Airlines and Aviation
It’s a touchy question, but it has to be asked. Does an airline have the right to remove a crying infant from First Class if other First Class passengers cry foul?
Which begs another question: should kids that young be flying in the first place?
A Fashion Blogger is up in arms because her nine-month-old daughter’s incessant screaming traumatized other passengers flying in First Class to the point that they complained to flight attendants.
After 10 ear-shattering minutes, flight attendants asked the mother to remove herself and her infant from First Class. She refused.
She does have a point. She had, after all, purchased First Class tickets … Didn’t she therefore have a right to remain in the First Class cabin?
Well???. What about the rights of the other passengers??? They had also purchased First Class tickets with certain expectations in mind.
“I was getting tonnes of eye rolls and head shakes,” Arielle Noa Charnas admits.
“As if I could just look at Ruby and say ‘Okay, now it’s time to stop.’”
Charnas boarded her Delta Air Lines flight from New York City to Los Angeles with her husband and nine-month old baby on 29 December 2016, People magazine reports.
“The SomethingNavy fashion blogger and her husband had anticipated that Ruby might need some extra space on the six-hour flight, so they purchased [three] first class seats so they ‘could lay down with her’,” the magazine says.
- Question No. 1: If they had anticipated this would occur, why did they do it? Was there some pressing reason why they had to take such a young child on such a long trip by airplane? Was it for medical treatment?
- Question No. 2: If they had enough money to pay for THREE First Class tickets, didn’t they also have enough money to make other arrangements? Such as leave the child in the care of a babysitter or a caregiver?
The parents were clearly NOT destitute if they could afford to splash out on THREE First Class tickets: one for mommy, one for daddy, and one for baby.
Extreme Discomfort
It is a well-known fact that flying at high altitudes causes extreme discomfort to infants. The pressure on their ears is, in fact, quite painful for them.
So this raises yet another issue: not only were these parents being extremely inconsiderate of other passengers, they were also being extremely thoughtless of their very own child.
If they had genuinely “anticipated that Ruby might need some extra space on the six-hour flight”, maybe they should have discussed this with a pediatrician before taking her on such a flight in the first place.
I’m no expert in pediatrics, but I believe that the doctor would have either advised the parents to leave the kid at home with a caregiver – or (s)he would have prescribed something to calm the kid down.
I know that such medicine exists.
Mother Starts Crying
It only gets worse. Not only does the kid cry, the mother starts crying. Was this a bid for sympathy, or what?
She even starts pacing up and down the aisle! Can you imagine?
“I started crying because I was so stressed and anxious and instead of the stewardess being helpful and compassionate, she instead made the situation worse,” Charnas laments.
Can’t help but feel empathy for the flight attendant. She was clearly caught between a rock and a hard place. What was she supposed to do?
“Give up our seats that we paid for and move?” Charnas asks.
“As if the people in the back didn’t matter.”
You’re right, Charnas. The people in the back DID matter. And so did the people in the front.
Which is why the kid didn’t even belong on that flight in the first place.
You Get What You Pay For
Having said that, when you’re flying at a discount, you have to either put up, or shut up. There’s not really much you can do about it.
But when you pay substantially more money for something, well ???
“I don’t know what’s right and wrong when it comes to flying with a baby, but after telling a few people the story they were in shock,” Charnas says.
I’m sure they were in shock . . . Because they were your friends. . . And they wanted to show solidarity with you. . . And maybe, just maybe, they didn’t want to hurt your feelings and tell you that you were wrong . . .
Big Bucks
And one more thing: those people weren’t the ones that had splashed out BIG BUCKS to sit in First Class … and not just for the comfy seats or the delicious food. But also for the peace and calm that is supposed to go with those highly elevated ticket prices …
People might be able to just laugh it off if they are your friends. But should perfect strangers be expected to do that? I don’t think so.
When you eat at McDonald’s, you have to put up with the crying children. It goes with the turf. And I might even go so far as to say that it’s part of the fun.
In any case, it’s a fast food restaurant, and the prices are low.
But you don’t have to put up with crying children at a fine-dining restaurant … Would they even be allowed into the place?
And you certainly shouldn’t have to put up with crying children within the restricted confines of an airplane. Even in coach … Certainly not in Business Class. And especially not in First Class.
There ARE certain situations in life when you have to be a certain age before you can do something. Such as you have to be five years old before you can go to kindergarten. Or you have to be 16 years old before you can drive. Or you have to be 21 years old before you can to vote – or drink alcohol.
And you can’t start collecting social security until you turn 62.
Just because you’ve got enough money to buy a First Class ticket for a nine-month old infant does NOT give you the right to cause discomfort to the other passengers.
What are your thoughts? Please weigh in in the COMMENT box below.