A mother has sparked a heated debate online about the “unwritten rule” of putting children on first class on airplanes after she recounted a recent incident in which she was reprimanded for doing so by a fellow passenger.
In an impassioned post on Reddit Saturday, the unnamed mom laid out the saga to strangers on the Am I the A****** subreddit — where users ask other opinions on specific situations to determine if they were in the right.
The Reddit user didn’t reveal her name but said the incident happened on a cross-country flight last Thanksgiving as she and her husband – along with their two-year-old daughter – were flying to relatives.
With some extra cash from a raise the husband recently received, the family decided to splurge on first-class seats – but were quickly confronted with an awkward passenger before the plane even took off.
What ensued was a controversial clash, with the angry male driver allegedly complaining twice to staff before hurling an expletive at the stunned mother. Despite the man’s objections, the family stayed in their seats – as the toddler, whose presence spurred the argument, remained silent throughout the drive, the mother said.
Redditors now appear split over the situation after the mum asked them to look into the matter over the weekend – with most supporting the mum.
A mother has sparked a heated debate on Reddit about the “unwritten rule” of putting children on first class on airplanes after revealing she was scolded by a passenger
With some extra cash thanks to a raise the husband recently received, the family decided to splurge on first class seats – but were quickly confronted with an awkward passenger on the unidentified flight before the plane even took off
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She wrote: “My husband, toddler (almost 3) and I flew across the country for Thanksgiving.
“Since we could afford it thanks to a nice 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 in his short life. “She stayed seated throughout the flight and played softly, only getting up when she needed to use the potty — the problem was with another first-class passenger.”
The mother went on to reveal that her husband is disabled and that the family had gotten on the plane early to arrange his seating. As they walked down the aisle, they noticed that the man was already staring at them.
Shortly after he sat down, the mother wrote, “A flight attendant came and wanted to see our boarding passes to make sure we were seated properly.”
The couple agreed, and the airline clerk, after analyzing the tickets, told the family they were “good.”
Little did the mother know at the time that the scowl and the sudden demand to present her tickets were related, until a second flight attendant approached her to ask her the same thing before the plane took off.
Like the previous employee, the attendant determined the family’s checked-out seats. The plane would then take off – but minutes into the journey another disruption occurred.
The Reddit user didn’t reveal her name, but described an incident that took place on a Thanksgiving cross-country flight when she and her husband – along with their two-year-old daughter – were flying to relatives
“We ran away and everything was fine,” the mother recalls. “My child fell asleep in the middle of painting, I was listening to music.”
Then she got a slap on the shoulder. This time, instead of an attendant, the burglary came from the passenger who had recently wickedly robbed the family.
“Before I could even get a word out,” the mother wrote, “he told me that children weren’t allowed in 1st grade and that we needed to be moved to our ‘proper’ seats.”
Upon hearing this, the mother wrote that she realized the man was most likely the one who complained to staff before takeoff, claiming the family was in the wrong seats.
Despite the man’s objections, the family stayed in their seats – as the toddler, whose presence spurred the argument, remained silent throughout the drive – and even slept – the mother said
The mother added that when the confrontation took place, her husband was asleep and her daughter was in the middle of dyeing.
‘[I] Before I got upset, I decided the flight attendants should take care of it,” she continued, writing how the man quickly became “nervous” after hearing this.
She wrote: “I told him I didn’t feel comfortable speaking to him and that I would call a flight attendant to sort it out. He got nervous but ended up standing awkwardly next to me in the aisle until a flight attendant came over to sort things out.
A flight attendant then informed the male passenger that the seating arrangement was indeed correct, according to the Reddit post — with the mother writing that the man was even “told not to bother the family again.”
The remainder of the flight would be relatively peaceful, with the man retiring to his own seat and the woman’s daughter being well-behaved for the duration of the ride.
Redditors now appear split over the situation after the mum asked them to look into the matter over the weekend – with most supporting the mum
“She stayed seated and calm [played] Throughout the flight she only got up when she needed to go potty,” wrote the mother, whose name on the forum is One-Criticism5777.
That wasn’t the end of the brouhaha, however – with another altercation ensuing hours later as passengers began to disembark.
As the family got up to leave, the mother wrote, the male passenger whispered a derogatory term in her ear – calling her a “fat cunt” – while telling her that “he paid too much money for first class, to be surrounded by children.’
The passengers then separated, with the mother apparently not reporting the incident to airline officials. It is not yet clear on which airline or flight the incidents occurred.