Child abuse on planes can create 'grey areas' for airlines

Flight crews can restrain passengers or even divert flights when violent behaviour erupts mid-air, but when the situation involves a parent potentially abusing a child, the decisions are not so clear cut. A 5½-hour JetBlue flight earlier this month continued to its final destination after passengers reported a mother mistreating her 8-year-old son as he cried. While it may vary by airline, flight attendants are trained in how to de-escalate violent situations under widely accepted procedures, and it is likely that JetBlue concluded it was safest to leave the mother and son together and not disrupt the flight, aviation experts say. "This is certainly a very unpleasant situation, but it is one that is full of…grey areas, as opposed to a black-and-white type of situation," said a travel industry analyst. <br/>