16 October 2023 , 15:00
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Travelling with children can be difficult, especially when it comes to being on a plane and everyone is ‘trapped’ in an enclosed space. With nowhere to go for a little while, if kids are unhappy and crying it can quickly become uncomfortable for everyone.
Most people are sympathetic to families when it comes to journeys and understand it’s no one’s fault. But if there’s a chance to move so you’re not next to a screaming child, you’d take it, right? And chances are lots of parents wouldn’t blame you, either.
However, one woman and her partner found themselves in a couples' bad books after they asked to be seated away from them and their unruly kids. Feeling upset that she had offended them she took to social media to ask if she was in the wrong.
The 23-year-old woman wrote: “My boyfriend and I were flying back home on a two-hour flight at 2am. While waiting in line to board the plane, there was a family of four in front of us. A man and wife who looked to be in their 40s, one child, I’m assuming five, and one baby who wasn’t more than two years old.
“The five-year-old was bouncing off the walls, absolutely full of energy. He was trying to ride his carry-on like a car and kept ramming into my luggage by accident. The baby was crying very loudly as well. I felt bad for the parents because they were trying their best to keep their kids under control to no avail.”
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When the woman and her boyfriend boarded the plane they were disappointed to discover they were seated across the aisle from the noisy family. She admitted: “To be honest, I wasn’t happy about sitting next to a rambunctious kid and a baby who had already been crying for 15+ minutes.”
After noticing that there were plenty of spare seats at the back of the plane and that other people nearby had asked to move, she decided to follow suit. She continued: “I decided that I also wanted to change our seats, but when I asked, she said no because of the weight distribution on the plane. It seemed most passengers had congregated to the back of the plane to sit further away from this family.”
The woman then asked if she could purchase first-class tickets and be moved to the front because she had spotted there were two seats still available but was again refused. Admitting defeat, the couple stayed where they were and said no more about it.
She went on: “The baby cried for the first hour of the flight, and the older child kept bouncing in his seat and talking loudly. My boyfriend and I had noise-cancelling headphones in, but could still hear the children next to us.
“I tried to keep a stoic expression because I didn’t want the parents to know how annoyed I was. At one point, the five-year-old accidentally spilled juice on my shoes from squeezing his juice box too hard. The parents side-eyed me and my boyfriend the entire flight. They apologized for the juice incident when it happened, but I felt their glares until we landed.”
Annoyed that she was getting funny looks from the parents, she decided to confront them and was left shocked by their reaction. She revealed: “The husband basically told me off for being rude by “putting in so much effort to get away from them” and “going as far as offering to buy first-class tickets”.
“I told them I didn’t mean any harm. It was the middle of the night and I was hoping to get some sleep during the flight. I wanted to find a solution without bothering anyone. Was I wrong for asking to move seats? I just wanted a quieter flight without inconveniencing anyone. They didn’t stop glaring or gossiping about me until we reached baggage claim.”
After reading the post people were overwhelmingly on the woman’s side and rushed to assure her she wasn’t in the wrong. One person sympathetically wrote: “Not the a**hole. You didn't do anything wrong. They were probably overtired and obviously stressed out. Not everyone likes kids, parents in general should know that by now.”
Another reader added: “Says volumes that the whole plane tried to escape from them lol. They were embarrassed and took it out on you. They were definitely the entitled a**holes. Why did they spend the flight staring at you? Just weird.”