To think this man was rude on flight?

[Lionking1981]

On long haul night flight yesterday. My 5 year old would not fall asleep as she was quite excited and enjoying watching all the cartoons. After 5 hours, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and drifted off. I was awakened by the man infront shouting 'oh for fucks sake' and throwing his headphones on the floor. I realised my daughter had been kicking his chair, I apologised, got my child to apologise but he didn't even answer - just threw a glare and turned round. I of course stayed awake for the rest of the flight to make sure she didn't do it again. At the end of the flight, he stood up and said loudly that that was the last time he will ever fly with the cattle class. I know I should have theoretically made sure she did not kick his chair and I know it is annoying but surely this was just bloody rude ?

I don't think swearing in front of a child is acceptable, however, everyone on that flight may well have been just as tired and sleep deprived as yourself some may find it hard to sleep on long haul too. Throw in any circumstances your not aware of. He could have kept his patience for as long as possible and when you didn't stop her he lost it.
Not ideal at all, but tiredness, being driven up the wall like that, the parent not doing anything and God knows where else on his mind, he lost it. I can accept his reacting although not ideal way of reacting.
When push comes to shove op you are in a confined space for a long period of time, you need to be respectful of others, and if your child won't sleep and you do fall asleep, they cause an irritation it will annoy people and it's not their job to correct her it's yours, nor should they try and tolerate it to the point of it driving them mad and potentially them handling it badly, which would have been avoided had you not been asleep. I think you are both at fault.

People are being a bit harsh on you OP!

You fell asleep on a long haul flight whilst your child was watching cartoons. Has every parent here stayed awake every second of every day to supervise their child? Probably not but that doesn't make for a good argument does it.

He was rude. He didn't need to comment the second time, he did that for your benefit and to belittle you which was wrong.

For all you know your child was kicking the seat for all of 10seconds. Or 10minutes. Flying long haul makes people grouchy. I do the flight to Australia regularly. I don't tend to do it in the lower classes if I can help it and upgrade using my points if I can so I can rest.
If it was my seat your child was kicking I would have done what someone else up thread said: woken you (and I may have been a bit tetchy about it), asked an air hostess to wake you (and probably would have been less rude and asked for a vodka too).
Put the arsehole out your mind!

Lower classes ?

I hate when the back of my seat is kicked by somebodies snowflake

He got mad (understandably so) but dealt with it in wrong way. You are peeved he got mad. Shit happens. But it's over!

Hope you had a nice holiday.

If it was my seat your child was kicking I would have done what someone else up thread said: woken you (and I may have been a bit tetchy about it), asked an air hostess to wake you (and probably would have been less rude and asked for a vodka too)

Yes, I do the real long haul to Australia/NZ regularly. As I said upthread, I had a young boy (older than 5) kicking my seat throughout the 12 hour leg. I politely asked him to stop, I then politely asked his mother to ensure he stopped, or to swap seats with him, so he could kick the empty seat, but all I got was a hostile response. And no stopping of the kicking.

So not all parents are the paragons people are suggesting. I have every sympathy for the man sitting in front of the OP's child.

Parents SHOULD be mortified if their child upsets another passenger in this way. Why anyone would attack the recipient of the "kicking", is frankly baffling. So the man swore? The man would not have been reduced to this if the parent had behaved responsibly - and taken the time prior to the flight to teach the child about appropriate behaviour on an aircraft. The child is old enough to know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. It's the whinging in the OP that I find hugely irritating. No the man was not rude; the man was frustrated. You and your child need to learn about manners and proper behaviour.

Sorry, but if you were asleep, how do you know if he hadn't already told your child to stop kicking his seat?
For all you know he could have said "can you not kick the seat" to your child whilst you slept, then the "Oh, FFS" could have been a final straw type thing that just slipped out.
I cannot stand it when people kick my chair from behind, drives me mad so I'd no doubt have been shooting murderous looks in your direction if it had been constant kicking!
I wouldn't have meant to, but it'd be my natural face after a load of rhythmic seat kicks

The thing is, neither we nor the OP actually know what happened re: the seat kicking! The OP was asleep when it happened so is not sure of details. Lots of posters seem to be conflating this with their own experience without knowing if the facts are the same too.

Something did happen with seat kicking (we know not what exactly) the man got mad, (can't blame him) but he chose to deal with it in a poor way, rather than waking parent/ asking cabin crew to sort it.

So he had an unpleasant time, then the OP had an unpleasant time dealing with his frustration. But then it was over!

As I said, shit happens, then you move on. Cramped long haul flights are difficult.

Actually, that's a really good point Navy.

If the man's outburst woke the OP, how did she know it was because her dd had been kicking his chair?

Unless, dd had already been kicking his chair beforehand?

And, Yoda, I like some children, not others just like I like some adults, not others.

I have a 5 year old. I've managed plenty of flights with him not disturbing other passengers. Him, I like.

Fluffy you sound like you have some serious anger issues

I must admit I do get angry at flaky parents who seem to think the World revolves around them and their little darlings. Nobody has to put up with some kid kicking the back of their seat.

You sound like a flaky parent

I'm sorry, I'm not sure why people are being so arsey to you LionKing.

There are twats everywhere. Hope you had a good trip xx

navy oven this is what i have said! The op was asleep how did she know what happened!

And i could imagine saying what the man said if someone had been kicking my chair for 10 minutes with the parent asleep.
Could see myself being very annoyed and in agony.

agree with red not every parent will responsd micely if you dare speak to them about their childs behaviour.

I can't think of anything worse than having my seat kicked repeatedly - not only irritating but in my case painful.

Although I wouldn't have sworn, I would have asked the child to stop. If that didn't work I would threaten to have them strapped to the wing of the plane and/or that Father Christmas hated kickers and they would be receiving no presents this year. That would probably work

Rebel if you read the whole thread OP really doesn't seem to accept that her special snowflake has done anything wrong NOR that the man had a right to be annoyed. She seems to think since she's been awake for 24 hours (HER choice) that gives her an excuse to slack off and not mind her child. yeah that sounded harsh

In most of OP's subsequent posts she was more outraged that the horrid man had dared not only to swear but also said something a bit rude (not surprised at what he said 2nd time) - that was the crux of her posting.

sounds very PFB, very entitled and not really much empathy for the man who was being kept awake.

This thread is depressing

As in, I feel for the op Navy. There are rights and wrongs I'm sure, but some people on this thread, the man on the plane etc are so invested in being 'right' that they overlook basic humanity and would rather shout the odds and be 'right' than give a measured response to life's annoyances (which afflict us all in turn). I just think life is more nuanced than that. It's depressing.

IScream do you mean depressing in the fact that parents can't or won't control their kids or that OP who strangely enough hasn't been back since being told YABU can't accept she's in the wrong?!

Not that, no.

oh come on IScream like I said in my post not the last one but one before at 16:03 OP really doesn't seem to think she is in the wrong - MORE it's her outrage that someone got annoyed because on a long flight he was kept awake or jolted awake by HER child kicking the back of his seat.

If you can't see on what planet that is wrong I worry for you...!