WWYD? Observations of a hot mess family on airplane

[Anonymous]

Seriously, an elementary school-age kid stood up, unzipped, and peed on the seat, and not only did a flight attendant not see, but no one else saw except you, and the parents just let it happen? Ahahaha no. You're really bad at making up stories. Like, really bad. Give up.

That said, I've been the parent on the plane with the screaming, bouncing kid. We came prepared with snacks, books, crayons, toys, and even the dreaded iPad. My toddler was not having any of it. He wanted out of the seat and off that plane, which obviously wasn't possible. We could hear people talking about us in baggage claim afterwards. Well, you know what? Dealing with it was just as terrible, if not worse, for us. Sometimes little kids melt down when they're tired. Some kids will fall asleep anywhere when exhausted; mine is a light sleeper and will not go down in a brightly lit, noisy environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ughh....some of this sounds like me. I just flew out with my four kids to visit my sister and see my niece get baptized. On the was back, I started giving my 5 year old a starburst for every page of hidden pictures he could find. I let him just throw the wrappers on the floor thinking we would get them later. Then all five of us fell asleep. We woke up when the plane landed at 1am. My second grader woke up wet. Here, she had peed while she was sleeping. She started crying because she was tired and wanted to clean herself up, but couldn’t get up while the plane was taxiing. Finally, the plane stops, and she runs back to the bathroom to change. While she is gone, my fourth grader, who I hadn’t noticed was looking kind of green, pukes everywhere. Meanwhile, my 5 year old won’t wake up all of the way and keeps laying on me. When my second grader got back and saw all of the vomit, she kind of lost it and started sobbing loudly.

So, my fifth grader picked up everyone’s books and threw them in his own backpack and took her off the plane. I helped my fourth grader get a little cleaned up, grabbed my little one who refused to walk, and left. I apologized profusely to the flight attendants on our way out. What we left behind was seriously disgusting.

I don’t know why I am telling this story here. Big families on planes? But it was about the worst ten minutes of my life.

Think about how bad it was for your neighbors and the flight attendants having to clean up after you. Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry this isn't believable. There is no way a flight attendant didn't intervene. What a poor troll attempt

+1 It's like a troll by someone who has only seen planes in movies. Baby flew up and hit its head on the CEILING during turbulence? Mom got up and moved away (where? Just standing in first class?) partway through the flight, so the nanny was alone?

LMAO

That is what actually happens with "lap babies" during extreme turbulence....and other people who aren't seat belted in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry this isn't believable. There is no way a flight attendant didn't intervene. What a poor troll attempt

+1 It's like a troll by someone who has only seen planes in movies. Baby flew up and hit its head on the CEILING during turbulence? Mom got up and moved away (where? Just standing in first class?) partway through the flight, so the nanny was alone?

LMAO

That is what actually happens with "lap babies" during extreme turbulence....and other people who aren't seat belted in.

Yep, and no flight attendant checks on them afterwards. Nobody notices a kid standing up, turning around, and intentionally peeing onto their seat. Nobody calls the flight attendant for any of this. This is all real life, just like how it happens on planes all the time.

Then the nanny got sucked out a window that she opened on accident!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ughh....some of this sounds like me. I just flew out with my four kids to visit my sister and see my niece get baptized. On the was back, I started giving my 5 year old a starburst for every page of hidden pictures he could find. I let him just throw the wrappers on the floor thinking we would get them later. Then all five of us fell asleep. We woke up when the plane landed at 1am. My second grader woke up wet. Here, she had peed while she was sleeping. She started crying because she was tired and wanted to clean herself up, but couldn’t get up while the plane was taxiing. Finally, the plane stops, and she runs back to the bathroom to change. While she is gone, my fourth grader, who I hadn’t noticed was looking kind of green, pukes everywhere. Meanwhile, my 5 year old won’t wake up all of the way and keeps laying on me. When my second grader got back and saw all of the vomit, she kind of lost it and started sobbing loudly.

So, my fifth grader picked up everyone’s books and threw them in his own backpack and took her off the plane. I helped my fourth grader get a little cleaned up, grabbed my little one who refused to walk, and left. I apologized profusely to the flight attendants on our way out. What we left behind was seriously disgusting.

I don’t know why I am telling this story here. Big families on planes? But it was about the worst ten minutes of my life.

Think about how bad it was for your neighbors and the flight attendants having to clean up after you. Gross.

I am not sure that the neighbors noticed. Everyone is so focused on getting their bags and getting off the plane at that point. But the poor flight attendants.

[Anonymous]

The flight attendant should always check that everyone is buckled in during take-off and landing. The baby could have died - others have died in similar circumstances.

