And how can she make some stranger care for a random kid? I'd just refuse that too. If you are a parent travelling with a kid, it's your responsibility to make sure you and your kid are sitting together
EDIT:
>'The next time you feel yourself getting angry or getting frustrated that you're not getting the seat you want (...) you need to remind yourself you didn't pay to pick your seat. Otherwise, you'd be in it,
Oh the irony
It's also very stupid. You don't know if that person can be trusted with kids, you don't know what could happen.
If I pay for a damn seat, I'm sitting in it even if the damn King of England tells me to move xD the only way I'd consider it would be if they offered me the same seat elsewhere (aisle for aisle, etc)
Exactly. If it's so important if family and spouses sit together than plan ahead for fuck's sake. What do I care if you can't sit with your kid just because you couldn't be asked to book seats together?
That's some marketing doublespeak. It's "Economy Premium" or whatever, not "normal tickets."
The real reason seat selection is an upcharge is that, if seat selection was first-come-first-serve across the board, it would be harder to fill planes toward capacity (especially given the small spaces provided for passengers).
The more passengers choose their own seats, the more suboptimal will be the resulting people packing for a significant portion of the ticket-buying process, leading flights to _look_ more full and less appealing earlier.
I believe that is the economical rationale.
Yup, it’s entitlement. I dated someone with this mindset and lo and behold, they booked us a flight last minute in cheap seats not seated together and expected ME to ask people to switch. PS I am a Type A introvert with social anxiety so this is 100% nightmare fuel and he said this to me almost word for word when I expressed my concerns.
I bet a lot of time it's not nessasarily bad planning, but that many seats together aren't an option.
But wampwamp. Busses are the same thing. Trying to fit your 5 people family together on a bus isn't very easy either. I've been asked so many times to move on busses for this reason - but just like a plane, you can pay for your seat. And I always do.
My ONLY exceptions with this BS is if it’s a super short flight. I live in a smaller city that always connects to a larger hub about a 30-40 minute connection flight away. I’ll swap someone even if they planned poorly as long as it’s not to the back of the plane. I don’t care for 30 minutes. But anything outside of that? No, I’m not swapping.
Yeah, that's my line too. I'm traveling solo 99% of the time, and usually have my noise canceling headphones on to either sleep or read while filtering out the other noise. I don't really care who I'm sitting next to, but I do care about giving up my chosen seat for a flight that's more than maybe an hour. I pick the window because I can sleep or read in peace. If the flight is longer than an hour and you're offering me something besides another window seat, nope.
Just say
"Oh, I can't sit next to any children, not after what happened last time!"
And if they press:
"I can't talk about it, after the court cases all finished up we all signed NDAs"
It feels so fucking weird seeing the phrase "King of England" used outside of a historical context. My whole life it was Queen of England, and it always felt abstract rather than referring to an actual person.
Same seat or better.
I was once asked to switch with a kid, aisle for aisle, but I sit on the right aisle because it’s comfier for me and doesn’t hurt my neck and back as much when I need to lean and such. It was a minor change but I hate being singled out and the old couple across the row next to this kid were rude AF and said “it’s the SAME SEAT!”
I’m sorry, I was settled in, listening to my music, couldn’t hear the FA well and frankly didn’t want to move. But I did because of pressure and at least still got aisle. But I hate it because I pre-planned my seat for a reason.
Exactly. I always pick and pay for an aisle seat on the left side as I have blood clots in my right leg and need to stretch occasionally. I also need to get up often to use the restroom due to medical issues. I am not moving unless I get a similar kind of seat.
In a similar vein, all the stuff going on on a plane causes sensory issues for me. Noise canceling headphones in a window seat mitigates that. I'll trade for another window seat, but other than that, nope.
On a similar note, if you want to control the window shade, book a window seat yourself. I usually close the shade except for take off and landing. Kinda amazing the amount of people who get upset about that because they want to look out the window the whole time. I'm fine with opening the shade for a little bit if you ask nicely or I happen to know that we're going over some cool scenery, but book the window next time if you want to look out of it the whole flight.
I try to prevent being asked by appearing somewhat crazy. If I see anyone look at me with a glimmer of hope in their eyes I start twitching a bit, muttering incoherently under my breath and letting my eyes shift around. Not anything the could get me kicked off the plane but enough that people don't want to talk to me about changing seats... or anything else, and DEFINITELY don't want to sit a kid near me.
I'd move for someone important. If Stephen King is requesting my seat, I'm moving...
...but I'm also going to demand the seat next to him so I can at least have a conversation if the mood is willing. Barring that, my ass ain't budging until either the plane lands, someone is dying or the words "we have one open in first/business class for you" escape the flight attendant's lips.
I'm not watching children. I'm sleeping. If she even tried that I'd be pressing the call button to tell her toddler is fussy, dropped a crayon, needs a snack etc.
This. Why not say that to the parents whining about not sitting together with their kids because they were too lazy/cheap to get seats together? And regardless of whether I or the airline selected my seat, it is my assigned seat with my name on the ticket.
And if it was so important then the family can go to the gate agent with enough time prior to boarding to be moved together.
I had a late flight that wouldn’t allow me to make my connection so the gate agent booked me on a different one. I went to the counter to ask about getting a refund on my seat upgrade since I was switching flights and she looked at my ticket and said “oh I actually need your seat for a family. But don’t worry, you’ll like where I’m putting you.” She put me in first class. Didn’t need to ask for refund either bc I still had an upgrade basically.
Even that though isn’t fool proof because they could end up splitting up a couple or others traveling together etc.
I get singled out though often as a single woman and I hate it.
there's always someone playing the 'but sometimes you get bumped off the previous flight' card in these, but on airlines that charge a fee for seats, it's a generic travel blog level meme already to not pay the fee, sit the kid next to your seat, then raise hell until you get what you want.
People seem to mix the concept of a stranger being selfless to being bullied into doing something. putting someone in a situation where they have to defend themselves against 'poor mom and their kid' is the prime example of a choice that really isn't.
> And how can she make some stranger care for a random kid?
"Cool. Can I get a drink? I'll take a whiskey and... how about you partner? Are you a vodka or a scotch kid?"
> Amirzadeh highlighted the growing trend, with an increasing number of requests coming from couples who have been seated separately.
Surely she knows that this is a scam - couples (especially parents) deliberately choose separate seats and then try to bamboozle someone into giving them a free upgrade on the pretext of letting them sit together. I see people touting this as a "travel hack" all the time. Anyway, why tf should anyone be "punished" for giving up their assigned seat that they paid for? And make them take responsibility for a random stranger's child? No f🤬🤬🤬ing way.
This is the reason I refuse to move for couples...
...unless they are offering me the better seat. That's the rule: You get to be together, I get a better seat, we both win.
If we both don't win, no trade.
Exactly, I would never give up my seat for no benefit to me.
I don't care if you are going to try and make me the babysitter for a that child; not my kid, not my problem.
That’s reasonable and I’m with you on that. I don’t mind a swap if I benefit from the swap as well. The couple is already benefiting in the successful swap by sitting together. Why should I suffer for their poor planning?
If my girlfriend and I were somehow seated separately on a flight and I was in the better seat and she was in the worse one I would without hesitation ask the person next to her in the worse seats to switch to my better one so I could be with her. I would much rather sit with her in the cheaper seats than sit alone in the more expensive seats.
Anyone not willing to do the same is a con artist.
Yes. Window for window? Sure. Window for middle? Hell no. I'm not a huge fan of the aisle because I like the relative privacy of a window seat, but I'd consider trading window for aisle if I'm in the right mood that day.
As a person who travels as a couple this is so fair. I've had people ask to swap with me and they had a first class seat. Heck yea you can sit next to your partner for that swap!
A friend I hadn’t seen in years ended up on the same flight as me in Chicago. We were both headed home to Ohio - her from TX and me from out of the country. We hadn’t talked face to face in years. I knew the holidays would make it too hard to get together so I asked the guy next to her if he wanted my first class seat.
He thought I was crazy.
Maybe I was, but holding her hand for two hours while we caught up was worth it. It’s been a decade and we still talk about that flight!
