Unruly Kids Ruin Flight

December 2, 2010

in Baby & Kid Stories

I recently had a 10 hour flight from Dubai. Having seen numerous children boarding the aircraft, I knew it was not going to be pleasant. Sure enough I was seated near three children. The youngest child travelling with her parents was a delight; she was very well behaved and was not heard at all.

Unfortunately there was a mother travelling with two children; two badly behaved children. The youngest screamed and yelled for most of the flight. This was not helped by the fact that the eldest bit, hit and punched the youngest regularly.

Using the in-flight entertainment did not provide any relief as the mother could be clearly heard over top of the in-flight music. For the next nine hours the passengers were entertained with cries from the mother as she yelled at her unruly children even though our flight left at midnight. Delightful.

{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

Stephanie December 3, 2010 at 3:34 am

I've traveled with children of various ages and there is honestly no excuse for your kids to bother other passengers.

Here's a hint: if you can't take your kids to the grocery store without reprimanding them at least once, don't attempt to take them on a flight.

FWIW, I wouldn't fly at night with kids anyway. They're too excited or apprehensive about the trip to sleep. I tried it once. Kid stayed up all night with nothing to look at (we didn't have movies on the flight we were on) for the entire flight. He was bored senseless.

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Jeeter December 3, 2010 at 7:24 am

Why didn't you bring something along for your child to do? For example, a video game player, a coloring book, or something to read?

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Stephanie December 6, 2010 at 1:40 am

Handheld video players? video games? in 1985? didn't have those back when the kid was little.

As for a book to read – trying to keep the lights off for other sleeping passengers.

He wasn't unruly but the poor kid was bored out of his mind. We ended up quietly guessing which cities we were flying over.

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Mikie December 6, 2010 at 4:55 pm

Are you telling us that there was once a time when there were no video games? Talk about the stone ages.

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Les December 7, 2010 at 11:01 am

The Gameboy and Lynx came out in the middle '80s. In addition there was also jet airplanes, radio, TV, Zerox machines and personal computers. All but personal computers had been around for decades. Not just stone tools, sorry, Mikie.

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Jim December 3, 2010 at 11:34 am

Stephanie,

Thank you for being a voice of reason and intelligence. Your grocery store "litmus test" as to whether a child can behave on a plane is a great bit of advice.

I will say most children that I have been exposed to on a plane have been very well behaved and no problem at all. We all expect and accept a little grumbling and whining now and then, and maybe a kick to your seat. But, good parents are able to correct their children quickly, and the bad behavior does not continue.

The problem is the bad parents. The ones who do not care that their child yells, screams, kicks, etc… the whole time. The parents that think it is their right to fly with their badly behaved children, regardless of the comfort of the rest of the paying passengers on the plane. These bad parents and their inability to properly parent their child, are the ones that give all kids flying a bad rap.

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ardie March 25, 2013 at 4:04 pm

The restaurant test is interesting. For us, it was if if your kids can't behave for two hours in a nice restaurant, they don't belong on a plane.

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Troy December 6, 2010 at 9:07 pm

I can clearly remember having a hand held video game in 1983.

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Stephanie December 9, 2010 at 4:47 am

They either weren't available or hideously expensive. I didn't shop the electronics department because we simply couldn't afford it.

Earliest I remember seeing the cheap hand held poker games etc was around 1989. They wouldn't have worked for a 3 year old anyway.

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James December 8, 2010 at 6:51 am

Is there an issue with the site? No new stories since December 2?

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paul December 8, 2010 at 1:39 pm

Yeah, wondering same thing…………………..

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Gregg - admin December 8, 2010 at 6:36 pm

Thanks for inquiring guys. The backlog of stories we had as a result of CNN's Mr. Poopy Pants article was recently exhausted and so at this time we're not able to post new stories on a daily basis like we were before. But don't worry – we'll continue to publish stories as they're received. As a matter of fact, we just posted this new story: Flight Attendants with Attitude.

Keep checking the site for new stories, or sign up to be notified when new stories are posted via a feed, an email, or a tweet.

Thanks a bunch for your support!

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Les December 9, 2010 at 9:34 am

James,

I agree with your concerns.

The problem seems to be that anytime someone submits an intelligent post or supporting reply, then certain people submit irrelevant, nasty and stupid replys. Hopefully followers will learn it ignore this nonsense and continue to submit considered opinions.

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mick December 17, 2010 at 11:44 pm

I've said this before and I suppose I'll be saying it in many years to some – kids do not belong on planes. If Mummy & Daddy can afford to cough up the airfares, they can afford a baby-sitter. Failing that, the airlines should charge double for every rug-rat that's ticketed – and stow them in the luggage hold.

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numb3rs March 29, 2011 at 11:44 am

Oh, yes, and now parents are expected to put their lives on hold because their child might cry on an airplane, or kick a seat? Not all children are like that!

Honestly… can you BE any more selfish? How would you like it if somebody denied you access to a plane because you had kids or something?

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kinley September 14, 2014 at 12:43 pm

I've been traveling with my son …..now 15……since he was 7…..big enough to ride on ALL the Disney rides!!!…..Disneyland, Disneyworld, Universal Studios, Europe twice, and Mexico 3 times…from Vancouver in Canada and the first thing I told him was that if he EVER EVER EVER kicked the seat in front of him or made a nuisance of himself to other passengers that would be the absolutely last flight I would ever take him on!!!! He is an absolute joy to travel with…..once when he was about 8 he fell asleep on the shoulder of the passenger next to him…..I apologized profusely to which the passenger replied.."No problem…..he's so well behaved!"

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