The rest is not a life and death situation. Still annoying, though. I might have warned a flight attendant that seat x had pee on it, while going out of the plane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ughh....some of this sounds like me. I just flew out with my four kids to visit my sister and see my niece get baptized. On the was back, I started giving my 5 year old a starburst for every page of hidden pictures he could find. I let him just throw the wrappers on the floor thinking we would get them later. Then all five of us fell asleep. We woke up when the plane landed at 1am. My second grader woke up wet. Here, she had peed while she was sleeping. She started crying because she was tired and wanted to clean herself up, but couldn’t get up while the plane was taxiing. Finally, the plane stops, and she runs back to the bathroom to change. While she is gone, my fourth grader, who I hadn’t noticed was looking kind of green, pukes everywhere. Meanwhile, my 5 year old won’t wake up all of the way and keeps laying on me. When my second grader got back and saw all of the vomit, she kind of lost it and started sobbing loudly.

So, my fifth grader picked up everyone’s books and threw them in his own backpack and took her off the plane. I helped my fourth grader get a little cleaned up, grabbed my little one who refused to walk, and left. I apologized profusely to the flight attendants on our way out. What we left behind was seriously disgusting.

I don’t know why I am telling this story here. Big families on planes? But it was about the worst ten minutes of my life.

Ack! That is truly a hellish trip. Sorry that happened to your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry this isn't believable. There is no way a flight attendant didn't intervene. What a poor troll attempt

+1 It's like a troll by someone who has only seen planes in movies. Baby flew up and hit its head on the CEILING during turbulence? Mom got up and moved away (where? Just standing in first class?) partway through the flight, so the nanny was alone?

LMAO

That is what actually happens with "lap babies" during extreme turbulence....and other people who aren't seat belted in.

Yep, and no flight attendant checks on them afterwards. Nobody notices a kid standing up, turning around, and intentionally peeing onto their seat. Nobody calls the flight attendant for any of this. This is all real life, just like how it happens on planes all the time.

Then the nanny got sucked out a window that she opened on accident!

What would a flight attendant be able to do about it, mid air? Once the pee came out, you can't put it back in!

Even all the other bad behavior, the flight attendants can't do anything about it. Sure they can say something to the parents, but if the parents allowed it to go on like they did, they won't do anything different just because a flight attendant says something to them.
About the most a flight attendant could do is, if it got really bad and was a safety concern, inform the pilot who could make the choice to make an emergency landing at whatever the closest airport is. That would lead to a major delay for EVERYONE on the plane.

I was on a plane about a year ago and I posted on here about the horrible family. Dad had multiple (at least 4) alcoholic drinks and just checked out, mom changed the toddler and left the dirty diaper on a her tray table for at least 20 minutes...At landing time the toddler was still climbing all over the seat and floor instead of buckled in his seat. FOUR flight attendants came over to insist he get in his seat...mom just sat there and told them that the toddler didn't want to. Some people are just bad parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have turned my airpods up and put on my eyemask.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I feel the one thing that makes this truly unbelievable (but I could ask my FA friend!) is the baby hitting its head all the way on the ceiling and no one doing anything, no flight attendant getting the baby out of the plane (as it was on landing) and checked out immediately, etc. If the turbulence were bad enough for a lap infant/toddler to hit their head on the ceiling, there would have been a ton of other items flying around and it would have been a whole thing. FAs would have been keeping a very close eye on everyone as things got more turbulent. It just doesn't seem to add up.

[Anonymous]

My guess is that anytime you see a family on their plane, you’re not seeing them at their best. My kids are excellent fliers and always got compliments on their behavior, but we were still not at our best.

[Anonymous]

OMG I'd warn the FA about the wet seat as I exited because you don't want some traveler to sit down there on the next leg, ugh.

[Anonymous]

Troll. If turbulence was so bad a baby hit its head on the ceiling, there would be an investigation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The flight attendant should always check that everyone is buckled in during take-off and landing. The baby could have died - others have died in similar circumstances.

The rest is not a life and death situation. Still annoying, though. I might have warned a flight attendant that seat x had pee on it, while going out of the plane.

It was a baby sitting in a lap. OP was clear about that. A child under 2 flying without their own seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last night we flew back to DC. Family in front of us had 5 kids (1 was a lap child), mom & nanny.
Lap child was never in a lap. Was bouncing around the sears during take off/landing. We hit bad turbulence during landing & kid bounced up & hit her hear on ceiling.
Kids were throwing skittles at passengers in front. Also lots of screaming. At one point older kiddo (maybe 3rd grade) was dumping soda on younger (maybe 1st grade) brother. Same 1st grade brother definitely peed on the seat. Not on accident. Like stood up- unzipped pants & peed.
Mom moved away from kids midway and sat further up- leaving nanny with 5 kids.

That’s the fact pattern- what would you have done?

As a mom of 3 young kids who needs to do an huge flight in a couple of months with them and is DREADING it, I was all set to scold you when I started reading your post. It SUCKS traveling with little kids and sometimes you just need to do it (e.g. for a move). Unfortunately with kids you already need to take a ton of stuff so bringing along a huge amount of entertainment isn't always possible. And in our case, we're moving and have a billion things to deal with as we're leaving and we're going to be a hot mess just managing to get on the flight in time. So we will do our best and then just hope for the best and hope that the other passengers try to be helpful instead of a$$holes. But then I continued reading, and WHAT THE HELL.

I honestly don't think I "would" have done anything except sit there with my mouth hanging open in shock for the entire flight.