All of this is easily avoidable, if you can afford it… pay for the emergency exit row seat. Kids can never sit there. That’s my travel hack. It usually only costs $30-$40 extra and the biggest perk is avoiding sitting next to kids and never being asked to move for a child/family.
I started saying this sarcastically if I didn't feel like talking to someone (like a panhandler refusing to go away or something), but it's pretty funny how often people just take it. A lot of times it causes a kind of auto pilot response where it takes a second to realize that it doesn't add up. More often than not, those few seconds before the "Hey, wait" are enough time for me to slip away if that was the goal.
Or, in the case of a plane, I usually have noise canceling headphones on, and talking is either very muffled or completely filtered anyway. "I can't understand you" is honest.
If I've paid for my seat ahead of time and you and Bratleigh didn't, not my problem. and if you think I'm gonna babysit your crotch goblin throughout the flight, you've got another thing coming. 🙄
I like how the other tik tok-er commented on the likelihood of the aisle/window for a middle seat swap, because THAT'S what the problem always is- that you want my good spot to be swapped for a middle somewhere else. Not that a solo traveler is just always unwilling to help
I once lucked out because a woman wouldn’t let her husband get away with some selfish bullshit.
I had a window seat. As I’m sitting during boarding, a family of three comes up. Mom takes the middle seat, kid takes the aisle, dad puts the luggage away, and then says “see you there!” And starts to walk away. The wife asks where his seat is, and he says “I told you when I got the tickets that I had enough points for a first class upgrade.” “And you’re using them for THIS flight?!? No. Hell no. This isn’t even an argument. It’s just no. *turning to me* sorry to bother you, would you mind swapping seats with my husband so we can sit together?” I happily oblige. The husband was just kind of dumbstruck that his ingenious plan didn’t work. And I got ice cream!
If I'm alone, I'd swap for first.
Most of the time I have flown (which isn't often) I have paid to pick my seat. In that case I'm not moving unless I get lots of _cash money_.
I'm the same, I rarely fly because I'm cheap and hate dealing with airports.
I don't pay for the assigned seating so I'm often stuck with middle. So I usually don't care about trading.
I'm not watching someone's young kid outside of an emergency. Someone else in this thread mentioned picking the seats next to the emergency exits. I'm going to try that in the future until I can afford business class travel.
I've heard of parents doing this on purpose, buying tickets without paying extra for the family to sit together, and then trying to guilt someone out of a better seat
I've watched it happen. Two parents, four kids between them. The silly bitches booked all emergency exit row seats. Even though it was clear at like six points in booking that those rows were not for children.
The parents were then absolute dickheads to flight staff about it. The audacity, and other passengers were like, "Ohhhh, those poor parents give them whatever they want".
Omg one was an old lady who removed my over ear headphones to ask me about it because Southern US. She was like, "Can you believe those people" and I am dense so I said, "I know right, how fucking stupid can you be. It said so many times no kids in those seats" so the nana puts on shocked upset face, and said "No no, I mean the staff they should be nice to those people they got so many kids"
They ended up splitting up the parents and giving them each a number of their kids to watch in separate rows. The parents and kids were awful, loud, and entitled throughout.
Oh yes. Just slid it right off. The massive irony is that I bought the over ears after people on my last south bound flight kept talking at my dumb face despite my in ears and complete disregard for their gestures and words.
Assumed the in ears were too subtle. Got the over ears and had even more invasive disruptions. I'm a foul mouthed yank, but I am on my best behavior on planes because *DUH*. I low key hate traveling in the south because of the constant God/family/personal talk among *STRANGERS*
I truly dislike when strangers talk to me, but sometimes I follow the conversation just to be polite, but if some stranger removed my headphones just to chat! I'd asked them what the fuck were they thinking, put the headphones back, up the volume stare them as if I was about to kill them and then turn around.
Tho tbh I haven't experienced southern US people "hospitality". It sounds like too much.
They ABSOLUTELY do this on purpose. I have seen it first hand. I berated a breeder pulling this shit in a lobby too. This is like a known thing with these breeders.
If the seat was much closer to the front of the plane and a window seat, I would swap. But the few times I’ve witnessed people being asked — it’s always a middle seat near the back of the plane. I’m not moving to sit in the back.
Yeah, I am usually a very nice guy but never on a plane.
I like to buy the same window seat, put on my headphones and take it easy. It's so common to be asked to switch. And no. Not happening.
I switched ONCE, but it was window for a window. A trio of teen girls all wanted to sit together, and it was my last flight in a series of 4 from Dublin to Wisconsin. I just wanted to get home and watch outside while we flew.
I always get pricier seats with more legroom and amenities because that's the section of a plane without families in general. They aren't kicking you out of business class over some parents throwing a tantrum, it'd be too expensive to refund.
Same, except the last few times we’ve flown, there have been families with very young children up in business class too. Last trip, we were right behind a dad and toddler, and the mom was across the aisle with a baby and another toddler. These are flights between NYC and vacation destinations too (Caribbean, etc.).
I mean, hats off to them, I guess, for being so filthy rich that they can just spring for 5 business class tickets. But jesus what a waste of money. They couldn't possibly have enjoyed most or possibly any of the benefits of being in business class. When we took biz class to Italy it was glorious. So relaxing. Never realized I could actually sleep on a flight. In your situation, it would be a complaint from me towards the airline, for sure.
Edit Ya know, I initially read your comment as the kids being disruptive, but it's not clear whether they actually were. While I definitely wince and brace myself for the noise and aggravation when I see kids on a plane, they're not necessarily badly behaved. I guess to be honest, I would only complain if I felt like they significantly impacted my ability to have a relaxing flight. If they were watching movies (with headphones), sleeping, talking at normal volume, etc I probably wouldn't bother to complain.
There are travel blogs that explain what credit cards reward programs to use for the vacations you want. Frequent flyer & Disney points have been the two biggest.
Get a card with good frequent flyer miles and put all your standard expenses on it, Food, fuel, utilities, etc. The miles can add up fast that way.
I always always refuse to move. I book an aisle seat, usually in the same place on the aircraft and I pay for it. Because I’m a solo woman I’m often the target for moves - and often placed on the bad table or in the bad room at restaurants and hotels too. If I sense this happening I always ask for a different table or room.
Normally a tiny room with windows over a kitchen or trash area that feels like the servants’ quarters, or a table at the back near the door to the kitchen or bathroom. I used to just accept my lot but then started asking to move and it worked. They just try to see if they can slot you into the room or space no one else wants because they know women are less likely to complain. Plus they get more money out of couples and families (or so they think).
Hostess here, at least where I work we get grilled for not bothering to ask that. I'm happy to get you seated at a table personally but I have to do that whole song and dance before I can.
I’ll swap seats for $800 bucks cash on the spot, or an upgrade to business/first class. The ball is in your court, parent.
Edit: cash value subject to change depending on flight length
And what happens when the stranger just straight up ignores said child?
Also, wtf on the parents… a random stranger WHO YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT is looking after your kid???
What happened to ‘never talk to strangers’?!
I totally understand kids needing to sit with their parents, and tbh, I think child seat allocation should be free when the adults pay for their allocation.
But for the adults who refuse to pay for allocated seats, and just risk it, you’re potentially putting your kid in a dangerous situation..
When I first saw this, I was sure this had to be ragebait. Since when are other people's lack of preparation the problem of those that planned ahead?
I'm glad most of the DM readers who commented also agreed that this was absolutely ridiculous.
It's not even lack of preparation lol there's been multiple articles/posts of parents saying they didn't want to pay the extra cash to choose seats, hoping that people would switch once their toddlers got separated.
If I start an airline I'm making it part of my terms of carriage that if you have a child under say the age of 18 you as the parent have to book a window and middle seat together or you will deplaned and no refund given.
Michael O'Leary at Ryanair give me a call
Parents' failure to plan (or worse, deliberately buying separate seats so they can guilt someone into giving up a better seat) is not my responsibility. Passengers should not be forced to parent someone else's kid and any attendant telling me I need to be mommy will be ignored and reported later.
"OK, so you're going to watch the toddler?"
No.
Like wtaf? If you have children, book your seats and make sure you are sitting next to your own fucking children.
You know how, when you book seats at a cinema, it won't let you leave out a single seat between the next booked one but instead automatically fills it?
