https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:46:03 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2648137 Fri, 04 Nov 2016 13:09:54 +0000 chopstixwife 2648137@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>my middle son won't tolerate head phones so he watches on his ipad without them but i am considerate of those around us so he watches with the volume on low and the white noise in the plane drowns it out. I remember one time sitting behind an asian mom and her son and the son would repeated kick this older white man's chair and he turned around and told the kid to stop and i don't think it really got any better. I've flown with crying babies, before kids and it bothered me but I always had ear plugs ready. </p> <p>Now i'm more tolerant of babies/children overall but I am not tolerant of my kids misbehaving/disturbing passengers or kicking seats!</p> <p>But body odor and strong perfume from adults makes me want to gag so I'm always happy when someone who doesn't smell sits next to me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647981 Fri, 04 Nov 2016 09:21:44 +0000 oliviaoblivia 2647981@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've had problems with obese and stinky adults but not children or babies. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647928 Fri, 04 Nov 2016 08:03:17 +0000 littlebug 2647928@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>13 hour flight, LA to Sydney. Kid behind me kicked my seat the ENTIRE flight. Mom did absolutely nothing about it, despite my requests to make him stop, my dirty looks, my frequent getting out of my seat. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647850 Fri, 04 Nov 2016 00:39:31 +0000 Iced Tea 2647850@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The only thing that has actually gotten under my skin was incessant seat kicking where the adult did nothing to intervene. Crying doesn't bother me much; I bring headphones to drown that out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647546 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 15:54:11 +0000 JenGirl 2647546@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've actually had mostly positive experiences. Occasional crying and toddler tantrums, but nothing that lasted a super long time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647450 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 14:10:17 +0000 MrsSCB 2647450@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, the no headphones thing drives. me. crazy. I think it's so rude. No matter how low you turn it, other people can hear it. Adults do it, too, so annoying. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647445 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 14:01:55 +0000 Mama Bird 2647445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yeah, I was once on a five hour flight with a couple with a baby behind me. The baby cried at the top of his lungs the whole time. I think the parents were trying to distract him but couldn't. I just felt bad for him, poor kid's ears probably hurt from the change in pressure. It's funny how little this bothered me though... Maybe it's because I had no kids yet. Now, if one of mine cries for half an hour, I'm shaking and can't think straight. And if it's someone else's baby, I want to pick them up, cuddle them and give the mom a break. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647415 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 13:28:08 +0000 travellingbee 2647415@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>One flight across the country (5ish hour flight) there was a dad and his 5 or 6 year old son who, based on his behavior, clearly had some disability. He seemed to me to be on the autism spectrum. He was laying in the aisle kicking and hitting my legs and basically threw a 5 hour tantrum, that I took the brunt of. The dad never apologized to me or explained. The flight attendant told the dad that he had to be in his seat (upon descent) and the dad yelled at her that he couldn't possibly force his child into a seat right now. They argued for some time and the dad ended up being allowed to hold him while the plane landed. The dad was clearly not capable of handling this child alone and probably shouldn't be traveling with him without support. I gave the benefit of the doubt that there was some emergency that forced them into the situation and I tried to be understanding but man... that sucked. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647403 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 13:13:05 +0000 psw27 2647403@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I really can't remember the details now but I do recall having some older boy (10-12) kicking my seat and playing with the tray table non-stop on a late evening flight as he played gamboy (or whatever they are called now). At first I just glanced back. After an hour or so I remember asking him directly to please stop. His mother kept reading. Finally I had to directly address the mother and say, could you please make him stop and she rolled her eyes at me and huffed. I offered to switch to her aisle seat for my middle so she could sit in front of them.... she declined my offer and she finally intervened. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647379 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 12:53:02 +0000 erinbaderin 2647379@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>8 hour night flight to London. The man next to me was traveling alone with an almost 2 year old. The seat was not big enough for the two of them and the kid kicked me every 5 minutes for 8 hours straight. In retrospect I wish I had been cooler about it, the guy was trying his best (I didn't say anything but I did a lot of pointed signing and gently moving the kid's foot away from me) but it was very annoying and I was deep in infertility rage and hated anybody who dared to have a child near me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647376 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 12:52:10 +0000 PurplePeony 2647376@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>One time on a cross-country flight, we were in front of a family with an infant and a toddler. The infant had its own seat and a car seat. The parents put the infant seat next to the window (like you're supposed to) and the toddler FLIPPED OUT, kicking the back of my seat and screaming that he wanted to lookout the window and he hated that stupid baby. The tantrum went on for at least 45 minutes to an hour. The poor parents were mortified and trying to calm him down, but it was a late flight to start with and had been delayed a couple hours so I'm sure he was just past the point of any reason. Then we had a rough descent and the baby cried for the last hour of the flight. Totally not anyone's fault, but coming on the heels of the toddler tantrum, it just really sucked. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647344 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 12:14:36 +0000 Foodnerd81 2647344@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Only one time I can really think of. At boarding for a night time flight this little girl, maybe 4, was pitching a fit about putting on her seatbelt and delayed us a little bit (like, maybe ten minutes, max). As a childless adult, I remember judging the parents because shouldn't she be used to wearing a seatbelt in the car already?? Now I realize 1) it was probably way past her bedtime already, poor kid, and I'm sure her parents were hoping she would sleep (which she did later), and 2) no, she wouldn't be used to a car seatbelt because she would still be in a car seat and she was probably freaked out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647320 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 11:40:30 +0000 Anagram 2647320@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>And then once when I was the bad passenger. It was my last flight when I was solo with both girls from LGA-ATL, so thankfully not too long of a flight. I didn't know it at the time, but LO2 had a massive ear infection and her ear drum burst. Luckily, she wasn't screaming, so we only disturbed 1 passenger, the poor hipster sitting next to us, but she was WILD and wouldn't settle (because of the pain I figured out later). </p> <p>It's a 2.5 hourish flight and the first 2 hours were me sweating and trying to just keep her flailing away from the man next to her. As soon as seat belt lights were off, I let her stand or sit on the floor because she was happier doing that for some reason. We had the bulkead row, and she wasn't in her seat for probably an entire hour. If I tried to get her back in the seat, she would buck back and cry--but if I let her sit on the floor, she would happily play with the toys I brought. I'm sure that guy was secretly posting twitter rants about kids on planes, haha. But...at least I was trying! I tried every single trick I know. I let her take items out of my makeup bag, gave a million snacks, let her unwrap and rewrap stuff, got out every single toy I brought, let her play with me phone. Exhausting. Luckily, LO1 was an angel and just played silently on her Ipad the whole flight. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647313 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 11:34:45 +0000 Anagram 2647313@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can think of 3 times, but that's in all my years of flying, so I guess that's not too bad. I've had my fair share of awful adults on planes, too. Agree with pps that the main issue is when parents aren't even trying, so I don't even include the crying babies.</p> <p>-I was about 13, and a toddler behind me was doing far more than seat kicking--they were actually digging their toes into the crack of my seat, where the bottom of the seat meats the back of the seat. So, literally putting their toes digging into my butt. I was only a kid myself, so I didn't know how to handle it--I kept turning around to stare at the parents, but they were oblivious and watching in inflight movie. The toe digging went on for hours until I grabbed the kids' toes with forcefully shoved them out of my seat.</p> <p>-I had a mom was a child who didn't *seem* intellectually disabled in any way, but I guess you can't always tell. He was about 4. He wouldn't sit down in his seat and wouldn't put on a seatbelt. And so the mom gave up and let him lay on the floor. I was seated next to them and this was all during boarding. He was throwing an epic, crazy loud tantrum. The FAs started announcing the "put on seat belts and prepare for takeoff", mom didn't attempt to get the screaming child up from the floor. Didn't attempt to soothe him, didn't offer him snacks or even really talk to him. It was bizarre. The FAs came and said he had to be seated with a seat belt on. The mom sort of just threw up her hands like, "What do you expect me to do?" FA sort of tried to calm the boy, who just screamed and kicked louder. FS finally said the boy would have to sit if they wanted to stay on this flight. A second flight attendant came and brought pretzels and lured the boy back into the seat, all while the mom did nothing. The boy was restless and difficult the whole flight, but also his mom was traveling with NOTHING for him. No toys, no snacks, no drinks. She basically expected him to entertain himself with nothing to do, and then just didn't care at all to try amusing him in any way when that didn't work. Like, hello...get a pen and play Tic Tac Toe! Or play I spy! But no, she did nothing.</p> <p>-last flight--long flight. Dad sat with 5 year old boy. Dad immediately put on headphones and watched back to back movies. Kid loudly played a war game on a Gameboy with the sound at full blast, shouting constantly "Get him! Just try it, I'll get you!". Like, literally shouting. Dad never told him to quiet down...this was at least 4 hours. At night, when cabin lights were off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647308 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 11:30:31 +0000 KayKay 2647308@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We still travel a fair amount for pleasure, and I used to fly every week for work. I can only think of two bad experiences that were actually memorable. </p> <p>1) we had to circle for awhile and a mom with 2 young kids had one that screamed and cried for a solid 30min because he had to go potty (and couldn't b/c of turbulence). I mostly just felt bad for the mom and the kid! </p> <p>2) on our honeymoon flight from LAX to HI, we ended up with a 4-5yo kid sitting in the window seat next to us. from what i could gather, his grandparents/siblings were in the row ahead of us, so i was like whatever. he was actually fairly well behaved, never had to get up to go to the bathroom, and only had one spill of his snacks that i helped him clean up. BUT, when we went to get off the plane, i realized he had MORE family (maybe even a young-ish mom and dad? hard to tell) that were sitting in the row across &amp; behind us....and THEY HAD AN EXTRA SEAT! they spent the whole time laying across their 3 seats, sleeping. WTF?! