A passenger shared their experience dealing with an entitled mom and her toddler on a flight.
Traveling with kids can be a daunting task. What often starts as an exciting journey can quickly turn stressful, especially when children become restless and disrupt fellow passengers. A Reddit user, u/logic-bomb1989, shared their frustrating experience during a four-hour flight home after a tiring Thanksgiving weekend.
As the plane prepared for landing, passengers began to get ready to deboard. The Redditor, seated in the aisle, stood up to retrieve their bag from the overhead bin. “I was in an aisle seat, so I stood up to get my bag from above, as did the gentleman across from me and those in front of me,” they wrote in their post.
However, things took a chaotic turn when two toddlers crawled over their seats to join their parents in the aisle, further crowding the already cramped space. The scenario underscored how challenging flights with children can be, not just for parents but for other passengers as well.
"The youngest crammed himself between me and his sister and started throwing an absolute tantrum—pushing his sister, yelling at his dad who was trying to pick him up (saying 'Let me go! I hate you, Dad!')," the post read. The individual further recalled how the mother had responded by saying, “We don’t talk to daddy that way [insert kid’s name].” Observing the situation, people in the aisles moved back to their seats to make space for the little girl who was being pushed by her brother.
In a typical scenario, one might have expected the child's parents to take charge and firmly warn their son to behave. However, this mother reacted in an entirely unexpected manner. "The mom - in a much sterner voice than what she used with her tantrum-throwing child, asked me 'Can you please move your body out of his way?'" the passenger shared. Initially, they assumed the woman was speaking to her husband, who was also stuck in the aisle. "But when she said it again and tapped on my shoulder I realized she was talking to me," they explained. The individual couldn’t move immediately due to the crowd and still needed to retrieve their bag.
"Meanwhile, the kid is still screaming. So I simply said, 'I’m sorry! I need to get my bag,'" they recalled. Surprisingly, the mother shot back, saying, "Well, your b**t is in his face!" The passenger, irritated by the unpleasant behavior, decided not to move back to their sit to accommodate "her family of four crowding into the aisle." The individual then asked for advice, wondering if they were wrong for refusing to move. The Reddit post gained popularity on the platform with several people reacting to the bizarre story.
For instance, u/evamione wrote, "Generally parents with small or poorly behaving children wait until everyone deplanes and then gets their stuff and gets off. You get special boarding and get to get on first because you need more space and time when wrangling and you have to wait and get off last for more space and time as well." Similarly, u/norazzmatazz564 commented, "NTA. The parents created the problem. You were doing what everyone normally does on a plane. Doing what she asked would just further encourage her entitlement." u/ireland1169 wrote, "NTA, you cannot change, ignoring her was the best thing to do. Pity you couldn't fart on demand, that would have cleared the area behind you."