This upset me a lot at the time, and I’ve never really fully forgotten about it, but it happened when I was 14 so over 10 years ago now- obviously I don’t think about it regularly but it popped into my head recently and just wondered if I was being OTT to have never fully forgiven my mom about it all.
my mom lived in a different pert of the country and worked as a long haul cabin crew. She invited me last minute to go on a trip with her- not enough time to get injections etc, it was literally the night before. It was to a really dangerous city (at the time I didn’t even realise it was dangerous - I was just excited to go away on a trip with my mom, the people who I lived with were unhappy with me going though)
the trip itself was fine- it was 4 days and the other cabin crew and pilots were a bit surprised I was there as it wasn’t a typical trip to bring someone on. We couldn’t go outside the hotel complex and had an armed guard on our coach from the airport to the resort. My mom actually took me for a walk outside the resort and we were quickly taken back by the local police as it was too unsafe. Anyway, I still had a lot of fun at the pool at the resort.
when it came to going home, I had to go through the airport myself as my mom and her crew had their own staff security etc. I’m not fully sure of the details but I think I was on a staff travel/standby ticket. I remember sitting at the gate myself and they wouldn’t let me on but wouldn’t explain why. It turned out that the flight was full and I didn’t have a seat. I was getting really upset - i asked the staff to get my mom but they wouldn’t, they just kept telling me to sit down. Eventually my mom and the captain came down the airbridge thing and were chatting to the people at the gate. I was terrified as I thought I was going to be left myself and my mom was SO chilled about it. I remember she was like she’ll be fine here, she can get the next flight (2 days away) the captain was flabbergasted and said something like ‘that’s your 14 year old daughter you’re talking about’ and my mom just shrugged and said she’ll be fine she’s grown up for her age. I remember feeling so disappointed and let down and like I couldn’t even trust my own mom because she wasn’t helping me. I was crying and she told me to stop being such a baby
i honestly don’t know what she thought I’d do. Stay in the airport maybe for 2 days? No idea
the captain was NOT going to leave me, a child, in this third world country with nowhere to stay, no adult, no money. He made some calls (crewing I think?) and it caused a lot of drama because they had to bump off someone else so I could get their seat, and I believe they had to pay them or reward them in some way. I think that’s what my mom was scared of happening in case she got in trouble for it so that’s why she was happier just to leave me
my mom still talks, even after all these years, about how it was the best trip ever and she was such a cool mom and more like a cool big sister. AIBU to have felt so disappointed she would have happily just left me behind? Am I being ridiculous or is that utterly crazy considering I was only 14 years old?