I have some airport horror stories, but this one takes the cake: read article here.
“It is a cruel satire to say that two grown-up persons cannot manage one poor little weakling, whose only resource is to cry, without forging the thunderbolts of Jove.”
The Family. Palmer, B. M. and Alexander, J. W.
I had heard only snippets of this article. I think I would have died from mortification. I agree with the airline. The other passengers probably did too.
When our youngest was 10 days old, my husband left for Iraq and my mother-in-law flew out to Wyoming to help the kids and me fly to Atlanta. If you’ve never flown from Cheyenne to Denver in a rinky-dink airplaine, then don’t! In that tiny plane with the most turbulance I’ve ever experienced, my not-yet-two-year old screamed the entire flight. Right before landing, he lost his cookies (actually, it was oatmeal) all over me. He spent the rest of the day (a very long day) in an oversized T-shirt that said: Somebody in Colorado loves me. I wasn’t so lucky. On the way to Atlanta, I got stuck between mother-in-law + toddler and a very nice man who really should have bought two seats. When we finally made it to Atlanta, our luggage was lost, of course. Oh, and did I mention I was nursing???
Oooo…I feel your pain. A friend graciously traveled to Alaska with me in order to help escort our then 1 1/2 year old twins. This was from Portland, Maine to Fairbanks, Alaska. I think our flights were from Portland to Minneapolis, to Seattle, to Anchorage to Fairbanks. It was nuts. They were pretty good going out. People were fairly gracious except for one first class “gentleman” who glared back at the kids whenever they made a peep (including laughter).
On the way back however, we left at night. That means our kids who had been trained to go to sleep on their own in their cribs were MISERABLE. They were tired and in unfamiliar territory. They cried until they went to sleep. Most were understanding, but there were the two grumpy ladies sitting directly in front of me who proceeded to glare off and on at me when M & S made any move. Of course, the twins would wake up at each airport and then fall asleep on each consecutive flight.
I do not however feel sorry for this family mentioned in the article. She was three, hitting her parents and crawling under the seats (which equates: she most likely knew better). Why did it take 15 minutes for them to apparently console her? I’m thinking the issue was not a lack of patience from the airline attendants. Was this an isolated incident? Most likely not. Unfortunately, the issue probably lies in the parenting skills…or lack thereof.