ITV star almost refused to board flight after being ‘split up from children’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

Loose Women panellist Charlene White has revealed how she put her foot down when a major US carrier allegedly tried to separate her from her children on a flight.

The ITV star, 44, said she ‘almost refused’ to get on the flight two months ago when the aviation company attempted to ‘split me up’ from her children Alfie, seven, and Florence, five.

Revealing she had ‘no problem’ raising complaints, she said she told crew to ‘sort it out’ or she would insist that they book her onto the next flight seated next to children.

Charlene told Alan Carr’s Life’s a Beach podcast: ‘I’ve got no problem with complaining about stuff. I almost refused to get a flight [with a major US carrier] two months ago because they split me up from my kids, which is illegal.

‘So then I reminded them of aviation law and said to them they sort it out or I’m not getting on the flight and they will have to put me on the next flight with my children.’

However, according to Which, no UK law says children have to be seated with their parents on a plane.

Airlines are even legally able to separate the under-fives from their mum and dad although this would be against Civil Aviation Authority guidelines (CAA).

The CAA said: ‘Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult.

‘Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults.

‘This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.’

In the US, there is also no legal requirement for airlines to seat children next to their parents.

However, the Department of Transportation is trying to pass a new law under which airlines would be required to seat parents and kids 13 and younger together free of charge.

Recounting the incident, Charlene continued: ‘Don’t mess with me. You’re not allowed to be split up from your children because if something happens.

‘If there’s an accident and the thing comes down, you can’t necessarily trust a stranger to do that for you so legally you have to sit with your children.

‘And they were trying to tell me that’s not true, and I said “I think you’ll find it is.”‘And they were trying to tell me that’s not true, and I said “I think you’ll find it is.”‘

It comes after Lily Allen said on her podcast Miss Me? that she flew first class from London to New York, while her daughter Ethel, 13, travelled in economy.

Kirstie Allsopp also previously revealed she had the same arrangement with her children on flights.

She told The Sun: ‘When we fly as a family, the boys do fly separately from Ben and me if we’re not in economy together. Obviously this wasn’t the case when they were little but now they are big enough to sit separately, they do.

‘If kids get used to it, what do they have to work towards? It seems like an absurd waste of money and very spoiling. I suspect Gordon Ramsay and I can’t be the only ones to think this.’

Kirstie also recently sparked a debate online after revealing that her 15-year-old son had returned from a three-week interrailing holiday – which he went on without an adult.

Metro has contacted the major US carrier for comment.

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