Family kicked off plane -thanks to their unwelcome request to the pilot to change the movie. The Atlantic reports on an incredulous incident involving parents that traveled with their two young boys on board United Airlines flight 638 from Denver to Baltimore’s BWI Airport. The parents’ names were unidentified on the report concerning the incident, which happened on February 2, 2013.

It began when they asked for the in-flight movie, Alex Cross, which United’s own inflight magazine rated as adult to be kept away from the sight of their kids. The film includes extreme graphic violence and some intense sexually explicit content. The plane was an A320 and the movie was projected on drop-down screens above the seats, which won’t allow the parents to shield the young children from inappropriate content.

The opening scenes of the film alone was enough to alarm them and they asked two flight attendants if they could turn off the monitor, but both claimed that it was not possible.

The parents said that the first flight attendant claimed that the screen could not be folded, though it was technically possible. The attendant said, according to the parents, that she could not authorize closing it because of the passengers sitting behind them. But then, other passengers, who were actually sitting behind and near the parents and their children were agreeing with the request to fold up the screen because the film was inappropriate for children.

“We asked if the captain has the authority to address this issue,” said the parents, but they received no response. When they asked for the captain’s name a few minutes later, they were told by the purser that they will have to ask him themselves when they disembark.

What happened next surprised both the crew, the passengers and most importantly, the parents involved.

More than an hour later, the captain, whose name The Atlantic did not disclose, announced on the PA system that due to security concerns, the flight was being diverted to Chicago’s ORD. As soon as they landed and the plane doors opened, a Chicago police officer boarded the plane and to the parents’ surprise and disbelief, approached them and asked them to collect their belongings and follow the officer to disembark. The captain, according to what they were told, felt that the complaint they had about the in-flight movie posed a grave danger to the aircraft, crew and other passengers on board.

The extreme response from the captain, which the parents found to be simply incredulous and unnecessary, received unwelcome and condemning remarks from the FBI agent, police officers, some United employees and passengers who were inconvenience by the action.

According to the parents, their appeal to United Airlines to address the issue has been left unanswered, including a letter they wrote to the CEO of the company.