BA refuses flight to child with Tourette syndrome after he shouted ‘bomb’
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-tourettes-child-flight-bomb-b2984155.html
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
BA refuses flight to child with Tourette syndrome after he shouted ‘bomb’
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-tourettes-child-flight-bomb-b2984155.html
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
35 Comments
Imagine being the parents. You are dreading this exact scenario, you call ahead and explain, and then exactly what you tried to mitigate and work around happens, and you’re treated like a criminal anyway.
Also does no-one understand what the word ‘threat’ actually means?
I don’t know the sensible way around this really.
I’m sympathetic that tourettes sufferers absolutely can’t help it, but I also know as a customer and fairly anxious flyer I would find hearing this sort of thing over and over again on a flight somewhere extremely stressful.
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread
What do you think happens when you tell a Tourette’s sufferer not to say one specific word?!
Thought he got on the flight chatted with the pilot and got to sit in the cockpit no? Because there was a doctor onboard who explained it.
Is it just me who is pro BA here?
Once a bomb threat is made on a plane, it doesn’t mater how common sense or explainable it is – it’s a red line and they must be *off*
They didn’t just shout “bomb” they kept repeating “I have a bomb in my bag”
This is the classic damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation.
How do you approach it? Tell the Captain to make an announcement before the plane leaves the gate. But then you will probably still get abuse if it goes online for shaming a someone with tourettes.
Someone on another post (who was actually disabled) said it quite well.
Provisions for disabled people need to be balanced against the needs of those that aren’t disabled.
In this case the needs of 1 child do not outway the need to feel safe of the 150+ other passengers. There are lots of disabled people who cannot fly because the airline cannot reasonably provision for them without affecting other passengers etc.
I can see both perspectives on this. Anything which could potentially cause panic on an aircraft needs to handled carefully. Not sure how you go about reassuring passengers when many of them may not speak English or know what Tourrettes is.
Difficult but I think it’s the right decision. Some people are terrified of flying and to have this shouted out could be catastrophic.
Its not ideal. On the one hand you want to make every accommodation to the kid. On the other hand, you also have to consider everyone else on the flight. My mum is a very nervous flyer and she would have had a breakdown if someone was sat near her on a flight shouting that.
Sucks for everyone but this was a least worst decision.
Yeah, I don’t want to be sat on a plane with someone repeatedly saying they have a bomb in their bag. I also don’t want a flight attendant to announce “sorry everyone, despite what you’re hearing, there’s definitely not a bomb on the plane, but you will hear this repeatedly for the next few hours until we land”.
Tourettes is a terrible condition to deal with, but the nature of the disability in this case makes accommodations really difficult.
If you have multiple people with anxious dispositions on the plane, you will have no more luck convincing them to calm down than you would with convincing a person with tourettes to stop talking. With how many more people are likely to be anxious around flying anyways, compared to people with tourettes, it’s unfortunately the better of two evils to ask them not to board.
I know I’ll get some stick for this but even if it’s a child, I completely understand why they wouldn’t want them potentially panicking people thousands of feet in the air.
Surely the parents knew what the kid was like and how seriously airports take this stuff. They could have been enjoying their holidays if they had given the kid a couple of Benzos 20 mins before boarding.
Trolley problem. Horrible situation, but the logical decision.
This is sad all around. But I can get behind BA on this one. The kid had already declared bomb. He’s likely to do it again.
Let’s say that the staff announces they have a person aboard with a disability. I guarantee 1 out of 10 people won’t get the announcement. Either they’re in the loo, or they’re on their phone, or they’re asleep during the announcement. These folks might later hear about a bomb on board and panic, causing a ruckus, or they’ll keep ringing the staff unnecessarily. Some who didn’t quite get it might demand that the plane should land because they believe the threat is real.
It’s all purely speculative but I can see why they weren’t allowed to board.
I’m very interested to hear whether the kid still kept saying he had a bomb in their flight on another airline and how this was managed.
Have you seen the video ? The staff member handles it very well and the dad comes across as a bit of a dick TBH.
Completely with BA on this. As an extremely anxious flyer and person in general, even if there was an announcement explaining, there’s absolutely no way I’d stay on that plane with some kid saying he’s got a bomb in his bag.
On top of the bomb threat, the family were aggressive towards staff. BA made the right call. The needs and comfort of 1 do not outweigh those of 200.
I fully understand it’s an involuntary outburst and is a medical issue
But making repeated comments like this on a plane will seriously endanger public order on the aircraft. It also poses a risk to the guy himself if a passenger responds to what he perceives as a serious threat
Sucks for the chlid most of all who cant control it, but the needs of the other 100-200 passangers outweigh one family.
He’ll have to take boats or would he shout iceberg?
