear that the action taken by the flight crew was justified."

From the airline's perspective, it sounds like a large-scale version of the parental "don't-make-me-turn-this-car-around" scenario.

Southwest, which owns AirTran, said the group of "non-compliant passengers" would not stay seated, and some were using their mobile devices after being asked not to.

 When the students failed to comply with requests from the flight crew, including the captain, they were asked to leave the plane, delaying the AirTran flight for 45 minutes, said Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins.

Southwest Airlines acquired AirTran in a deal announced three years ago.

Students and chaperones from the Brooklyn-based school said the flight crew overreacted to the teenagers who were looking forward to visiting Six Flags and rafting, among other activities.