Parents Board Allegiant Florida-To-Indiana Flight With Crying Baby. Then They’re Asked To Get Off The Plane

No one likes sitting next to a crying baby on a flight—parents included. But is a baby crying enough to get parents kicked off a flight?

That’s what many viewers are wondering after a video taken on an Allegiant Air flight went viral. In a clip with over 1.3 million views, TikTok user Jessica Brennan (@jessicabrennan66) documents an incident she says occurred on a recent flight from Punta Gorda, Florida, to Indianapolis, Indiana.

According to a complaint filed by Brennan, a couple began boarding a flight with their baby when they were asked for the child’s birth certificate. The couple provided the birth certificate, but the fuss and added stress caused the baby to begin crying.

“The employee then started to accuse the baby of having a fever,” Brennan says. “The mother responded that she’s an ICU nurse and the baby didn’t have a fever but was just crying.”

Following this, the couple went to their seats. A few moments later, they were asked to leave the flight.

What Happened On This Allegiant Air Flight?

In a follow-up video recorded by Brennan, an employee can be seen telling the couple that they need to leave the flight per Medlink’s orders. This decision, they say, cannot be overridden.

Even though the couple tried to explain that the baby did not have a fever, the staff member insisted that the baby had a fever due to his red coloration and the alleged presence of a rash on the baby’s back—something the parents deny.

“It was clear to all the other passengers, including myself, that this child did not have a fever but was a typical fussy baby,” Brennan says in her complaint.

The employee remained unconvinced. Once the worker threatened to call law enforcement, the couple got up and left the plane—later sharing their own perspective on what happened to TikTok.

The Couple’s Side Of The Story

Across several videos, Syd (@quarantinecutiee), the mother of the baby, explained their side of the story.

According to the caption under a slideshow posted by Syd, the parents boarded the flight with the baby without issue. As it was hot, and the baby recently made a mess after eating, they decided to remove the child’s shirt.

At this point, a worker approached them and asked for information about their baby. After handing over the information, the staff seemed unconvinced, calling the child an “unidentified infant” and eventually reporting that the baby was “feverish” and not clear to fly.

“Nobody would come and see her,” Syd writes. “Nobody would even come and take her temperature. They said well she looks red and it looks like a rash.”

After they were removed, the couple says Allegiant booked them on the next flight out—which left at 11am the following morning. They were not given their luggage, nor were they provided with a car, accommodations, or a stroller for the baby. Instead, Syd says the airline gave them “an unclaimed car seat that has no padding and isn’t age appropriate.”

Thankfully, the couple managed to make the second flight. This flight, they said, occurred without issue.

“We called Allegiant and they just keep telling us we are not able to get any sort of compensation for our time or experience,” Syd wrote. “They wouldn’t email or give me any policies on traveling with infants and they wouldn’t connect me to a supervisor of any kind.”

In a TikTok DM exchange, Syd says that Allegiant is refusing to compensate her for the issue. She claims that there was never a medical assessment of her child, and that any apparent concerns from staff regarding the appearance of her baby were likely due to her red coloration due to skin sensitivity.

As for why the couple was singled out, Syd has theories.

“I originally thought maybe they thought she was being trafficked. They kept passing around her birth certificate at check in. The attendant originally said they were looking for an unidentified infant. They asked over and over again her date of birth, her name, where we were going, where we came from,” she wrote.

“Some have said it is but they also didn’t give us paper boarding passes the first time but when I came to the second flight the next day they told me anyone with a child under 12 had to have paper boarding passes to show they checked ID and birth certificates,” she added.

On the second flight, Syd says they were given extra leg room and refreshments. Additionally, they were told that if the infant truly was sick, they would have had to wait 24 hours before boarding a flight. The fact that Allegiant booked them on a flight before 24 hours was up, she says, shows how invalid the airline’s assessment was.

“I really just want an apology and I wanted a refund for my flights. I had to miss a night working, I didn’t get to get pick up my other two kids from their dad on time, I had to get our pet sitter to stay another night at our house, I had to pay for another night parking at Indy’s airport. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to give that money back for an inconvenience they caused,” she shared. “It’s also super embarrassing to be walked from the second to last row of a plane back to the front to get off and to be threatened for police to come and kick us off.”

What Allegiant Says

For their part, Allegiant provided BroBible with the following statement:

We are aware of the situation involving Mrs. Tash and her family traveling on Allegiant flight 608 from Punta Gorda to Indianapolis on March 27 and understand that travel disruptions, especially those involving families, can be frustrating.

Our crews are responsible for making real-time decisions that prioritize the safety and well-being of all passengers on board. If a crew member has concerns about a passenger’s ability to travel, especially when an infant or potential medical issue is involved, they may pause boarding to consult our medical information service provider, MedLink.

Allegiant does not make medical diagnoses, and flight attendants are not medical professionals. MedLink connects flight crews directly to aviation-trained emergency medicine physicians with extensive experience managing in-flight medical events. In this instance, our crew consulted MedLink after observing symptoms that raised concern, which is standard procedure and consistent with industry practice across many airlines when a passenger health issue arises. Based on the information available, MedLink advised that it was not in the child’s best interest to continue travel.

The family was rebooked on a later Allegiant flight and provided accommodations intended to help ease the disruption to their travel plans.

Syd disputes this assessment.

“There were no accommodations in place,” she wrote. “I don’t see how extra leg room helps disruption of travel plans. We did not get a place to stay, food, or any help with transportation to get somewhere safe for the night. We got publicly humiliated, an unsafe car seat, and was unable to even talk to anyone higher up. They were extremely unprofessional.”

To close, Syd offered a final thought.

“People are entitled to a childless life, but not a child-free world. My kids will be on planes, in restaurants, and at stores. They deserve to experience the world and I’m not keeping him home just because you don’t want kids around. I’m also not going to make my baby sit in a car seat for 15 hours instead of a 2 hour flight,” she wrote. “Also, if flights want to have policies on traveling they need to be posted and medical personnel should be available in person and not just over a phone. You cannot examine someone through audio on a cell phone. Not even talking to the parent of the infant about the child seems unprofessional as well.”

What Can The Couple Do?

Allegiant Air’s Contract of Carriage gives the airline broad abilities to remove passengers for reasons they see fit. Among these abilities are the right to remove passengers “known to have a contagious disease” if it is determined to be a “direct threat.”

The airline may argue that it made the determination that the couple’s baby could have posed a threat to other passengers. This falls under the airline’s “Comfort and Safety” section of its Contract of Carriage. Consequently, the couple would not be afforded the rights provided to other passengers who have been “bumped” or denied boarding.

Given this, there’s little direct legal recourse for the couple. However, they can begin to document all of the costs incurred as a result of the airline’s decision. They can then pursue the airline to reimburse these costs, though it’s unclear if such measures would be successful.

Commenters Are Divided

In the comments section, some users insisted that the airline was right to remove the couple and their baby.

“I’m 100% with the airline,” reads one highly favorited comment.

“I would be cheering,” offered another.

That said, many users sided with the parents.

“One of my kids cried like this every time he was in the car seat. People have no idea that some babies cry more and angrier than others, I guess,” detailed a commenter. “She just needed time to settle down, given that she did stop crying as soon as her dad stood up. Having a stranger in your face and your parents upset isn’t exactly soothing.”

“We were a few rows up from you. We weren’t aware of why you were being asked to leave. I feel terrible for you. I can’t imagine how stressful that was and not having any luggage or car seat,” shared a second. “All I can say is that you both handled the situation in the most tactful way. Kuddos for being so calm through it all.”