A mom has sparked fierce online debate regarding the ‘unwritten rule’ of bringing kids in the first class section of planes after detailing a recent incident where she was chided by a fellow passenger for doing so.
In an impassioned post to Reddit Saturday, the unnamed mother laid out the saga to strangers on the the ‘Am I the A******’ subreddit’ – where users ask others opinions on specific situations to discern whether they were in the right.
The Reddit user did not reveal her name, but said that the incident transpired on a cross-country flight the past Thanksgiving, when she and her husband – along with their two-year-old daughter – were flying to see relatives.
Having some extra money due to a recent raise the husband received, the family decided to splurge on seats in first class – but were quickly confronted by a nasty passenger before the plane even took off.
What ensued was a contentious clash that saw the disgruntled male rider allegedly complain to staff twice before hurling an expletive at the dumbfounded mom. Despite the man’s objections, the family stayed put in their seats – as the toddler whose presence spurred the argument kept quiet the entire ride, the mother said.
Redditors now appear to be divided on the situation, after the mom asked them to weigh in on the matter over the weekend – with most supporting the mother.
A mom has sparked fierce debate on Reddit regarding the ‘unwritten rule’ of bringing kids in the first class section of planes, after revealing she was chided by a passenger for doing so
She wrote: ‘My husband, toddler (almost 3) and I were flying across the country for Thanksgiving.
‘Since we could afford it due to a nice pay raise my husband recently got, we decided to splurge on first class tickets for the trip.
‘My toddler has always been a good flyer and has flown a lot throughout her short life. ‘She stayed seated and quietly playing throughout the flight, only getting up when she had to go potty – the issue was with another first class passenger.’
The mom went on to reveal that her husband is disabled, and that the family had arrived on the plane early to address his seating. As they walked down the aisle, they noticed the man already glaring.
Shortly after he sat down, the mom wrote ‘a flight attendant came up and asked to see our boarding passes to make sure we were seated correctly.’
The couple complied, and the airline employee, upon analyzing the tickets, told the family that they were ‘good.’
At the time, the mom did not suspect that the glaring man and the sudden request to produce their tickets was related, until a second flight attendant approached them to ask the same thing prior to the plane taking off.
Like the previous staffer, the attendant also determined the family’s seats checked out. The plane would then take off – however, another interruption came minutes into the ride.
Despite the man’s objections, the family stayed put in their seats – as the toddler whose presence spurred the argument kept quiet – and even slept – for the entire ride, the mother said
‘We took off and all was good,’ the mom recalled. ‘My kid fell asleep in the middle of coloring, I was listening to music.’
Then, she got a tap on the shoulder. This time, instead of an attendant, the intrusion came from the passenger who had been mean-mugging the family moments before.
‘Before I could even get a word out,’ the mom wrote, ‘he told me that children weren’t allowed in 1st class and that we needed to move to our “real” seats.’
Upon hearing this, the mother wrote she realized the man was more than likely the one to complain to staffers before takeoff, due to his assertions that the family were in the wrong seats.
Redditors now appear to be divided on the situation, after the mom asked them to weigh in on the matter over the weekend – with most supporting the mother
The mom added that when the confrontation occurred, her husband had been sleeping, and her daughter in the middle of coloring.
‘[I] decided before I got upset I wanted the flight attendants to deal with this,’ she continued, writing how the man, after hearing this, quickly became ‘flustered.’
She wrote: ‘I told him that I did not feel comfortable talking with him and that I was calling a flight attendant to come handle this. He got flustered but ultimately stood awkwardly next to me in the aisle until a flight attendant came to clear things up.’
A flight attendant would then tell the male passenger that the seating arrangement was, in fact, correct, according to the Reddit post – with the mom writing that man was even ‘told to not bother the family again.’