to be upset with easyjet cabin manager

[evitas]

We flew back yesterday. The flight departured at 8pm and my DS (18 months) was very tired. Of course he did exactly what we didn't want him to do, he screamed a lot (and yes he's very laud)!!! We were in row 5 or 6, and I decided to go to the front of the cabin (next to the toilet) to see if I could calm him down, and see if he would fall asleep. I could see the odd looks from the other passengers... but what else could I do?
Suddenly the cabin manager came and told us we could not be there because it was unfair for the other passengers. That it was disrespectful for the other passenger to listen to our baby screaming and that they had paid a ticket to have a quiet flight!! I was so upset! I told him that if he knew of any other way to calm my baby then we could have a go, because we were doing our best. He told me that if I was the mum I should know how to calm my baby :(
I got so upset that I burst into tears. All the other cabin members were very nice and kept apologising, they even gave me their seat in the rear of the plane. When finally (20 minutes later) Ds was asleep the cabin manager came and apologised and said that it had been a language barrier (English is not my native language) that I had not understood what he was telling me. That just made me feel even worse. I know it's annoying when children cry on board, but surly the cabin crew is used to this... I just thought that he was rude and not supportive at all.
Do you think I should send easyjet an email, complaining about him? Or AIBU?

YANBU at all - I think I would complain too!

The last flight we took with ds, he was 10 months old. The flight was absolutely packed, it had been delayed, ds was massively overtired. Literally about 5 minutes after take-off he did the stinkiest, most explosive poo imaginable Luckily DP was closest to the aisle so he had to deal with changing the baby in the tiny loo. It was boiling hot too for some reason, we had to strip ds to his vest and he screamed, really screamed for about 45 minutes - nothing helped, not even breastfeeding him. Eventually he fell asleep exhausted.

If anyone had told me I should know how to calm my baby I'd have told them to fuck off

Takesresponsibility/Loshad - if you want to start an environmental debate, start another thread - this isn't the place.

Evitas - I still think you should complain about his attitude. If people don't the service we get will get worse and worse.

FWIW - I travel on EasyJet a fair bit and have no complaints at all about their service. Ryanair on the other hand....

Rita - me too ... and as for the crew member that told QofD to 'shut your son up' - he'd be very lucky if he still had a job and I would be enjoying my next free flight.

So many bonkers MN opinions on here i cant even be arsed to comment on sone of the shite spouted.

Fwiw op, i think YANBU

YANBU but he apologised so I don't think a complaint is really in order, hopefully another crew member told him to stop being a wanker. Crying babies are part and parcel of air travel IMO, I have yet to come across a parent who hasn't tried their utmost to console a shrieking baby on a plane. If it's not my DC then I am just thankful that I don't have to deal with it and stick my headphones in. What's the point in berating the parent?

Oh wait, I've just re-read the language barrier bit. Complain away. What a turd.

YANBU at all. Quiet flight on Easyjet, more like National Express in the air. If people want a quiet flight they should go by a different airline on business class.

YANBU. Of course .

The cabin manager's attitude was unprofessional, unhelpful and rude.

Maybe you should've handed V. over and told the manager to calm him down ? This is what a brave, brave friend of mine once did on a flight with her unsettled DD when the lady sitting in front suggested she should sing to her: she handed the baby over and said "You sing to her!" . The lady declined...

And re language barrier: from one non-native English speaker to another - are you referring to the fact that he did not have English as a first language ? You know your English is very good, in writing (here) and in RL. Bringing that up sounds just like some clumsy attempt to justify his behaviour.

FWIW, I had one horrible flight with J. this summer when he screamed and kicked and arched his back and punched me, all in frustration at wanting to sleep but being unable to because the strange environment was too much for him (being The World's Worst Sleeper and all that). It lasted a full 20min . He eventually conked out mid-scream. Relief all round. The lovely cabin crew (Jet2) brought me a free (soft-)drink and one of them held the straw for me so I could actually drink it. I was a wreck and seriously grateful for a cold beverage. So there are other attitudes out there.
Oh, and my fellow passengers were either supportive or stared straigt ahead - at least nobody tutted within my earshot....

And how is a crying baby "disrespectful"?? That I don't get - it's hardly bad manners for a baby to cry, is it?

Hope you are having a nice and are settling in well again at home.

PS: my one flight with Lufthansa this summer was lurvely though . What a difference to RubbishAir .

Well, I'm guessing that this cabin manager doesn't have children of his own then.

parents shouldn't be so selfish. Small children and babies shouldnt be taken on aircraft if they aren't going to behave.

Really theinet? So they shouldn't see their grandparents untill they are older?

ok, have skipped through this only because I was on a easyjet flight just two days ago.
We got a very early flight and we were knackered to be honest, two rows down we had a baby screaming really loudly. After a hour or so one of the flight attendants came up to the mother and did ask her to try and settle her son. The reason was because her child was screaming for no reason :( Im putting my neck out here but the child screamed for .. icecream... cuddles... mummy... get me of plane... dont like you... bored.... bored.... want to run up and down.....
Mummy in the meantime says "oh david please im trying to sleep"
my thoughts were "yes and so is half the fucking plane"...
I have taken young children on flights many a time and they dealt with it I have never wanted to strangle a mother or a child so much....

The crew should of been more understanding deff

Look, flying with small kids is shit. But its even more shit for everyone else who have to listen to it. The trick is to get the cabin staff on your side, ask them if there is a place you can go to try and calm your baby, don't march of and designate random area for your use.

I;ve done this loads, you just have to be a bit considerate in YOUR attitude and work with the cabin crew. Don't assume you can march whereever you like to settle your annoying baby.

People have lots of reasons for tutting at screaming baby in a very cramped space - need to sleep because of impending meeting, phobic of flying, on a break from their own kids, etc.
You have a right to take a baby on a plane, other passengers have a right to scowl because their eardrums can't take two hours of screeching. In short, no one wins.
Saying that, you aren't BU...but the bloke did apologise so I see no reason to complain. Seems everyone - you, the baby, the passengers, the staff - was feeling harried by the situation. The solution? Simplistic and improbable (no little 'uns on flights). But hey, worse things happen - a women who had just puked over her lap was relocated to the seat next to me on a flight (was near the toilet). She reeked, and I mean reeked, of spew. Would take a wailing babe over that any day.

The thing is, you have no control over the baby if it starts screaming inexplicably and there is no escape from it - you can't just get off!

We made the decision that we really wanted the grandparents involved with our kids so we moved house and took a massive paycut in order to do that before having kids precisely so we didn't have to inflict our screaming offspring on hundreds of other people. We've also driven through multiple countries to see other family members instead of hopping on a plane, because, although it may be more inconvenient to us, it means we aren't inconveniencing other people.

And if they are too young to understand what's happening on the plane, are they really going to remember the grandparents at all? Could grandparents not travel to you? It's only a very short space of time before they can be bribed with sweeties/films/toys to be good.

IronOrchid raises an interesting point - what if an adult behaved this way? I can guarantee you that they'd be asked to calm down and if they didn't they'd be met by air marshalls at the other end with handcuffs and banned permanently from flying with that airline!!!