To the woman in seat 30a...

[mikester]

Seat 30a on a Boeing 757 must be one of the worst seats on the plane - next to seat 30f or frankly any other seat in row 30...

Sadly you had to sit in that seat for the cross country flight I was on with my two boys between Miami and LAX - heading home from my Grandfather's Funeral.

My boys are pretty good travelers and they listen well enough but my 2 year old is getting a little gregarious coming up on 3. Still - he sat there for 4 hours playing angry birds and watching a few videos on my iPhone while his brother did his homework and played angry birds on my iPad. A few times you nudged me to move my head while I was leaning over helping him so that I could move my head out of your view of the TV. I was happy to do so.

You were quite polite in those encounters - even smiling so again, no problem - happy to oblige...

Upon landing however my 2 year old, excited to be coming home - unbuckled and raring for more apparently laughed on your last nerve. I was unaware that he was even on your first nerve. Had you mentioned something to me politely that he was bothering you at all I would have been more cognizant and attempted to be more considerate. Still - he's two, we're in the back of the plane and it's loud so he felt he needed to talk louder to me.

You mentioned that you yourself had children. Well, you must be a better parent than me. In fact I'm sure of it since I was totally unaware of any problem my children were causing.

I mean that time he was coloring quietly - wow - now that I think about it...I'm not sure how I will sleep tonight.

Finally, on your way down the jet bridge - after cursing me out on the way out of the plane...I can see why you felt it necessary to curse me and your companion out about how much I suck as a parent.


My kids ARE good travelers but they are not perfect and sometimes they do get loud but on about 99% of flights we get complimented at the end by the people around us at how nice and well behaved our children are. They know proper airplane behavior. They are terrors in the terminal but once on the plane they are all business.

I didn't get the compliments today but I did not notice a difference in their behavior. My #1 was as close to perfect as you can get, heck he was better than me.

I know some folks hate traveling with kids. I'm probably guilty of it myself prior to having my own. I try to give parents traveling with kids HELP rather than criticism these days. Chatting up a toddler or child who is having some trouble goes miles farther than giving the parent a hard time.

Of course this woman was way over the edge, I did not engage her because I knew she was upset and probably over tired (like my 2 year old when he needs a nap eh). Flying is hard on people but she's still a big ole b. It was funny seeing her companion literally run away from her on the jet bridge so as to not be seen with her during her 'verbal beat down' on me.

I looked her square in the eyes and shrugged my shoulders like I didn't know what she was talking about. (I'm sure that helped)


I know we have a lot of flight crew and frequent fliers no the board so I thought I would share. I know some folks will tear me a new one for simply thinking of bringing my children on THEIR flight. To those folks I do the following:

[Zeke]

To the lady in 30a, you win some and you lose some. If you don't go to the track or the tables, it's hard to lose any.


That's why I don't fly.

[peppy]

I was on a flight to Hawaii back in 2006 and a child cried the entire flight. I felt so sorry for the parents, the dad ended up in the bathroom with him for several hours.
Most of the passengers where sympathetic, but there was one a$$ that told the dad to shut the kid the F up. I restrained my wife.

Children are part of the world and they ain't quiet. You want to hear loud look in on a deaf classroom during play time.

[Oh Haha]

People are idiots.





You probably reacted better than some of us would have, Mike.

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather's passing.

[syncroid]

On my recent trip back from Kauai there were some parents that were NOT good parents. The kids were in definite control of the situation.
Their kids raged the entire flight home. The parents solution was to shove more food down their throats to shut them up. At one point the mom physically had one of the kids pinned to the floor with a blanket over his head. The other called his dad an "A" hole right to his face. I'm sure if I wasn't watching there would have been a back hand that would have sent that kid into the next row of seats. Parents solution...Honey! We need more food to calm them down.
Sounds to me that you did nothing wrong.

[A930Rocket]

At that age, it's tough. You did a good job with the kids and the "lady".

I'm definately more tolerant about kids now that we have two. We couldn't get out of Outback fast enough one evening with our first child. She was tired and a handful. I don't think we went out for 5 years after that.

[mikester]

I honestly felt bad for her but I couldn't have gotten the kid to act any better than he did. I'm not saying he was perfect but he was as good as it gets.

He did get a little loud when we were waiting to get off the plane and we were literally in the row before the last row, she was in the last row.

