Social Question
Have you ever been on a flight that had a baby or a toddler among the passengers?
I follow a page called Social Q. We’ve had a couple of questions recently about manners, so this kind of dovetails in. This was posted today (below the ****). I don’t know the author. I wondered what you all think of it.
Have you ever flown with a baby or young toddler? I did, once, on a three hour flight. It was my middle daughter, before my son was born. She was about 14 months old. Oh, she was a cranky baby on a good day, so I lost some sleep worrying about it. However, we actually survived pretty well, and I was complimented by a few people around me as we were getting off of the plane at our destination. I was exhausted from my efforts though! I really felt lucky I had escaped that bullet.
Below is an experience witnessed by someone else.
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THIS WAS NOT WRITTEN BY ME. I DID NOT EXPERIENCE THIS.
(She wrote) Here’s an air-travel experience that I had this weekend, on a flight from LaGuardia to Ft. Lauderdale. The flight was full, of course, and seated behind me was a woman in the window seat (let’s call her B), a man in the middle and on the aisle, his wife with their 13-month old daughter on her lap. As we sat on the tarmac waiting to take off (and as the wings were being de-iced), Mother took out a small electronic toy to entertain Baby. The toy made sounds and musical tones and Baby loved it. However, Ms. B did not. She said to Mother, “You HAVE to turn that toy off. I am NOT going to sit here for the entire flight listening to that toy.” Mother apologized, and said that the toy was helping to keep Baby entertained and happy. B said, “I don’t care. The toy is annoying and you HAVE to turn it off!” The two of them went back and forth, their voices escalating. I don’t know why Father didn’t say anything (and I wasn’t about to turn around and find out!). Mother did turn the toy off and Baby began to fuss, at which point, Mother said to Baby, “That’s right, make as much noise as you can!” in a sing-songy voice. Oh boy! B then said loudly to Mother, “YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE! You just told your baby to make noise! I can’t believe this!” Mother denied doing so (she said it…I heard her plain as day…). The two of them at this point were SCREAMING at each other. Again, no idea why Father was completely not involved! Very weird. Flight attendants came over at this point, due to the screaming, and calmed down both women, and then asked if anyone would volunteer to switch seats. About 4 rows up, a woman in the window seat said she’d switch with B, but…B said, “I’m not changing my seat, this isn’t MY problem!” At this point, things were at an impasse, but mercifully, at that moment, the de-icing of the wings was done, and we were cleared to take off, which we did a few moments later. Baby fussed a bit as we gained altitude (probably her ears were bothering her), but Mother gave her a bottle and Baby then fell asleep shortly thereafter. B also fell asleep for the rest of the flight, so that was the end of that. But wow! It did get pretty crazy, and I suspect that had Baby not been on her mother’s lap, it might have become physical. I have to say, that the toy was a bit annoying but once the engines were truly revved up, you really couldn’t even hear it that loudly. And yes, Mother was totally wrong in loudly encouraging her baby to make noise just to antagonize B – oy vey, that was pouring fuel on the fire!! However, I think B was wrong to initially demand that the toy be turned off. She could’ve used much more diplomatic language. When a total stranger gives a command, what’s the first reaction? “Oh hell no – you can’t tell ME what to do!” So it was doomed from the get-go. Anyway, the whole thing is just another example of how stressful and ungracious air travel can sometimes be.
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