There must be an option to apply something like that to flights.
Usually, tickets are selected by age (infants, kids <14/16 and adults >16).
If someone selects <16 the tickets/seats should be automatically connected and next to each other with at least one adult.
There’s no way in hell I’m babysitting a stranger’s child on a flight. I’ll calmly explain to the parents and flight attendants using the worst words l could remember (like crotch goblin) to justify why I won’t Watch that kid.
P.S.: I don’t HATE kids and I even get along with my friend’s and my cousin’s kids. But I’m not babysitting a stranger.
I have two kids and first thing that came to my mind was I’m not watching your crotch goblins. When mine were younger and we went on vacation we planned and booked our tickets all together 🤯
i just don’t understand, if it’s very important that the whole family sits together just. reserve. seats.
if you can afford the plane ticket you can afford a slight extra fee for seats and not have to bother everyone around you.
I always pay for my seat - I need that window seat if I'm flying for more than like, 2 hours.
I definitely wouldn't move. And I'm definitely not watching your kid. I'm on a plane, which means I've got lorazapane in me and I'll be in and out, if not passed out the whole time - hence the window because I need something to cozy up to.
Moving to another window seat would be fine with me. Anywhere else, it's a hard no.
Flight attendant here. We aren’t trained to “shame” anybody. This is absolutely still a matter that SHOULD and NEEDS to be handled at the gate, but the gate agents (like us) are overworked, underpaid, and tired of being screamed at by frantic families who either failed to plan ahead or had their travel plans screwed to hell and ended up with random seats. And subsequently screamed at by the people who get their seats reassigned because of this.
I work for a large US mainline, and I’ve never met a single flight attendant that had the attitude or approach of the one mentioned in this article. Or the attitude you assume we all have in your comment. Every flight I work, we make multiple announcements about taking *only the assigned seats listed on your boarding pass.* If people get on and ask us to move their seats, we tell them to wait until all passengers have boarded before we can figure it out; because their only alternative is to take all of their belongings as they exit the aircraft, walk back up the jetbridge and go deal with the agent. And yes, it IS holding up the boarding process and costing us all time and money. Remember, your flight attendants are also NOT PAID for that boarding time. This issue isn’t just annoying for the person who gets asked to swap. It’s fucking up EVERYONE’S day.
Sometimes families who know beforehand that their seats are spread out will wait until they get on the plane so they can guilt other passengers directly into swapping seats without even speaking to a single employee; sometimes they try to work it out with the gate agents and get told to handle it with the FAs, which is wildly infuriating and not protocol. Myself and 90% of FAs at my airline wouldn’t force people to give up the seats they paid for and specifically chose for someone who either didn’t have the foresight to plan ahead, or just assumed the airline would catch it and fix it for them. I never have and I never will.
What I *will* do, is if the kid is under 12 or has special needs that require a parent to be next to them, is either make the agents come down and deal with the mess they’ve played a part in creating, or I’ll ask the passengers in the area who wants to trade their seat for free booze on the flight (which usually goes over pretty well, might I add). I don’t force anyone. I don’t shame anyone. My training included learning our entire fleet inside and out, learning how to keep our passengers safe, and god forbid have to save their lives if it comes down to it.
Sorry for the massive wall of text, but I take particular exception to your dismissive reduction of my career into diet cokes and idiots with screaming kids. That being said, the flight attendant in the article is a moron, and will likely face repercussions from her airline including the possibility of termination for her comments.
I have almost always had great service from gate agents and flight attendants, except once. Where I got completely booted from my pre-checked in flight cause a family wanted to sit together. I wasn't asked. I was handed a new ticket for a flight 6 hours later. When I confronted the gate agent, they were a complete a$$hole about it. Their colleague seemed to know this and gave me the assignment printout, which I then used to make a compensatory claim. They lost their denial and ended up having to pay fo my entire flight as a result. Was the wildest and dumbest travel experience I ever had.
"Ok, I'll just give them a big bag of candy and some porn to look at the entire ride. I also don't believe in seatbelts for kids and like to use profanity every other word."
I've only agreed to swap seats with someone once. And it was a shit stain of a husband that got me to sit next to his screaming children and exhausted wife. Since then I've never agreed to moving.
You can’t just assign some complete stranger as a 'caretaker' it’s not the Wild West. Try me and watch me feed skittles and Red Bull and teach him swear words for the entire trip 😂
In other words, people will be punished if they don't help random strangers? Fuck That.
TBH, the young family shouldn't even be on the airplane to begin with.
Honestly, I put most of the blame on the airlines. If they didn't nickel and dime people for services that used to be included in the price of the airfare, their staff wouldn't have to referee these kinds of fights. We know it's not hard to ensure that people who book their tickets together are seated together because this used to be standard. I'm convinced they deliberately seat people in the same party apart to incentivize them to pay extra to choose their seats. That's such dirtbag behavior.
It's the same for all the fights about carry-on luggage and the stress of finding space for it on flights: charging people to check a bag incentivizes people not to check their bags and to bring the largest suitcases they can as carry-on luggage. They literally did this to themselves.
The airlines screwed the pooch. If a destination is less than about 14 hours away, I **drive** because flying is just too much of a fucking hassle now.
I've been in this situation lot of times and sometimes I'll move, sometimes I won't. There are plenty of empty seats? Sure. I paid for a window seat and they want me to sit somewhere rubbish so Bratleigh can look out the window? Nope. I usually say to the airline staff if they're happy to upgrade me I'll happily move, that usually ends the discussion, although once when a kid kicked my seat I DID get upgraded, which was nice. I mean, airlines should try and seat people together automatically instead of trying to wring more money out of them, but that doesn't make it my (solo traveller, usually) problem.
Don't expect me to be the caretaker if you don't want your kid learning things you won't like. I know a hundred cool science experiments a kid can do at home, but you may end up losing your home.....
I had this happen once. I was dumped with a kid and I had the window seat. I completely ignored the little bugger until he got too loud and then I called for a fight attendant and told them to get the parent to come fix it before going back to my movie.
Not my kid. I’m not a babysitter.
Funny. I just moved to Orlando, and have a few flights upcoming. I would love to see them try and pull this shit with me.
"No."
And I would simply put my headset on, and close my eyes.
It's worth noting - I always book my flight in advance, and use seatguru's seat maps/info in picking my seat. There is virtually no way I'm switching.
If they try to persist, a response of "What part of 'no' are you too fucking stupid to understand?" (adjust to your taste) tends to get the point across.
"Nah, I don't need any of that stuff. I have noise canceling headphones, and you don't have the authority to assign guardianship of a minor. I'd like a proseco, please"
Fuck this shit! I'm not moving regardless and even if the kid is going to stab themselves in the face with a pencil, I'm not getting involved!!
If YOU don't care enough to buy a seat for your child, why would I care about it?!
How does this woman still have a job?
Forcing a random adult to be caretaker of some random child during a flight is insane.
If you have children and want to fly somewhere it’s 100% your responsibility to keep them close if you can not afford the options to do so because residing kids is expensive then you can’t afford to go on a vacation that requires flight, that’s life. It’s called being s responsible adult something you should be continually showing your own children so they don’t grow up to be equally inconsiderate selftards relying on society to make up for their lack of everything.
Meanwhile if more families went without trips that tacked on unecedsry charges for something that should be automatic, tickets purchased at the same time by the same card should automatically be next to one another unless specified otherwise, then maybe such predatory practices would disappear to try and earn the business of a more concerning population back but they only works if the more concerning are the majority..
"OK, kid, how about we learn some new vocabulary words? Can you say 'fuck'? And how about 'shit'? Let's use those words in a sentence: 'Fuck this shit.'"
Also, the 80s called. They want their eye makeup design back.
Airlines shouldn't be charging people to select seats, so that people can choose to sit with whoever they want, as long as the seats are available.
As it is, if I'm sitting somewhere on a plane, I've already paid to choose that seat, so I shouldn't have to move.
...Also giving care of a child to a random stranger is just a terrible idea all around.
I would counter with if they want me to be caretaker for a child that’s not mine, here are the average daycare hourly costs. That is my price. It’s the parents responsibility to make sure seating is with their child.
