The child whose refusal to buckle up led to the Porter Airlines flight cancellation last week was “obviously terrified” and should not be blamed, according to a passenger who was on board the Toronto-bound plane. The incident has sparked debate online, but those who witnessed it firsthand say the story is far more complicated than it looks.

What Happened During the Porter Airlines Flight Cancellation

The aircraft could not take off from Victoria in what Porter called an unsafe situation. As a result, the crew decided to return to the terminal so the child and a parent could get off the plane. However, by the time they deboarded, it was too late for the flight to proceed.

Passenger Aryeh Kozuch had taken the red-eye flight a dozen times without issue. Still, as he was closing his eyes in preparation for takeoff last Thursday, he noticed flight attendants walking toward the back of the plane. Soon after, he heard an overhead announcement reminding passengers that obeying flight attendants’ instructions is required by law.

Five minutes later, a second announcement followed. Passengers needed to comply with flight attendants’ instructions within 60 seconds, or the plane was going back to the gate. “At this point, it’s like, ‘Oh, something is wrong,'” said Kozuch, a 26-year-old from Toronto who was set to take off for a six-month stretch of sailing competitions around the world.

Meanwhile, a flight attendant attempted to quell passengers’ frustration by explaining the actual source of the delay. A young child was squirming and sliding down under the seat in front of them, refusing to be buckled in. “I’m not gonna lie, I never even considered the idea that it was gonna be an unruly toddler,” he said. “I thought it was an unruly adult.”

The toddler and their parent soon deboarded, with luggage and a stroller in tow. Nevertheless, Kozuch worried the crew wouldn’t be able to organize another departure as the clock ticked past midnight. Porter explained that the time needed to bridge the aircraft, deplane the pair, retrieve their baggage, and submit new flight plans meant it was too late to depart, since Victoria’s runway closes at 12:30 a.m.

Passenger Aryeh Kozuch Defends the Toddler

Passengers were upset and unprepared to find a place to sleep, and the first person to offer information or advice was a baggage handler, Kozuch said. Meanwhile, flight attendants he spoke with told him they hadn’t seen anything like the child’s refusal across their decades of experience. “Kids refuse this all the time, and eventually, they always comply,” Kozuch said. “At least, that’s what they assumed would happen.”

Despite the disruption, Kozuch pushed back against online criticism of the family. He said comments calling the child bratty, or admonishing the toddler’s parents for not doing more, don’t “empathetically capture the situation.” Instead, he found the aircraft crew to be quite helpful throughout the ordeal.

“This was a child that was in a tube with 150 people … They’re obviously terrified, and their response was to try and hide under the seat in front of them,” he said. “That’s so different than a kid running around and screaming.” In his view, the toddler’s parents shouldn’t have been expected to physically force their child into the seat while so many passengers watched.

Porter Airlines Response and Passenger Compensation

Porter confirmed that other passengers had to wait for another flight the next day, and the airline has since apologized to those travellers. Even so, Kozuch said he hasn’t personally heard anything from Porter, although he did make it onto another Victoria-Toronto flight the following day.

He noted that it seemed “hilarious” that he had to deboard the first plane with six months of luggage in tow. Fortunately, a friend let him crash on the couch at 2:30 a.m. once the flight was cancelled. Still, he said he hasn’t received any word on compensation from the airline. “An email would have been nice,” Kozuch said.

When asked whether passengers would be compensated, a Porter spokesperson responded in an email to The Canadian Press: “The flight in question occurred on Aug. 6, and the other passengers completed their travel the following day. We have nothing further to add to this story.” For now, travellers affected by the delay are left without further clarity, even as the story continues to draw public attention.