British Airways under fire for not allowing teen with TS to board plane (after he shouted "bomb")

[exchemist]

Eating loudly and rudeness/entitlement are two of my bugbears. Also exchemist s bubble gum popper would make me reconsider my position on the death penalty. Things people have no control over bother me less (screaming baby, weirdly, has never much bothered me, I guess my brain has categorized that as "nature sounds.") Farts seem to be more problematic on planes, as the cabin pressure (7-8000 feet altitude equivalent) drop seems to increase them.

Agree if Tourettes is delicately announced to passengers, it shouldn't be a problem. Ordinary rudeness and uncouthness is much worse. Maybe extra care be taken if it's the BAFTA Tourettes fellow and he's sharing the flight with an American basketball team.

Yes I was wondering if an announcement that "There is a passenger today with Tourette's Syndrome, who has verbal tics and has been known to say things like "bomb" rather loudly, so please ignore that if it happens" might work. But that would mean drawing the attention of the whole plane to the family and also presupposes that passengers know what Tourette's Syndrome is, which many of them won't. Tricky one.

I once flew from Mombassa to Muscat on a plane in which there was an Omani man who was mentally ill. Every so often he would slowly rise from his seat with a rather menacing mad glare in his eyes and his helper would have to persuade him to sit down again. At one point he rose and started to hit, rather in slow motion and not very hard, the guy sitting in the seat in front, who turned round with an expression of surprised and indignant annoyance on his face. I confess that, once it was clear there wasn't going to be an actual fight, I found this quite funny. An ambulance met the plane in Muscat and the guy was escorted down the steps and into it as soon as the doors were opened.

 

[DaveC426913]

"A Qantas flight traveling from Melbourne to Dallas (QF21) was diverted to Tahiti's Faa'a International Airport on May 15, 2026, after a heavily intoxicated passenger became violent.

The question is: is an adult - who has been irresponsible enough to get sufficiently drunk so at to become violent - to be handled the same way and a young man with a medical condition through no fault of his own.

I would say the former has wilfully acted in a way so as to forfeit at least some of his freedom of action, whereas the latter has done nothing wrong, and deserves to come out the other side with as much of his personal dignity and freedom of action intact as is possible under the circumstances.

 

[Roosters for ever]

The question is: is an adult - who has been irresponsible enough to get sufficiently drunk so at to become violent - to be handled the same way and a young man with a medical condition through no fault of his own.

I would say the former has wilfully acted in a way so as to forfeit at least some of his freedom of action, whereas the latter has done nothing wrong, and deserves to come out the other side with as much of his personal dignity and freedom of action intact as is possible under the circumstances.

Couldn't agree more!
Hence....

Again, my sympathies go out to the young fella and his family. Perhaps though the airline could have reconsidered their decision and made some allowances in lieu thereof

But as you said and my point in replying...

I'm not advocating any particular action; I'm simply saying I can see the airline's point about safety.

 

[TheVat]

Every so often he would slowly rise from his seat with a rather menacing mad glare in his eyes and his helper would have to persuade him to sit down again. At one point he rose and started to hit, rather in slow motion and not very hard, the guy sitting in the seat in front, who turned round with an expression of surprised and indignant annoyance on his face. I confess that, once it was clear there wasn't going to be an actual fight, I found this quite funny. An ambulance met the plane in Muscat and the guy was escorted down the steps and into it as soon as the doors were opened.

Not without its humorous aspect. I would find that in easier to weather than a bored seven year old kicking the back of my seat. The latter sets up a dynamic where one can end up tangling with both an ill-mannered child and their shit parents. I've always pictured our current president as someone who was a child that gleefully kicked seat backs and didn't catch hell for it.

I have no optimal tactic for informing passengers on Tourettes and not potentially putting an unwanted spotlight on someone. OTOH, the Tourettes person would seem likely to put that spotlight on themselves at some point, so having warning seems desirable. Good grief, it sounds like a terrible condition to suffer if one has the coprolalia form where it's loud vocalizations. There's movie where Bill Murray makes Tourettes funny, but the reality is not. There's a guy who frequents my local library who suffers from coprolalia, and I think it's a credit to our community that everyone takes it in stride and can tune it out.