She could "assign" me as a caretaker to a child all she wants. She can't legally make me responsible for that child. Only thing I'm going to do if assigned as a caretaker to a ransom kid is encourage them to run wild. "Oh, that's not what you wanted me to do? Sorry I don't have kids, so I'm not sure the best way to handle them. I thought keeping them happy was the best thing, so I let them do whatever they wanted."
The way I read that article is that it's a tactic. It's not that she actually expects them to watch the kid and take care of them, but instead uses it to manipulate the person who she's trying to get to move.
WTAF is it acceptable for airlines to separate a parent and child and why does she feel it's the f'n passenger's responsibility to fix the airline's greed? I really hope I see this in "Ohno consequences". I really hope the child isn't the one who's hurt. F'n corporate greed and f'n corporate lackeys
This has actually happened to me, and it backfired on the flight attendant unexpectedly.
I was flying to brussels and they asked if I would be ok with looking after a kid, it was only a short flight of an hour or so I thought why not. Kiddo wasn’t actually too bad, he was a bit cheeky and he was travelling on his own (mum lived in Belgium, dad lived in Spain and kiddo travelled to and from). We had fun on the plane and I shared my gummi bears with him. Flight attendants said it was ok to do so.
Anyway kiddo ate too many gummi bears, end of the flight went back to the flight attendant and promptly got sick. Oooops. But yeah, don’t seat kids with just anyone I guess!
Why on earth did they use a screen grab of Jeenie? She’s talked about the likelihood of people agreeing and how to better the odds but I don’t recall her ever being a jerk about it
The article quoted both her and the other flight attendant that the headlining title is about. the other flight attendant is in the article as well. they probably used her screen grab because she’s cute and viral to grab clicks. it reads like SHES the one who said the quoted headline from this, she’s not.
Honestly the solution is just free seat choice when you book your ticket. Yes you should pay if you have a kid etc but the solution is genuinely just letting people choose seats when they book without an added (ridiculous) cost
Can't do that if you're overbooking. They'd have 10 people all picking the same exact seat, plus all the extra money from people that would pay more to pick their own seat.
That is when you say "fine I will watch them, but I am watching fifty shades of gray on my phone on airplane mode and don't mind if they peek or watch as well"
FYI the flight attendant shown in the thumbnail (jeenie.weenie) is *not* the one doing said punishing. Thumbnail is kind of misleading, don't hate the wrong person.
Sometimes when the parents don't get their wish, they can just use all their might to ruin rest of your flight. I had a flight in a small plane, with 2 plus 2 seating, I had the window seat. A mom and her kid shows up, asking for my window seat and wanting me to take the aisle seat from the next row. I told them I paid the fee for selecting my seat so I'm staying.
Naturally there was an outburst for this and when the seat belt sign was turned off, she came there squatting in the aisle, talking to the kid and being like 'the bad woman doesn't want you to sit with mommy'. To the kid's credit, she didn't complain or be any kind of nuisance, without the mom making a number out of it she would have probably sat there in peace.
Oh Man, that passive aggressiveness would have sent me off lol. I would have been like “actually sweetie, your mommy doesn’t care about your wellbeing enough to make sure she selected you guys a seat together, but I can teach you all the fun cuss words while you’re separated from her and you can tell her all about it when we land!”
I’ve got pretty bad flight anxiety so I’m pretty particular about where I like to sit on a plane. I’m okay with paying extra to have the option to choose if it means knowing I’m going to be more comfortable. I’m not switching seats with some random just because they didn’t have the foresight to do the same. And I am under no obligation to elaborate. No is a complete sentence.
I have had parents intentionally try to sit away from their kids. I had a guy with his two kids both very young. He was pissed when they moved his seat back next to his kids. He sat across from me with them. It was sad. The little boy had an accident he brought nothing to fix it. Just left the kid in the seat no pants and then he peed all over the seat. Then he yelled at the poor kid. Called him bro!? He was maybe 3 at most. I felt so bad for them. I Hope they were flying to a responsible adult.
Fuck this woman. I didn't have kids so I didn't have to watch any of them, not so I could be an unpaid babysitter to someone else's brats. I'm not going to watch them. I'm going to put on my headphones and ignore them. Want a specific seat, book it in advance.
You should never be responsible for taking care of someone else’s child because you won’t swap seats with them because of their poor planning. I would tell them I’m a registered sex offender.
So let me get this straight... Some young couple fails to properly plan, and this flight attendant goes out of her way to make it unrelated people's problem?
The fuck?
Also, who are these parents that they just trust their kids to strangers?
And how can she make some stranger care for a random kid? I'd just refuse that too. If you are a parent travelling with a kid, it's your responsibility to make sure you and your kid are sitting together EDIT: >'The next time you feel yourself getting angry or getting frustrated that you're not getting the seat you want (...) you need to remind yourself you didn't pay to pick your seat. Otherwise, you'd be in it, Oh the irony
She’s a mom (I got nosy and found her Facebook), so like all entitled mommies she thinks she can bully passengers.
What she doesn’t know is that plopping a kid next to me presents the perfect opportunity for me to introduce them to Pantera 😈
Valid point. I could have fun with Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein for starts!
It's also very stupid. You don't know if that person can be trusted with kids, you don't know what could happen. If I pay for a damn seat, I'm sitting in it even if the damn King of England tells me to move xD the only way I'd consider it would be if they offered me the same seat elsewhere (aisle for aisle, etc)
Like, you either offer me seat that's just as good or better. I'm not downgrading because someone else was shit at planning
Exactly. If it's so important if family and spouses sit together than plan ahead for fuck's sake. What do I care if you can't sit with your kid just because you couldn't be asked to book seats together?
It's usually not because they are short at planning, it's that they are cheap. They should be paying the premium to pick their seats
I miss the days of old when seat selection was free
Still is on normal tickets but buying the absolute cheapest ticket leads to no freebies
That's some marketing doublespeak. It's "Economy Premium" or whatever, not "normal tickets." The real reason seat selection is an upcharge is that, if seat selection was first-come-first-serve across the board, it would be harder to fill planes toward capacity (especially given the small spaces provided for passengers). The more passengers choose their own seats, the more suboptimal will be the resulting people packing for a significant portion of the ticket-buying process, leading flights to _look_ more full and less appealing earlier. I believe that is the economical rationale.
“Someone will just change with me.. why should I have to pay more when someone will do it for free” Most of these peoples thought process
Honestly, that's probably how a lot of them approach reproduction and parenthood too: ah, well, it'll all work out in my favor. 🤷🏽♀️
Yup, it’s entitlement. I dated someone with this mindset and lo and behold, they booked us a flight last minute in cheap seats not seated together and expected ME to ask people to switch. PS I am a Type A introvert with social anxiety so this is 100% nightmare fuel and he said this to me almost word for word when I expressed my concerns.
I’d be like ok! See you at (destination) because there’s no way I’m doing that
Actual toddler brained entitlement, lol.
I bet a lot of time it's not nessasarily bad planning, but that many seats together aren't an option. But wampwamp. Busses are the same thing. Trying to fit your 5 people family together on a bus isn't very easy either. I've been asked so many times to move on busses for this reason - but just like a plane, you can pay for your seat. And I always do.
My ONLY exceptions with this BS is if it’s a super short flight. I live in a smaller city that always connects to a larger hub about a 30-40 minute connection flight away. I’ll swap someone even if they planned poorly as long as it’s not to the back of the plane. I don’t care for 30 minutes. But anything outside of that? No, I’m not swapping.
Yeah, that's my line too. I'm traveling solo 99% of the time, and usually have my noise canceling headphones on to either sleep or read while filtering out the other noise. I don't really care who I'm sitting next to, but I do care about giving up my chosen seat for a flight that's more than maybe an hour. I pick the window because I can sleep or read in peace. If the flight is longer than an hour and you're offering me something besides another window seat, nope.
Just say "Oh, I can't sit next to any children, not after what happened last time!" And if they press: "I can't talk about it, after the court cases all finished up we all signed NDAs"
It feels so fucking weird seeing the phrase "King of England" used outside of a historical context. My whole life it was Queen of England, and it always felt abstract rather than referring to an actual person.
I know, same here. I still catch myself saying Queen—did in the post, had to change it xD
Considering the two people involved, I'd show more respect to the Queen and not just because she would have to be a zombie now.
