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AIBU?

Aibu on flight

350 replies

perroy · 23/08/2019 20:20

I was on an plane today. Family of four were travelling. One child with father in the seat in front of me and mother with another child in the seat behind me. Children were shouting, beeping a fictitious horn, making motor noises all through the flight. The parents were tickling them and making them squeal with laughter. It was a plane full of children and this family was noisy throughout the flight. All the other children had settled down in some time.

After the fifth time the child with the mother had got up on his seat and squealed in my ear I turned around and said SSSh quiet to the child.

The mother used profanities, showed me the finger and told me her child was only two.

Was I wrong to address the child when the parents were not taking any efforts to settle the children?

OP posts:
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1stmonkey · 23/08/2019 20:26

Yes you were. Why not just speak to the mother? Basic politeness could have resolved it without the drama.

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Halo1234 · 23/08/2019 20:26

It's hard to know with out being there. Its ambiguous. What's loud squealing to one person isnt to another. Depends what you.are used to. Maybe to the mum he DC wasnt being that loud. You get used to tuning them out if u need to. Think I probably would have grinned and tolerated it or asked the mother to get her to shhh. At 2 depending on their personality a stranger telling u to shh could cause negative effect if the DC didnt understand why she wasnt ment to make a noise. Her mum telling her own DC to shhh we have to be quiet on a plane look people are trying to sleep wouldnt. But I think her reaction was far worse than anything u did.

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eurochick · 23/08/2019 20:29

I find a medusa glare at the child when the parents aren't looking effective in these situations.

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EmmiJay · 23/08/2019 20:30

I would never shush another persons child😳 you're bold. Lol.

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Bobbybobbins · 23/08/2019 20:31

Hm I don't think I would have shhh-ed a toddler tbh. If it was teens swearing then that's another matter.

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mumsyxo · 23/08/2019 20:31

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CallmeAngelina · 23/08/2019 20:34

mumsy, New to MN? Surely not! Grin Grin Grin

OP, YANBU. I would have been beyond irritated too.

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heveranne · 23/08/2019 20:35

How long was the flight? If you were flying long haul I can see why you might be irritated. If 2 or 3 hours within Europe then it's no different to a long distance coach or train ride to the UK and I wouldn't see it as the end of the world. Toddlers make a noise!

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EdWinchester · 23/08/2019 20:36

I have a scary cross face, which would normally suffice.

Otherwise, a polite but authoritative word to the parents does the job. Some parents are utter wankers.

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Merename · 23/08/2019 20:38

I don’t agree with shushing or trying to manage the behaviour of other people’s children unless it was really necessary- and I’m not sure this was. How long was the flight? I can understand it was annoying but perhaps you could have asked the attendants to move you or for ear plugs. It’s fairly impossible to make a two year old be quiet on demand, although I can imagine you find it frustrating if you felt the mother wasn’t even trying to. Possibly however, her priority was entertaining the child and preventing them becoming upset, which would be worse to deal with.

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tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 23/08/2019 20:45

We flew to Ibiza recently and a family of four were sat across the aisle and a row behind IFGWIM?

Kids were 3 and 6ish and the family were sat in two rows in pairs. Mum and youngest near us. The minute they were seated the child refused to do so and screamed like a banshee and kicked the seat in front of her until the seatbelt sign went off. Unfortunately for us the plane sat on the tarmac for an hour before take off! Eventually she settled about an hour later so parents fuelled her up with Fruit Shoots, chocolate and Pringles just in time for the seatbelt sign going on for descent Confused. I've never ever heard a noise like it.

I could have wept when they were not only on our return flight but the seats were exactly the same!

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Sunflowers211 · 23/08/2019 20:46

She is a toddler, you had no right to tell her off. Goodness sake give your head wobble lol!

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GiggleMcDimples · 23/08/2019 20:46

The child was two and he/she was laughing.
Yes you were being unreasonable.

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Byorderofthepeakyblinders · 23/08/2019 20:50

I would have been annoyed too but would not have shushed another person's 2 year old for love nor money!

Did you not have earphones? I thought everyone had earphones for flights these days

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crustycrab · 23/08/2019 20:50

Beeping horns and making brumming noises? So irritating. What's wrong with a colouring book or even a game on an iPad?

They should be trying to teach their children basic manners even at 2. And not let him lean into your seat.

I don't think a shhhh was unwarranted but I hope for your sake they aren't at the same hotel as you!

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mumsyxo · 23/08/2019 20:54

@CallmeAngelina hahah I heard about this app from a good friend a while back but I decided today I would try it out for the first time ❤️❤️lots of love mumsyxo xxxxx

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BearRabbitPants · 23/08/2019 20:56

Whoa 😮! You said "Ssh Quiet" to someone else's child? Who was giggling and doing brumming and beep beep noises? I've read some shit on here but this really takes the biscuit.

Said Toddler could have been screaming & crying & tantruming the entire flight! Surely keeping them happy and entertained is better than that happening instead!

You sound like a complete dick & I'd have told you to piss off. HTH.

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perroy · 23/08/2019 20:57

Was on a flight back so no danger of having to bump into family. Always thought I had a lethal glare had tried it on both parents already.

I shushed the child when it stood on the seat and shouted in my ear not when it was laughing.

The parents were making no attempts to quienten if they were trying and failing I would have said nothing

OP posts:
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NoSauce · 23/08/2019 20:57

mumsyxo MN isn’t the xxxxx and ❤️❤️❤️❤️ type of place Smile —if you’re really new Wink

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NoSauce · 23/08/2019 20:59

I don’t blame you OP. They sound like a pain in the arse. Nobody with their wits about them thinks that strangers on a plane want to hear their dc making such a noise, normal people try and keep them quiet.

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brighteyeowl17 · 23/08/2019 21:00

Can’t see why it’s wrong, parents obviously didn’t care?

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MillieMoodle · 23/08/2019 21:02

It depends on exactly how the situation happened. Was your shhh an "I'm pissed off with you disturbing my flight" kind of shhh, or was it a "your poor mum, do her a favour and settle down" kind of shhh?

We flew home from holiday last year when DS2 was not quite 2 (so didn't have his own seat). He cried and wriggled and screamed for about two hours of a four hour flight. He wouldn't sit still, he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't keep quiet, it was awful. I spent the whole time trying to shush him, I was on the receiving end of glares and filthy looks from the people behind us and across the aisle. I was almost in tears but there was nothing I could do. The people across the aisle had three seats between two of them and spread themselves right across so we couldn't even move DH across the aisle to give DS his own seat. I was in such a state that I think if someone had tried to tell DS to shush in a pissed off, rather than a sympathetic way, I probably would have sworn at them too.

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unitednations · 23/08/2019 21:04

If a child screeched in my ear I would have probably done more than a Ssshhh.

YANBU

well done you. Not all of us want to put up with others children Grin

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OhTheRoses · 23/08/2019 21:04

If you were sitting twixt two rows could ypu not have rearranged to make it all easier?

Presumably you were on budget air, European flight. You suck it up actually I think. Many apols but I think you were unreasonable. And that's without child might have been ill/have sn flight was returning somewhere fairly naff

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Peakypolly · 23/08/2019 21:04

May not be the right thing to do, but I would have reacted the same way.

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