There was a famous German YouTuber with Tourette’s, he passed away last year, but he documented his daily life with the condition. In one of the videos he heads to the airport and takes a flight. He informed both the airport and the airline of his Tourette’s beforehand and that he might yell stuff like “bomb”. When he was asked at the security check if he was transporting any illegal items, he replied with “cocaine”. He was able to take the flight – I assume the other passengers were also informed of his condition.
Did we all just forget that Tourette’s is like… not on purpose? In the past year? Seriously why this isn’t treated like hot air I have no idea, especially when the company have been called ahead and notified, all they need is an announcement on the plane that any irregular yells are as a result of a passenger’s Tourette’s and then we can… just get on with it?
They should treat it like a nut allergy.
“Ladies & Gentlemen, aboard our flight today we have a passenger with tourettes who is going to yell the most inappropriate things at the top of their voice occasionally. They don’t mean it, and they can’t help it. So unless you hear me scream it over the intercom, don’t worry and please have a nice flight.”
The issue here is if they shouted that mid flight and panic caused more panic that would be extremely dangerous for the whole of flight for many reasons.
Im gonna give a personal anecdote , I have a dad who has tourettes , he’s the sweetest man ever plus he has many other conditions such as autism , my favourite tic from him is “Boris Johnson is a cunt” , but thats besides the point
What really hurts is the fact every time he goes outside hes embarrassed beyond belief no matter how much me or my mother tell him its fine , every time he has to get transportation he has to explain himself and apologise over and over again
Its 2026, and with the release of ‘I swear’ and just the general knowledge of tourretes being an existing condition people should know by now that especially with kids that this should be an understood and taught about condition , but apparently not
What if the policy was to board that family last and give an announcement to the passengers before they board. I would also prepare an information card for all the passengers like some parents do for potentially crying babies. He clearly wasn’t a threat to security. This poor lad has to be able to experience a holiday like the rest of us. I’m scared shitless of flying but if I knew his situation it wouldn’t bother me hearing that word.
Would it really be that hard to explain to the passengers that there is a kid with Tourette’s and that they may shout concerning things, so there is nothing to worry about?
*Staff at Gatwick said: “Today you’ve been refused travel only based on security and the safety and welfare of other customers, yourselves, and our cabin crew … because of the threats made on multiple occasions up at the gate and down at the aircraft. We have to take it incredibly seriously,”*
*Mason’s father, Martyn, told the paper that Mason was “on the floor crying – apologising to everyone”*
*Armed police reportedly escorted four members of the family from Harwich in Essex out of the terminal “in floods of tears” following the refusal to board.*
This isn’t an easy one tbh. Obviously I sympathise with people who have Tourette’s, and I do think people need to be understanding of this.
On the flip side, I can understand why this could cause a security response. Not saying the kid is at fault, cuz they’re not, it’s just, unfortunate tbh.
I don’t think some of the people commenting have read the story.
It’s nothing to do with the excuses BA gave because they booked on another airline later and had no problem.
It seems to me BA broke the disability discrimination act by not attempting any mitigation of the situation, despite knowing about the situation before flight date.
Some airlines are pig ignorant when it comes to disability. Where as other airlines go way beyond.
So, let me get this right, someone has a terrible nut allergy, no nuts allowed, must protect that one person and you’re even told.
But, they can’t just say, “Heya everyone, thank you for choosing British Airways, today we will be flying with someone with Tourette Syndrome, they may shout out obscene words and including potentially “Bomb”
Outright discrimination is just plain wrong.
I’m not very intelligent, so could someone help me understand why people with Tourette’s sometimes say the “wrong” word in situations? I know it’s not controllable, but it always seems to be the worst possible word. For example, instead of saying something random like “air,” “sky,” “plane,” or “wing,” it ends up being something like “bomb.” Why is that
I’m surprised I haven’t seen a single other person saying BA are in the wrong here, I really think they are.
The video I saw they kept saying “he made a threat”, but If they genuinely believed there was a material threat, they would have offloaded everyone/everything and swept the plane to verify its “sterile” status, but they didn’t, because they know there was *NO* threat.
ITT: People not understanding aviation laws need to apply proportionally with the Equalities Act so that disabled people can be provided with services and not discriminated against.
They also booked with another airline on the assumption he was still suffering from Tourette’s and actively ticcing, so clearly BA wrongly considered the situation and is open up to a discrimination case. Airport security also let him through.
The kid posed no danger to passengers and the airline can clarify this with ease. If they believed there was a real bomb threat, then why was the airport not evacuated and a bomb squad called? Bag are also scanned for this very reason.
For those of you noting you don’t want to be around a child shouting due to a condition, you should also lobby the airlines not to serve alcohol or for small children to fly as they cause loud noises too. Have anxiety about flying? Then don’t fly, or realise that there are people with disabilities and that the airport will do their job with security (see, I’m applying the same logic you’re applying to the kid here).
Another example of ignorance and misunderstanding of Tourette’s syndrome. There are still people that believe it doesn’t exist.