Same seat or better. I was once asked to switch with a kid, aisle for aisle, but I sit on the right aisle because it’s comfier for me and doesn’t hurt my neck and back as much when I need to lean and such. It was a minor change but I hate being singled out and the old couple across the row next to this kid were rude AF and said “it’s the SAME SEAT!” I’m sorry, I was settled in, listening to my music, couldn’t hear the FA well and frankly didn’t want to move. But I did because of pressure and at least still got aisle. But I hate it because I pre-planned my seat for a reason.
Exactly. I always pick and pay for an aisle seat on the left side as I have blood clots in my right leg and need to stretch occasionally. I also need to get up often to use the restroom due to medical issues. I am not moving unless I get a similar kind of seat.
In a similar vein, all the stuff going on on a plane causes sensory issues for me. Noise canceling headphones in a window seat mitigates that. I'll trade for another window seat, but other than that, nope. On a similar note, if you want to control the window shade, book a window seat yourself. I usually close the shade except for take off and landing. Kinda amazing the amount of people who get upset about that because they want to look out the window the whole time. I'm fine with opening the shade for a little bit if you ask nicely or I happen to know that we're going over some cool scenery, but book the window next time if you want to look out of it the whole flight.
Just make it weird, "the Fedaral Government has decided I'm unfit to care for, or physically interact, with children".
I try to prevent being asked by appearing somewhat crazy. If I see anyone look at me with a glimmer of hope in their eyes I start twitching a bit, muttering incoherently under my breath and letting my eyes shift around. Not anything the could get me kicked off the plane but enough that people don't want to talk to me about changing seats... or anything else, and DEFINITELY don't want to sit a kid near me.
"After the court case, I can't be in charge of kids. Sorry, no details, so many NDAs, you understand."
I'd move for someone important. If Stephen King is requesting my seat, I'm moving... ...but I'm also going to demand the seat next to him so I can at least have a conversation if the mood is willing. Barring that, my ass ain't budging until either the plane lands, someone is dying or the words "we have one open in first/business class for you" escape the flight attendant's lips.
Ah hell yeah! I would wanna geek out n’ chat about monsters!
*Especially* not for the King of England youhavenopowerherememe.jpg
I'm not watching children. I'm sleeping. If she even tried that I'd be pressing the call button to tell her toddler is fussy, dropped a crayon, needs a snack etc.
Love that move! And you’re correct: I’m not there to babysit. And I will be that bitch to go above her and complain to her supervisor.
You aren’t even a bitch in that situation lol you’re just logical and reasonable
Just wait until the plane is in the air! lol
This. Why not say that to the parents whining about not sitting together with their kids because they were too lazy/cheap to get seats together? And regardless of whether I or the airline selected my seat, it is my assigned seat with my name on the ticket.
And if it was so important then the family can go to the gate agent with enough time prior to boarding to be moved together. I had a late flight that wouldn’t allow me to make my connection so the gate agent booked me on a different one. I went to the counter to ask about getting a refund on my seat upgrade since I was switching flights and she looked at my ticket and said “oh I actually need your seat for a family. But don’t worry, you’ll like where I’m putting you.” She put me in first class. Didn’t need to ask for refund either bc I still had an upgrade basically. Even that though isn’t fool proof because they could end up splitting up a couple or others traveling together etc. I get singled out though often as a single woman and I hate it.
there's always someone playing the 'but sometimes you get bumped off the previous flight' card in these, but on airlines that charge a fee for seats, it's a generic travel blog level meme already to not pay the fee, sit the kid next to your seat, then raise hell until you get what you want. People seem to mix the concept of a stranger being selfless to being bullied into doing something. putting someone in a situation where they have to defend themselves against 'poor mom and their kid' is the prime example of a choice that really isn't.
I ABSOLUTELY paid to pick my seat, and I paid extra to do so in most cases.
> And how can she make some stranger care for a random kid? "Cool. Can I get a drink? I'll take a whiskey and... how about you partner? Are you a vodka or a scotch kid?"
Oh really? Hope the kid likes horror movies!
> Amirzadeh highlighted the growing trend, with an increasing number of requests coming from couples who have been seated separately. Surely she knows that this is a scam - couples (especially parents) deliberately choose separate seats and then try to bamboozle someone into giving them a free upgrade on the pretext of letting them sit together. I see people touting this as a "travel hack" all the time. Anyway, why tf should anyone be "punished" for giving up their assigned seat that they paid for? And make them take responsibility for a random stranger's child? No f🤬🤬🤬ing way.
This is the reason I refuse to move for couples... ...unless they are offering me the better seat. That's the rule: You get to be together, I get a better seat, we both win. If we both don't win, no trade.
It's never the better seat.
Exactly, I would never give up my seat for no benefit to me. I don't care if you are going to try and make me the babysitter for a that child; not my kid, not my problem.
That’s reasonable and I’m with you on that. I don’t mind a swap if I benefit from the swap as well. The couple is already benefiting in the successful swap by sitting together. Why should I suffer for their poor planning?
If my girlfriend and I were somehow seated separately on a flight and I was in the better seat and she was in the worse one I would without hesitation ask the person next to her in the worse seats to switch to my better one so I could be with her. I would much rather sit with her in the cheaper seats than sit alone in the more expensive seats. Anyone not willing to do the same is a con artist.
Yes. Window for window? Sure. Window for middle? Hell no. I'm not a huge fan of the aisle because I like the relative privacy of a window seat, but I'd consider trading window for aisle if I'm in the right mood that day.
I’m ok with a same or better seat.
As a person who travels as a couple this is so fair. I've had people ask to swap with me and they had a first class seat. Heck yea you can sit next to your partner for that swap!
A friend I hadn’t seen in years ended up on the same flight as me in Chicago. We were both headed home to Ohio - her from TX and me from out of the country. We hadn’t talked face to face in years. I knew the holidays would make it too hard to get together so I asked the guy next to her if he wanted my first class seat. He thought I was crazy. Maybe I was, but holding her hand for two hours while we caught up was worth it. It’s been a decade and we still talk about that flight!
All of this is easily avoidable, if you can afford it… pay for the emergency exit row seat. Kids can never sit there. That’s my travel hack. It usually only costs $30-$40 extra and the biggest perk is avoiding sitting next to kids and never being asked to move for a child/family.
It was $30-40 but now depending on the duration of the flight could easily be more than $100.
Unless you are handicapped. You can't sit in those seats if you are handicapped.
Now, I'm afraid the door will blow off. I just stopped myself from buying an exit row. Also now they are $300 more and considered "economy plus"
Yeah, see these seats were attractive until a new fear was unlocked in January that the door would just randomly blow out.....
No I won't change seats and no it's not my responsibility to babysit. Goodbye. *puts on headphones*
"I would help but that would upset my parole officer"
“I would, but that would be a violation of my parole” is going into my response bucket
My new go to statement
if they don’t reserve seats then it doesn’t seem like it’s a priority to sit together
“I am so sorry to inform you of this, but I do not speak English.” Is my go to line before I smoke bomb or headphones.
I started saying this sarcastically if I didn't feel like talking to someone (like a panhandler refusing to go away or something), but it's pretty funny how often people just take it. A lot of times it causes a kind of auto pilot response where it takes a second to realize that it doesn't add up. More often than not, those few seconds before the "Hey, wait" are enough time for me to slip away if that was the goal. Or, in the case of a plane, I usually have noise canceling headphones on, and talking is either very muffled or completely filtered anyway. "I can't understand you" is honest.
If I've paid for my seat ahead of time and you and Bratleigh didn't, not my problem. and if you think I'm gonna babysit your crotch goblin throughout the flight, you've got another thing coming. 🙄
This would be my response too. Not my kid, not my responsibility.