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647263 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:48:38 +0000 catlady 2647263@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>One time really stands out. We were on a 16 hr overnight flight from Hong Kong. There was a couple with a toddler in the row behind us. Their situation was unclear, but I remember thinking from their interactions that they had probably just adopted the child and this was really their first time as parents. It was unclear if she could speak any English at all, and I was also under the impression that she might have had some intellectual disabilities. This kid barely slept and was either screaming or kicking at our seats for almost the entire flight. 16 hours! We kept trying to sleep and it was impossible. We never said a word to the family though because they seemed to be in a really tough situation and we didn't want to make them feel worse. But we were so glad to get off that plane. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647261 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:48:22 +0000 Andrea 2647261@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not really. I've had the screaming kid on a flight though. A lady complained to the flight attendant about us. Thanks! Yes, we really want her to be screaming. That made me so mad. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647259 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:47:15 +0000 skinnycow 2647259@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The only thing that really bothers me is when they listen to tablets/play noisy games without headphones. I've had some seat kickers too but that only annoys me when the parents don't try to stop it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647257 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:42:29 +0000 meredithNYC 2647257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Who hasn't? I mean, nothing terrible, but I think most of the time kids on flights are at least a little annoying. No big deal and that's life, but yeah. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647255 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:39:46 +0000 lamariniere 2647255@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can think of two. One was a long haul night flight (plane boarded around midnight) most people seemed to be sleeping except the people behind us. It was a mom with 3 kids (so three seats plus a lap child). The kids were constantly whining and crying and kicking the seats. While I did feel sympathy for the mom traveling alone with three kids, I was annoyed that they kept waking me up, in addition to waking up my son and DH. The cabin lights were out and nearly everyone else was really quiet and trying to sleep. The other time was years ago when I was in my early 20s. It was a trans-Pacific flight (so 13ish hours) and one family had a baby who seemed to cry the entire time. Gah! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647251 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:37:21 +0000 anonysquire 2647251@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I feel like I'm the one causing issues haha. I don't remember ever being bothered by babies or kids before. I guess the occasional seat kicker, but I wasn't too bugged. My kids are pretty good flyers but they sometimes get bored on our incredibly short flights so we keep bring out new toys and treats and drinks and binkies and everything we can find. We sure get a lot of dirty looks when we get to our seats though which really ticks me off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647249 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:35:32 +0000 Maysprout 2647249@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope. I've never heard more than occasional baby tears or toddler throwing a brief no, no, no fit. Nothing that's gone on for an extended period of time though that would actually seem disruptive. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647246 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:33:53 +0000 mediagirl 2647246@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@2PeasinaPod: I know, I feel so bad for the parents with screaming kids. I've been there. I know the feeling of not wanting to make eye contact with anyone just in case they are glaring at me! Traveling businessmen seem to be the least understanding of that... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647242 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:32:21 +0000 2PeasinaPod 2647242@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I haven't, though yours sounds like a nightmare! I often feel badly for parents with kids on a flight. It's not easy to keep them entertained, but if they're blatantly being rude and disturbing others like the woman did by bouncing her baby on a tray table and jostling your seat all over the place, that's a different story. The screaming crying baby? I feel terrible for the parents. You know they're trying their best and their child is just not cooperating. There's nothing anyone can do for that, and I often have real sympathy for them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-had-bad-experiences-on-airplanes-bc-of-other-peoples-kids#post-2647237 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 10:29:42 +0000 mediagirl 2647237@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have flown a lot for business and pleasure and have mostly had good experiences with kids around me. I've found things seem to be getting worse as the digital age grows, though with parents letting kids listen to movies or TV shows on tablets without headphones. Uh - not cool.</p> <p>My least favorite experience on a plane was the time I had a lady sitting behind me who sat her kid on the tray table attached to my seat. She bounced her child up and down for a while on that tray until I turned around and asked her to please stop. She glared at me and said, "I can do whatever I want with my kid." </p> <p>So, I grabbed a flight attendant and asked her to ask the mom to stop because she was disturbing me (and my seatmates who had to deal with my seat flopping back and forth this whole time.) The flight attendant got into an argument with the lady and another flight attendant had to come up and settle the dispute and finally the lady stopped bouncing her kid on my seat. It was ridiculous. I did get free drinks, though after that debacle. That was nice. :)</p> <p>Have you had bad experiences on flights because of other people's kids? </p>