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If you want to start a fiery debate online, you need only these three words; flying with children.
This topic certainly seems to bring out the worst in people! Opinions on this matter tend to be not only very passionate, but also incredibly contrasting.
On the one side, you have 'team family', who are very much insistent that we were all babies once. Why shouldn't we take them abroad on an aeroplane? The other side, well, you'll spot them the second you step foot on the aircraft with a small child. Even if they don't say anything, they certainly make their annoyance palpable. Give them an online forum and you'll certainly get a good view of why they disagree with children on aeroplanes, particularly in the more 'exclusive' classes of seating.
One mum had to make an essential trip with her baby due to a very large relocation - we're talking a 24 hour journey across continents! To ensure that they were as comfortable as possible, she opted to fly business class. Read her post below...
So AITA for not wanting a baby in business class??
Read the full post here - credit to Reddit.
What was the general consensus?
The unequivocal consensus here was that this mummy is absolutely NTA - not the asshole. People pointed out that the other passenger is 'classist' for suggesting that the mum and baby should be moved to the economy section - despite her paying business class rates- with the implication that business class passengers are 'too important' to listen to a crying child. Other comments pointed out that in business class, there will be a nice selection of wine, treats, and goodies such as earplugs for the other passenger to utilise. The top comment was...
"I’ve flown business with two kids. They were a bit disruptive, but it was for a short time, like yours, and that’s just what happens with kids. The upside of business class?? Everyone in business class is given a bag of goodies, including earplugs, sleep masks, AND they can have some free wine. Dude needs to chill, put in his earplugs and go to sleep, or use the complimentary headphones (if he didn’t bring his noise cancelling air pods from home), and watch a movie."
Our verdict...
We feel like this mum is 100% NTA. She paid a lot of money to ensure that her baby was more comfortable on a long journey, and did her absolute best on what can't have been an easy expedition. We're sure that any parent who could afford to make this choice would do the same.
In fact, the other passenger was completely wrong here - not only for being so bold as to go out of his way to directly tell the mum that he's annoyed (what on earth can she do about it at 40,000 in a tin tube?!), but also for suggesting that those with cheaper tickets in economy are more deserving of a crying baby in their section, purely because they paid less. We wish the crew had offered to move HIM to economy...
Ok, so we can get that the sound of a crying baby can become problematic after a few hours, but when you can see that the parent is doing their best to console their baby, and if it was actually only for a relatively small portion of that overall leg of the journey, get yourself some earplugs from the stewards. That is life. Never, ever approach a stressed out mother and chastise them, and never assume that by flying business class or first class, you're going to be flying child-free. The only way to ensure this is to charter a private jet!
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