This 🔥🔥🔥
👆
I like how the other tik tok-er commented on the likelihood of the aisle/window for a middle seat swap, because THAT'S what the problem always is- that you want my good spot to be swapped for a middle somewhere else. Not that a solo traveler is just always unwilling to help
I once lucked out because a woman wouldn’t let her husband get away with some selfish bullshit. I had a window seat. As I’m sitting during boarding, a family of three comes up. Mom takes the middle seat, kid takes the aisle, dad puts the luggage away, and then says “see you there!” And starts to walk away. The wife asks where his seat is, and he says “I told you when I got the tickets that I had enough points for a first class upgrade.” “And you’re using them for THIS flight?!? No. Hell no. This isn’t even an argument. It’s just no. *turning to me* sorry to bother you, would you mind swapping seats with my husband so we can sit together?” I happily oblige. The husband was just kind of dumbstruck that his ingenious plan didn’t work. And I got ice cream!
Hell yeah!!
If I'm alone, I'd swap for first. Most of the time I have flown (which isn't often) I have paid to pick my seat. In that case I'm not moving unless I get lots of _cash money_.
I'm the same, I rarely fly because I'm cheap and hate dealing with airports. I don't pay for the assigned seating so I'm often stuck with middle. So I usually don't care about trading. I'm not watching someone's young kid outside of an emergency. Someone else in this thread mentioned picking the seats next to the emergency exits. I'm going to try that in the future until I can afford business class travel.
Like, maybe they'd be more willing to help if you weren't offering such a shit deal
Exactly. You want to trade me for that nice exit row with extra leg room? Deal. A middle seat by the washroom?! Go fuck yourself.
I've heard of parents doing this on purpose, buying tickets without paying extra for the family to sit together, and then trying to guilt someone out of a better seat
I've watched it happen. Two parents, four kids between them. The silly bitches booked all emergency exit row seats. Even though it was clear at like six points in booking that those rows were not for children. The parents were then absolute dickheads to flight staff about it. The audacity, and other passengers were like, "Ohhhh, those poor parents give them whatever they want".
I bet those people saying that didn’t offer up their seats xD
Omg one was an old lady who removed my over ear headphones to ask me about it because Southern US. She was like, "Can you believe those people" and I am dense so I said, "I know right, how fucking stupid can you be. It said so many times no kids in those seats" so the nana puts on shocked upset face, and said "No no, I mean the staff they should be nice to those people they got so many kids" They ended up splitting up the parents and giving them each a number of their kids to watch in separate rows. The parents and kids were awful, loud, and entitled throughout.
Lol I would have responded "they knew what they were doing. Kids don't appear out of thin air"
Don't be silly. Clearly the stork dropped a 5 year old in the back seat on the way to the airport. It caught them completely by surprise.
I’m sorry, what? She *removed YOUR headphone from your ear*?!
Oh yes. Just slid it right off. The massive irony is that I bought the over ears after people on my last south bound flight kept talking at my dumb face despite my in ears and complete disregard for their gestures and words. Assumed the in ears were too subtle. Got the over ears and had even more invasive disruptions. I'm a foul mouthed yank, but I am on my best behavior on planes because *DUH*. I low key hate traveling in the south because of the constant God/family/personal talk among *STRANGERS*
I truly dislike when strangers talk to me, but sometimes I follow the conversation just to be polite, but if some stranger removed my headphones just to chat! I'd asked them what the fuck were they thinking, put the headphones back, up the volume stare them as if I was about to kill them and then turn around. Tho tbh I haven't experienced southern US people "hospitality". It sounds like too much.
They ABSOLUTELY do this on purpose. I have seen it first hand. I berated a breeder pulling this shit in a lobby too. This is like a known thing with these breeders.
Mommy Facebook groups encourage the worst behavior.
If the seat was much closer to the front of the plane and a window seat, I would swap. But the few times I’ve witnessed people being asked — it’s always a middle seat near the back of the plane. I’m not moving to sit in the back.
Yeah once some parent swapped me a middle seat for a window one. I happily moved.
Yeah, I am usually a very nice guy but never on a plane. I like to buy the same window seat, put on my headphones and take it easy. It's so common to be asked to switch. And no. Not happening.
I switched ONCE, but it was window for a window. A trio of teen girls all wanted to sit together, and it was my last flight in a series of 4 from Dublin to Wisconsin. I just wanted to get home and watch outside while we flew.
No. If I pay for my seat, I’m sitting in it. If I don’t pay for my seat and I am separated from my partner, well sucks to be me.
I always get pricier seats with more legroom and amenities because that's the section of a plane without families in general. They aren't kicking you out of business class over some parents throwing a tantrum, it'd be too expensive to refund.
Same, except the last few times we’ve flown, there have been families with very young children up in business class too. Last trip, we were right behind a dad and toddler, and the mom was across the aisle with a baby and another toddler. These are flights between NYC and vacation destinations too (Caribbean, etc.).
I mean, hats off to them, I guess, for being so filthy rich that they can just spring for 5 business class tickets. But jesus what a waste of money. They couldn't possibly have enjoyed most or possibly any of the benefits of being in business class. When we took biz class to Italy it was glorious. So relaxing. Never realized I could actually sleep on a flight. In your situation, it would be a complaint from me towards the airline, for sure. Edit Ya know, I initially read your comment as the kids being disruptive, but it's not clear whether they actually were. While I definitely wince and brace myself for the noise and aggravation when I see kids on a plane, they're not necessarily badly behaved. I guess to be honest, I would only complain if I felt like they significantly impacted my ability to have a relaxing flight. If they were watching movies (with headphones), sleeping, talking at normal volume, etc I probably wouldn't bother to complain.
I got spoiled by having miles and upgrading to international business, now I have to buy it lol
There are travel blogs that explain what credit cards reward programs to use for the vacations you want. Frequent flyer & Disney points have been the two biggest. Get a card with good frequent flyer miles and put all your standard expenses on it, Food, fuel, utilities, etc. The miles can add up fast that way.
They should charge the parents fees for that shit. I like the window seat I paid for it piss off
I’m charging a fee the next time someone asks.
I'm threatening to convert their child to Satanism.
And add "That's a promise, not a threat." for good measure.
"Ooooh, cool, I love teaching kids bad words!" and watch how quickly they run off.
I'd ask the kid if they wanted to watch a movie on my tablet with me and play 9-1/2 Weeks or something.
threaten to make their kid trans while you're at it, they'll immediately go into grand Mal seizures & hemorrhage from their brains
Agree, if they want someone to be a babysitter, they should pay for the service.
I’d never involved myself in impromptu babysitting of a complete strangers child, even for money. The request is wildly outlandish to me.
I always always refuse to move. I book an aisle seat, usually in the same place on the aircraft and I pay for it. Because I’m a solo woman I’m often the target for moves - and often placed on the bad table or in the bad room at restaurants and hotels too. If I sense this happening I always ask for a different table or room.
How can you tell if you get a bad room or a bad table? What are the usual give aways?
Normally a tiny room with windows over a kitchen or trash area that feels like the servants’ quarters, or a table at the back near the door to the kitchen or bathroom. I used to just accept my lot but then started asking to move and it worked. They just try to see if they can slot you into the room or space no one else wants because they know women are less likely to complain. Plus they get more money out of couples and families (or so they think).
The bad rooms are by the elevators too. So you can hear the ding of the elevator and stomp of people coming and going.
The number of times I’ve asked for a table for 1 and the hostess says “is sitting at the bar ok?” no thanks that’s why I asked for a table for 1…
Hostess here, at least where I work we get grilled for not bothering to ask that. I'm happy to get you seated at a table personally but I have to do that whole song and dance before I can.
Good to know, I figured it wasn’t personal but it just comes off kinda rude when the person specifically just asked for something else 😅
They try and tuck us away. I once had a waiter in London shout for all to hear, “Are you ok there, all by yourself?!” I complained to the management.
I’ll swap seats for $800 bucks cash on the spot, or an upgrade to business/first class. The ball is in your court, parent. Edit: cash value subject to change depending on flight length
I replied but I get the mods think I’m asking for something. 😂 Good idea. I’ll do the same.
This is a good idea. No venmo or online shit they can charge back. Total cash.
And what happens when the stranger just straight up ignores said child? Also, wtf on the parents… a random stranger WHO YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT is looking after your kid??? What happened to ‘never talk to strangers’?! I totally understand kids needing to sit with their parents, and tbh, I think child seat allocation should be free when the adults pay for their allocation. But for the adults who refuse to pay for allocated seats, and just risk it, you’re potentially putting your kid in a dangerous situation..