I have been on my fair share of flights with kids who were 'untrained' - I recall a redeye where I sweat to whomever you like that they were feeding the kids (like a brazillion of them back there with us) coffee and candy. It's a redeye for crying out loud. We had our 1st and he was under a year I think or maybe 18 months old tops. Trying to get him some sleep as well as ourselves. That was the parents - not the kids.

I try to be very courteous to other people with my children. I don't take them out to to restaurants much but when we do go I expect and get decent if not respectable behavior. Still, they are kids and I do try to allow them that - especially now that I have two and I realize that they need it.

[aap1966]

Hey, someone has to occupy the very start of the Bell curve.
Unfortunately for you, she was on your flight.

[9dreizig]

Hey the days of glamorous travel are over,, you did just fine. I remember when my sons were 4 and 5 we were in the back of the plane. The little one says" Hey Remy let's go this way" and proceeded to crawl under the seats.. The captain caught them on the way out!
Kids are why I carry headphones.. that ***** needs to just get over it

[Gogar]

Whatever about the plane. Show this to your kids.

[t951]

I wish they would ban kids from flights.....period.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by t951

I wish they would ban kids from flights.....period.

Yeah!!!! And restaurants, too. FK 'em!!!!!

[mikester]

Originally Posted by t951

i wish they would ban kids from flights.....period.

winner!

[red-beard]

Crying kids I can stand. People who don't plan ahead and then want you to switch seats to their crappy middle seat. So sorry, no.

[oldE]

Mike,

Sorry for the grief you got from the lady in the row behind.

If I had to guess, I would say she was probably down on blood sugar and getting cranky. It happens to a lot of folks.

Keep well.
Les

[jpd]

Some people suck. We were flying home once with my oldest daughter, she was 2, and the only one at the time. We sat down in our seats, and while I was getting our stuff situated, she put her feet on the back of the seat in front. Before I could even say anything, the little d-bag 20-something y.o. kid turned around, and with a big old attitude said "Excuse me. Can you tell your kid not to kick my seat?" It took all I had not to punch him in his face.

[jpd]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Crying kids I can stand. People who don't plan ahead and then want you to switch seats to their crappy middle seat. So sorry, no.

Another time, we were in front of some idiot, who brought nothing for his 3 and 5 year old boys to do. So, they entertained themselves by jumping around, cawing on the floor, etc. What kind of idiot doesn't think his kids might get bored on a 3 hour flight?

[Christien]

I've done countless flights already with our girls, 4 and 2 years old (well, almost 5). Another round trip coming up next month. Our kids are pretty damn well behaved, partly because we've raised them well, but also partly because we know we have to have stuff for them to do. A movie, colouring, toys, whatever. And they do make some noise, but rarely anything too annoying. Certainly no screaming. Sometimes a bit of crying on descent, because of the pressure change (we always have juice or water on hand), but that was mostly when they were younger.

That said, if you don't want to listen to kids (or any of the other various noises people make), buy a first class ticket. Kids are part of our world, like it or not. And while I too get frustrated with people with brat kids who are brats because their parents raise them poorly, that's still a part of life. Deal with it, or pay the extra to avoid it.

[Paul_Heery]

Originally Posted by Christien

That said, if you don't want to listen to kids (or any of the other various noises people make), buy a first class ticket. Kids are part of our world, like it or not. And while I too get frustrated with people with brat kids who are brats because their parents raise them poorly, that's still a part of life. Deal with it, or pay the extra to avoid it.

That doesn't always work. The curtains made of fabric don't do much to quiet the noise being generated on the other side.

When I fly to Europe, I always go Business Class as a minimum. Last trip to London, we were in Business Class. Back in the cheap seats, there was a woman with a brat in the first row of Economy. That kid screamed for 5 out of the 7 hours of the flight. Ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones helped a bit. But, that kid kept me awake the entire flight. I had intended on sleeping through most of it.

I may be a grumpy, old fart, but I believe that I am entitled to my quiet enjoyment of a flight. I would pay more for a child-free experience.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by peppy

Children are part of the world and they ain't quiet.

^^^ This, I commute by plane and noise canceling headphones do a world of good.

Originally Posted by t951

I wish they would ban kids from flights.....period.

Yeah, and get rid of those old people too!

And those spoiled young folk who think the world revolves round their a$$!!!