Photo: Reddit
Child-free flights sound good right about now.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Nov 24, 2022
Sitting through long flights can be an especially daunting task, especially if that flight has some rowdy kids onboard that can turn it into a living nightmare.
A video posted online recently shows exactly that — rambunctious kids wreaking havoc on passengers onboard without a care in the world.
The video sparked outrage for those who’ve experienced bad kids on planes too many times.
On Reddit, the video was titled “Letting children run wild during an 8-hour flight” and was posted on the “r/PublicFreakout” subreddit — a place where people post videos of others freaking out in public or an incident that could cause someone to freak out in public.
This incident would better fall in line with the latter explanation.
The video is shot from someone on the left side of the plane and shows a child in the center seating disturbing the passenger in front of her.
The food tray, which is almost always attached to the seat of the person in front of you, is down while the child grips the seat in front of her and bounces barefoot on the tray, rocking the seat back and forth.
The man in front of her, for the most part, seems completely undisturbed and makes no motion or attempts to stop the child from bouncing.
It’s unclear whether or not the child is related to the man whose seat she’s disturbing, but commenters on the 9-second video assumed the worst.
“I would feel like a failed parent if my kids were doing this and I was just straight up allowing it,” wrote one commenter.
“Shouldn't the flight attendants have intervened? If so, I hope that passenger got some compensation from the airline,” wrote another.
Underneath a comment that asked why the man never said anything, some wondered if they were related in some way.
“He might be the father,” one user suggested, but others were skeptical of the chances of that happening.
One frequent flyer shared how the situation could have escalated in the event of a confrontation.
“Ask politely once. Beyond that, don't engage, call over the flight attendant,” wrote the frequent flyer. “They will ask them to stop, and if they refuse they'll usually move you to an upgraded seat if available.”
An upgraded seat isn’t always available, however, so they continued explaining what more would be done if the problem persists.
“They'll usually have an air marshal come over if one is available, but this is super rare. That will usually stop it,” they wrote. “If one isn't available, which is almost always the case, the attendant will sometimes threaten [to speak] to the pilot which will lead to a premature landing depending on the severity of the incident.”
If it gets to that point, then the aggressor will be blacklisted from future flights, and you’ll get a complimentary upgraded flight for the trouble, but they emphasize that usually, the flight attendant asking them to stop is usually enough.
Other experienced travelers claimed that if it even gets to the point where an air marshal needs to be involved, then that customer will be placed on the blacklist.
Air marshals usually fly anonymously, unless they’re armed, in which case only the crew will be aware of their identity.
Others in the comments used this incident as a means to push for ‘child-free’ flights.
“I'm honestly surprised there aren't any adult-only flights lol,” one user wrote. “I'm sure many lawsuits would come from it but I think it's a solid idea ha.”
Anyone who has been on more than a few flights in their lifetimes has probably experienced rowdy children or screaming [babies], and as such, many are keen on the idea of child-free options.
“I think it's a great idea. I can't stand kids,” wrote another user.
A third user wrote “I never understood why it would be an issue to have a lower age limit on flights, say if a new airline did it. There are still plenty of others to choose from. Oh well, one can dream.”
Although it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing any adult-only flights soon, it probably sounds like a good idea for the man in the video too.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.