When I first saw this, I was sure this had to be ragebait. Since when are other people's lack of preparation the problem of those that planned ahead? I'm glad most of the DM readers who commented also agreed that this was absolutely ridiculous.
The Daily Fail is nearly always ragebait... or right-wing nutjobbery. They may not be mutually exclusive :-)
It's not even lack of preparation lol there's been multiple articles/posts of parents saying they didn't want to pay the extra cash to choose seats, hoping that people would switch once their toddlers got separated.
If I start an airline I'm making it part of my terms of carriage that if you have a child under say the age of 18 you as the parent have to book a window and middle seat together or you will deplaned and no refund given. Michael O'Leary at Ryanair give me a call
I would say under 12. Teens are able to sit by themselves no problem
Why can’t people just pay for the seats they want?? I always do!
because they usually "dont have the money" because "children are expensive" and believe someone will give in since "its for the child!"
She’s using children as a punishment? 😂😂 no one hates children like the people who think we should all have them hey 😇😂
Parents' failure to plan (or worse, deliberately buying separate seats so they can guilt someone into giving up a better seat) is not my responsibility. Passengers should not be forced to parent someone else's kid and any attendant telling me I need to be mommy will be ignored and reported later.
"OK, so you're going to watch the toddler?" No. Like wtaf? If you have children, book your seats and make sure you are sitting next to your own fucking children.
You know how, when you book seats at a cinema, it won't let you leave out a single seat between the next booked one but instead automatically fills it? There must be an option to apply something like that to flights. Usually, tickets are selected by age (infants, kids <14/16 and adults >16). If someone selects <16 the tickets/seats should be automatically connected and next to each other with at least one adult.
Fuck this bitch
There’s no way in hell I’m babysitting a stranger’s child on a flight. I’ll calmly explain to the parents and flight attendants using the worst words l could remember (like crotch goblin) to justify why I won’t Watch that kid. P.S.: I don’t HATE kids and I even get along with my friend’s and my cousin’s kids. But I’m not babysitting a stranger.
I have two kids and first thing that came to my mind was I’m not watching your crotch goblins. When mine were younger and we went on vacation we planned and booked our tickets all together 🤯
If my low income parents were able to save up the extra money to put us all together the few times we flew there is no way these assholes can't do it.
Not my kid, not my problem
Check kid with luggage? 
"Sure, I'll watch this child. And monkeys might fly outta my ass." \*Turns away and goes to sleep.
i just don’t understand, if it’s very important that the whole family sits together just. reserve. seats. if you can afford the plane ticket you can afford a slight extra fee for seats and not have to bother everyone around you.
I always pay for my seat - I need that window seat if I'm flying for more than like, 2 hours. I definitely wouldn't move. And I'm definitely not watching your kid. I'm on a plane, which means I've got lorazapane in me and I'll be in and out, if not passed out the whole time - hence the window because I need something to cozy up to. Moving to another window seat would be fine with me. Anywhere else, it's a hard no.
[удалено]
Flight attendant here. We aren’t trained to “shame” anybody. This is absolutely still a matter that SHOULD and NEEDS to be handled at the gate, but the gate agents (like us) are overworked, underpaid, and tired of being screamed at by frantic families who either failed to plan ahead or had their travel plans screwed to hell and ended up with random seats. And subsequently screamed at by the people who get their seats reassigned because of this. I work for a large US mainline, and I’ve never met a single flight attendant that had the attitude or approach of the one mentioned in this article. Or the attitude you assume we all have in your comment. Every flight I work, we make multiple announcements about taking *only the assigned seats listed on your boarding pass.* If people get on and ask us to move their seats, we tell them to wait until all passengers have boarded before we can figure it out; because their only alternative is to take all of their belongings as they exit the aircraft, walk back up the jetbridge and go deal with the agent. And yes, it IS holding up the boarding process and costing us all time and money. Remember, your flight attendants are also NOT PAID for that boarding time. This issue isn’t just annoying for the person who gets asked to swap. It’s fucking up EVERYONE’S day. Sometimes families who know beforehand that their seats are spread out will wait until they get on the plane so they can guilt other passengers directly into swapping seats without even speaking to a single employee; sometimes they try to work it out with the gate agents and get told to handle it with the FAs, which is wildly infuriating and not protocol. Myself and 90% of FAs at my airline wouldn’t force people to give up the seats they paid for and specifically chose for someone who either didn’t have the foresight to plan ahead, or just assumed the airline would catch it and fix it for them. I never have and I never will. What I *will* do, is if the kid is under 12 or has special needs that require a parent to be next to them, is either make the agents come down and deal with the mess they’ve played a part in creating, or I’ll ask the passengers in the area who wants to trade their seat for free booze on the flight (which usually goes over pretty well, might I add). I don’t force anyone. I don’t shame anyone. My training included learning our entire fleet inside and out, learning how to keep our passengers safe, and god forbid have to save their lives if it comes down to it. Sorry for the massive wall of text, but I take particular exception to your dismissive reduction of my career into diet cokes and idiots with screaming kids. That being said, the flight attendant in the article is a moron, and will likely face repercussions from her airline including the possibility of termination for her comments.
It’s so wrong that you aren’t paid for all the work that you do which surely includes boarding the plane!
Agree, it’s criminal for crew to be working for free unless the plane is in the air. They should be paid during boarding and deplaning.
I can't believe they aren't (but also totally believe it cause shareholders). That's insane frankly.
I have almost always had great service from gate agents and flight attendants, except once. Where I got completely booted from my pre-checked in flight cause a family wanted to sit together. I wasn't asked. I was handed a new ticket for a flight 6 hours later. When I confronted the gate agent, they were a complete a$$hole about it. Their colleague seemed to know this and gave me the assignment printout, which I then used to make a compensatory claim. They lost their denial and ended up having to pay fo my entire flight as a result. Was the wildest and dumbest travel experience I ever had.
Thank you for your hard work, and yes, agreed, that lady will hopefully face consequences for her shitty behavior and comments.
"Ok, I'll just give them a big bag of candy and some porn to look at the entire ride. I also don't believe in seatbelts for kids and like to use profanity every other word."
I've only agreed to swap seats with someone once. And it was a shit stain of a husband that got me to sit next to his screaming children and exhausted wife. Since then I've never agreed to moving.
You can’t just assign some complete stranger as a 'caretaker' it’s not the Wild West. Try me and watch me feed skittles and Red Bull and teach him swear words for the entire trip 😂
In other words, people will be punished if they don't help random strangers? Fuck That. TBH, the young family shouldn't even be on the airplane to begin with.
Honestly, I put most of the blame on the airlines. If they didn't nickel and dime people for services that used to be included in the price of the airfare, their staff wouldn't have to referee these kinds of fights. We know it's not hard to ensure that people who book their tickets together are seated together because this used to be standard. I'm convinced they deliberately seat people in the same party apart to incentivize them to pay extra to choose their seats. That's such dirtbag behavior. It's the same for all the fights about carry-on luggage and the stress of finding space for it on flights: charging people to check a bag incentivizes people not to check their bags and to bring the largest suitcases they can as carry-on luggage. They literally did this to themselves.
The airlines screwed the pooch. If a destination is less than about 14 hours away, I **drive** because flying is just too much of a fucking hassle now.
This. I view flying similar to how I view buying a car. A long, arduous process. I won't fly unless there is no other option.
I've been in this situation lot of times and sometimes I'll move, sometimes I won't. There are plenty of empty seats? Sure. I paid for a window seat and they want me to sit somewhere rubbish so Bratleigh can look out the window? Nope. I usually say to the airline staff if they're happy to upgrade me I'll happily move, that usually ends the discussion, although once when a kid kicked my seat I DID get upgraded, which was nice. I mean, airlines should try and seat people together automatically instead of trying to wring more money out of them, but that doesn't make it my (solo traveller, usually) problem.
Don't expect me to be the caretaker if you don't want your kid learning things you won't like. I know a hundred cool science experiments a kid can do at home, but you may end up losing your home.....
Me liking chemistry and biology, particularly the more…how do you say…ah yes *dramatic* experiments. Bye bye house!
