Traveling with young children can be a nightmare. One family experienced it for real last week when their son’s mid-flight meltdown prompted flight attendants to call the cops! Leo Khalfin told St. Louis’ KSDK that his 2-year-old was crying in his lap when an attendant instructed him to put the boy into his own seat for the takeoff of their Frontier Airlines flight from the Dominican Republic to St. Louis. (Airlines require children age 2 and older sit in their own seat and the Federal Aviation Administration recommends child restraint systems based on weight).

“I buckled him in and he was of course screaming and yelling,” said the Chesterfield, Missouri father. “And I held him with force.” Unfortunately little Sam continued to wail. Khalfin says the attendant then told him and his wife, Regina: “Your son is too loud…If you’re not going to keep him calm in the next three minutes, you guys are going to have to leave the plane.’” The parents were able to calm Sam – until turbulence at one point during the four-hour journey freaked him out and he resumed wailing.

Tension between the family and cabin crew grew so intense, a spokesperson for Frontier told KSDK flight staff requested police saying the Khalfins had been abusive toward them. When the plane landed in St. Louis, Khalfin said he, Regina and toddler Sam were ushered off and met by police “like criminals.”