'I Paid For The Ticket': Delta Boots Family Of 4 In New Video: ICYMI

ATLANTA, GA -- Must be something in the air: In the midst of a series of incidents caught on video that show U.S. airline employees involved in confrontations with passengers, new footage from a Delta Airlines flight has emerged showing a family being booted from a plane.

A Delta passenger from Huntington Beach, California recently posted the video, which shows his family, including his wife and two babies ages 1 and 2, being told that they need to deplane because their seats -- which they paid for -- were going to someone else due to overbooking.

According to Brian Schear, who posted the video, the incident occurred on April 23 on Flight 2222 from Maui to Los Angeles. A dispute began when Schear, who also bought a ticket for his 18-year-old son Mason, tried to keep the seat for their younger son since the teen had caught an earlier flight.

"They oversold the flight and (Delta) asked us to give up a seat we purchased for my older son that my younger son was sitting in," Schear said in the video. "The end result was we were all kicked off the flight. They then filled our four seats with four (other) customers that had tickets but no seats. (Delta) oversold the flight. When will this all stop?"

An airline employee can be heard telling him “Mason is not here, so Mason is the one that owns the seat.” As Schear tries to keep the workers from taking the seat, he is advised that the obstruction is a “federal offense, then you and your wife will be in jail,” according to the clip.

"You have to give up the seat or you're going to jail, your wife is going to jail and they'll take your kids from you," Schear recounted the airline staff telling him, reports KABC-TV.

An airline staffer identified as Jenna is seen in the video calmly telling the family that the impasse means the plane will remain on the ground. "[The child] cannot be in a seat at all, as that is FAA regulation for infants in arms," she said. "It's out of my hands now. From this point on, this plane will not go anywhere."

Brian Schear replies: "Trying to help us would be not overselling the flight."

In a statement to Patch, Delta apologized and said that it has reached out to the family to issue them a refund and "additional compensation."

"We are sorry for the unfortunate experience our customers had with Delta, and we’ve reached out to them to refund their travel and provide additional compensation," Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said. "Delta's goal is to always work with customers in an attempt to find solutions to their travel issues. That did not happen in this case and we apologize."

Schear's wife, Brittany, said that of the entire incident, the threat of being forcibly removed and their kids taken had shaken the couple."As a mother, you have a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old — it doesn't matter whether that's true or false. It put fear in me," she was quoted as saying.

Also, Delta’s website says: “For children under the age of two, we recommend you purchase a seat on the aircraft and use an approved child safety seat." It adds, “Infants and children less than 2 years old may travel for free within the U.S. if an adult (18 years or older) holds the infant in arms or places the infant in an FAA-approved child restraint during take off and landing.”

Brian Schear said that because it was midnight in Hawaii, his family had to stay in a hotel and buy new tickets the next day. "You need to do what's right, I bought this seat, and you need to just leave us alone," he said in the video.

As Patch previously reported, the FAA's policy on airplane seating includes the following:

FAA regulation on child seating 121.311 regarding Seats, safety belts, and shoulder harnesses states:

No person may operate an airplane unless there are available during the takeoff, en route flight, and landing—

(1) An approved seat or berth for each person on board the airplane who has reached his second birthday; and

(2) An approved safety belt for separate use by each person on board the airplane who has reached his second birthday, except that two persons occupying a berth may share one approved safety belt and two persons occupying a multiple lounge or divan seat may share one approved safety belt during en route flight only.

The Maui incident is just the latest confrontation involving airline staffers and fliers as rules seem to have run aground of social mores. Last month, a man was bloodied on an American Airlines flight after he refused to give up his seat.

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