Airline addresses cancelling flight after child refused to sit down and fasten seatbelt

A flight was forced to be cancelled after a child refused to take their seat and fasten the seatbelt.

The plane, Flight PD444, was due to depart from Victoria International Airport in British Columbia, and was heading for the runway.

It was noticed that a young child wasn't in their allocated seat, according to Sky News.

The flight was operated by Porter Airlines, and the company has said that both cabin crew and a parent of the child repeatedly tried to fasten them into their seat without success.

Due to the child's refusal to sit down, the plane had to turn back for the child and parent to be removed, along with their luggage.

While they disembarked, all other passengers on board also had to leave the plane, so that the flight plans could be refiled along with all of the relevant paperwork.

The flight was forced to turn back after a child refused to sit down and put their seatbelt on (Getty Stock)

Unfortunately for the passengers, this caused substantial delays, pushing it back well past the runway closure time of 12.30am.

This left passengers stranded in British Columbia for the night.

Now, following the incident, Porter Airlines has issued a statement.

A representative for the airline, Brad Cicero, said the child was 'standing in their seat', which meant it wasn't safe for the plane to take off.

The airline also said sorry to the stranded passengers from Thursday's flight: "We apologise for the effect this had on other passengers, who were able to depart on a flight the following day,"

One passenger onboard told CBC that there unsurprisingly 'a lot of frustration' over the child's refusal to be seated.

However one passenger insisted it wasn't just a child being unruly, but instead they were 'scared'.

It's not known how old the child was.

The passenger told CBC "They just kept hiding under their seat. If they got forced into being strapped in, they just kind of slid out underneath."

Another said 'it took forever' for the child and their mother to leave the plane.

"The kid eventually got off the plane at 11.30pm, so we had been on the flight for almost an hour at that point," before adding "Luckily I had a place to stay," while other passengers had to scramble to find a hotel.

Due to their refusal to put on a seatbelt, the child and mother had to leave the plane (Getty Stock)

Needless to say, the internet has had many opinions about this.

"This is a parenting failure. If you can't control your child, you shouldn't be taking him on a plane at all," slammed one.

"You should gave him/her some biscuits or something else to encourage the child to sit down and fasten his seat belt on the plane. The flight may not have been cancelled," suggested another.

Another added: "We live in a world now where parents don't say no to kids, and they are not taught manners or respect."

However, many felt sorry for the mother and child: "Loving all the comments from parenting experts. We know nothing about this child. Could be autistic, for example. I'm sure that the parents were more upset than anyone else on that plane."

Someone else added: "Wow, how abusive, aggressive and hating comments without knowing anything about child or parents. Maybe child has some difficulties or disfunctions, maybe parents were trying to sort out child, but child was too much upset due to psychological conditions?"

It comes after many people have been pleading for child-free flights for years.

Back in 2023, passengers were kept awake all night on an overnight flight due to a child wearing a very bright light-up hat, while another passenger who refused to switch seats with a mum had the child then crawling all over her for the duration of the flight.