It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The holiday season calls for cheer, making things merry and bright, and the gathering of family and friends. It’s that last one that can cause problems. Getting to our loved ones may require a plane ride, which can add some stress in the best of circumstances.
Holiday travel can be hectic to say the least. Add children into the mix, and the chance of a smooth and stress-free experience becomes less and less likely.
One child’s behavior was so … rambunctious that it became the talk of Reddit.
In a 10-second video, the child was secretly filmed repeatedly hopping up and down on the tray table, shaking the seat in front of them.
The seat in front just so happened to include a man who exhibited quite a bit of patience. The man remained quiet and his face straight as he was being jostled about by the toddler.
'Recline your seat,' one Reddit user suggested.
As we’ve discussed, airplane etiquette — or lack thereof — has a tendency to get the people going, and this video was no different. In fact, the reactions to this child’s behavior were more extreme than most. Though the incident had already taken place, Reddit users offered all types of suggestions about what the man should have done in this instance.
“…If the kid were old enough I’ll tell them Santa isn’t real,” someone advised. “Recline your seat quickly,” another user wrote.
Another person said they should have tried to get a flight attendant to help.
One user — a frequent flyer — offered a less violent approach: “Ask politely once. Beyond that, don’t engage, call over the flight attendant.”
The Redditor also had tips if the problem could not be resolved with the first try, including having an air marshal come over or have the flight attendant threaten to tell the pilot, who might choose to land the plane due to the disturbance.
Mostly, people took issue with the parents who watched all of this happen and did nothing.
People, of course, had a lot of smoke for the parents who allowed their child to disturb this poor man’s flight so egregiously.
“I would feel like a failed parent if my kids were doing this and I was just straight up allowing it,” one user wrote.
Words like "selfish," "idiotic," and "moron," were tossed about. Ultimately, people asked a question that many a traveler has often pondered, when will airlines finally implement "child free" sections?
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.