ParentingOCT 19, 2023

“It Stunk Like Hell”: Toddler Keeps Throwing Fits And Making Messes, Passenger Has Had Enough

Mindaugas Balčiauskas and Justin Sandberg

When we think about flying near a child, the first thing we tend to imagine is screaming and crying. Not without good reason, being trapped on a flying metal tube for hours with a kid whose lungs seem to never tire is hell.

But one woman had her own flying horror story when she was seated next to a mother and toddler who had to be changed three times over a four-hour flight. After, thankfully, surviving, she turned to the internet to share her tale and ask why aren’t there childless flights as an option. Netizens debated the touchy subject in the comments.

Flying can be stressful enough as it is, without a child screaming for the entire flight

Image credits: wirestock (not the actual photo)

But one woman ended up sitting next to a toddler who needed their diaper changed constantly

Image credits: karrastock (not the actual photo)

Image credits: TheTallestLeah

Flying can be pretty stressful already

While opinions and experiences may vary, flying has a whole list of things that can be annoying or downright ruin the experience. Just imagine the lines at security, the lack of legroom, the everpresent noise, and that dry air in your nose. It’s no wonder that some fliers chose to splurge hundreds of dollars more to have what is ostensibly a slightly better seat.

The result is that people feel enraged and aggressive, while all being trapped together. It’s no wonder that cases of so-called “air rage” are on the rise. This is before you add children to the mix. Now, obviously, a toddler has no idea what is happening and can’t really be blamed for screaming, the ear pressure alone can be quite painful.

Of course, in OP’s case, the child can’t be blamed for needing to use the bathroom, but the mother is absolutely at fault for choosing to change the diaper then and there. Airplanes do have space in their bathrooms to change a baby, so this mom seems to have gone out of her way to be disgusting.

The mom in OP’s story seems to have no regard for other passengers

While perhaps one time would be “permissible,” even though it’s still nasty, three times is just too much. The air in an airplane is a sort of shared resource, hence why air travel was so risky during COVID-19. As a result, this mother is disproportionately affecting other people just because she does not want to get up.

All in all, OP isn’t alone in wanting to have the option to perhaps not sit next to a screaming child or an open diaper. While some commenters suggested that a child-free flight doesn’t make sense (see below) there are, in fact, airlines that have started experimenting with allowing passengers to pay more to sit in a kid-free area.

Some airlines already offer semi-childfree flights

Corendon Airlines, out of Turkey, has announced a special extra cost that passengers can select, where they will be placed in a section with age limits. No one under sixteen can be seated in this area and the service will cost €45.

While some have decried the decision as exclusionary to parents, it’s worth noting that the additional cost has been placed on child-free fliers, not parents. Time will tell if these sorts of options take off in other airlines, but OP is not the first and won’t be the last flier to make such a suggestion. And as nice as this idea sounds, the unfortunate reality is that some adults can make just as big of a ruckus as any baby.