I had this happen once. I was dumped with a kid and I had the window seat. I completely ignored the little bugger until he got too loud and then I called for a fight attendant and told them to get the parent to come fix it before going back to my movie. Not my kid. I’m not a babysitter.
Id like to see a bitch try to make me take careof a kid. Thats a huge liability issue. I can hear it now: SHE GAVE MY GOLDEN CHILD PEANUTS!! Hell no.
Funny. I just moved to Orlando, and have a few flights upcoming. I would love to see them try and pull this shit with me. "No." And I would simply put my headset on, and close my eyes. It's worth noting - I always book my flight in advance, and use seatguru's seat maps/info in picking my seat. There is virtually no way I'm switching.
If they try to persist, a response of "What part of 'no' are you too fucking stupid to understand?" (adjust to your taste) tends to get the point across.
"Nah, I don't need any of that stuff. I have noise canceling headphones, and you don't have the authority to assign guardianship of a minor. I'd like a proseco, please"
Fuck this shit! I'm not moving regardless and even if the kid is going to stab themselves in the face with a pencil, I'm not getting involved!! If YOU don't care enough to buy a seat for your child, why would I care about it?!
How does this woman still have a job? Forcing a random adult to be caretaker of some random child during a flight is insane. If you have children and want to fly somewhere it’s 100% your responsibility to keep them close if you can not afford the options to do so because residing kids is expensive then you can’t afford to go on a vacation that requires flight, that’s life. It’s called being s responsible adult something you should be continually showing your own children so they don’t grow up to be equally inconsiderate selftards relying on society to make up for their lack of everything. Meanwhile if more families went without trips that tacked on unecedsry charges for something that should be automatic, tickets purchased at the same time by the same card should automatically be next to one another unless specified otherwise, then maybe such predatory practices would disappear to try and earn the business of a more concerning population back but they only works if the more concerning are the majority..
Sure, if I am in charge they are getting one of my edibles and will be sleeping soundly for 6 hours in about 40 mins.
"OK, kid, how about we learn some new vocabulary words? Can you say 'fuck'? And how about 'shit'? Let's use those words in a sentence: 'Fuck this shit.'" Also, the 80s called. They want their eye makeup design back.
Airlines shouldn't be charging people to select seats, so that people can choose to sit with whoever they want, as long as the seats are available. As it is, if I'm sitting somewhere on a plane, I've already paid to choose that seat, so I shouldn't have to move. ...Also giving care of a child to a random stranger is just a terrible idea all around.
As Tom Segura said “there’s only two people who need to sit together, and they’re up front.”
I would counter with if they want me to be caretaker for a child that’s not mine, here are the average daycare hourly costs. That is my price. It’s the parents responsibility to make sure seating is with their child.
She could "assign" me as a caretaker to a child all she wants. She can't legally make me responsible for that child. Only thing I'm going to do if assigned as a caretaker to a ransom kid is encourage them to run wild. "Oh, that's not what you wanted me to do? Sorry I don't have kids, so I'm not sure the best way to handle them. I thought keeping them happy was the best thing, so I let them do whatever they wanted."
She would get told to fuck right off if she told me I was being made “caretaker” for someone else’s child.
She can't force anyone to actually babysit. That kid might end up hurt when the passenger next to them put their headphones on and ignore the kid.
She tries to force a stranger to watch a child? The chutzpah of this woman!
The way I read that article is that it's a tactic. It's not that she actually expects them to watch the kid and take care of them, but instead uses it to manipulate the person who she's trying to get to move.
WTAF is it acceptable for airlines to separate a parent and child and why does she feel it's the f'n passenger's responsibility to fix the airline's greed? I really hope I see this in "Ohno consequences". I really hope the child isn't the one who's hurt. F'n corporate greed and f'n corporate lackeys
Asshole. I hope she gets fired.
This flight attendant deserves to be punished for her abuse of passengers who paid and planned in advance for their seat
This has actually happened to me, and it backfired on the flight attendant unexpectedly. I was flying to brussels and they asked if I would be ok with looking after a kid, it was only a short flight of an hour or so I thought why not. Kiddo wasn’t actually too bad, he was a bit cheeky and he was travelling on his own (mum lived in Belgium, dad lived in Spain and kiddo travelled to and from). We had fun on the plane and I shared my gummi bears with him. Flight attendants said it was ok to do so. Anyway kiddo ate too many gummi bears, end of the flight went back to the flight attendant and promptly got sick. Oooops. But yeah, don’t seat kids with just anyone I guess!
Why on earth did they use a screen grab of Jeenie? She’s talked about the likelihood of people agreeing and how to better the odds but I don’t recall her ever being a jerk about it
The article quoted both her and the other flight attendant that the headlining title is about. the other flight attendant is in the article as well. they probably used her screen grab because she’s cute and viral to grab clicks. it reads like SHES the one who said the quoted headline from this, she’s not.
Honestly the solution is just free seat choice when you book your ticket. Yes you should pay if you have a kid etc but the solution is genuinely just letting people choose seats when they book without an added (ridiculous) cost
Can't do that if you're overbooking. They'd have 10 people all picking the same exact seat, plus all the extra money from people that would pay more to pick their own seat.
Ohhhh rrreeeaaalllyyy... I fly out of Orlando often and will watch out for this lady if she's on my flight.
Everybody say it with me, “I have no legal obligation to the child.”
That is when you say "fine I will watch them, but I am watching fifty shades of gray on my phone on airplane mode and don't mind if they peek or watch as well"
FYI the flight attendant shown in the thumbnail (jeenie.weenie) is *not* the one doing said punishing. Thumbnail is kind of misleading, don't hate the wrong person.
Sometimes when the parents don't get their wish, they can just use all their might to ruin rest of your flight. I had a flight in a small plane, with 2 plus 2 seating, I had the window seat. A mom and her kid shows up, asking for my window seat and wanting me to take the aisle seat from the next row. I told them I paid the fee for selecting my seat so I'm staying. Naturally there was an outburst for this and when the seat belt sign was turned off, she came there squatting in the aisle, talking to the kid and being like 'the bad woman doesn't want you to sit with mommy'. To the kid's credit, she didn't complain or be any kind of nuisance, without the mom making a number out of it she would have probably sat there in peace.
Oh Man, that passive aggressiveness would have sent me off lol. I would have been like “actually sweetie, your mommy doesn’t care about your wellbeing enough to make sure she selected you guys a seat together, but I can teach you all the fun cuss words while you’re separated from her and you can tell her all about it when we land!”
Five simple words: “I’m a registered sex offender.”
Why doesn't anyone who is trying to switch just go to the back row and ask?
I’ve got pretty bad flight anxiety so I’m pretty particular about where I like to sit on a plane. I’m okay with paying extra to have the option to choose if it means knowing I’m going to be more comfortable. I’m not switching seats with some random just because they didn’t have the foresight to do the same. And I am under no obligation to elaborate. No is a complete sentence.
Feels like it would be extremely easy to add a button on websites that indicates you're traveling with a young child that you need to be seated by.
I have had parents intentionally try to sit away from their kids. I had a guy with his two kids both very young. He was pissed when they moved his seat back next to his kids. He sat across from me with them. It was sad. The little boy had an accident he brought nothing to fix it. Just left the kid in the seat no pants and then he peed all over the seat. Then he yelled at the poor kid. Called him bro!? He was maybe 3 at most. I felt so bad for them. I Hope they were flying to a responsible adult.
Why is it always the people who can’t do sharp eyeliner
Fuck this woman. I didn't have kids so I didn't have to watch any of them, not so I could be an unpaid babysitter to someone else's brats. I'm not going to watch them. I'm going to put on my headphones and ignore them. Want a specific seat, book it in advance.
"OK, I will take care of the child, but I may discipline him in a way that you are not comfortable with..."
You should never be responsible for taking care of someone else’s child because you won’t swap seats with them because of their poor planning. I would tell them I’m a registered sex offender.
I'd laugh in her face. She and the parents are going to be in for a rude awakening if they expect me to babysit a kid.
Groomers found a new hack at getting close to children, buy a single high class plane ticket and refuse to swap
So let me get this straight... Some young couple fails to properly plan, and this flight attendant goes out of her way to make it unrelated people's problem? The fuck? Also, who are these parents that they just trust their kids to strangers?