How do you deal with rude passengers on a plane?

[gemmamay]

Hi All

I must write and have a rant as I am so annoyed!

We have just flown back on from the US on a night flight - we have a 2 year old.

We did all we could to wear her out during the day, swimming, running about on the beach to make ure she would sleep - even had a some phenergan for emergencies!

When she started to cry (she sometimes does just before she konks out) the women in front turned around and started moaning to us, saying couldn't we jsut get her to go to sleep as she had been putting up with it for an hour (it was 5 mins max)!!!

I was so upset - dh tld her to sit back down and we were trying our best - I had to walk off as I was in tears.

The staff were great on the plane (BA flight) and talked to the woman and told her (she had been upgraded) if she wanted to sit child free she could do so back in economy!

But what would you do in that situation - flying with children is stressful enough but with passengers like that how are you supposed to cope?

PS - dd did sleep through in the end!

Think you did the right thing getting the aircrew involved.

If parents have paid for a seat for their child/toddler/teen to sit in business class then fair play to them. Those seats do not come cheap regardless of whether you upgrade( you can pay dearly for that and children do not get a discount) or pay full fare (like many companies do; more fool them). They have as much right to be there as anyone else does. This applies to all routes.

TBH by far the worst people I've seen on a plane have been the drunken adults who go on to cause air rage. The children I've seen by comparison have been well behaved and I've never seen a child try to pick a fight with another passenger. I would rather have lively children on a flight than a drunken and obnoxious adult passenger. Am thinking in particular of the drunken woman on a flight to LA who started swearing at everyone in sight when she was refused more drink by aircrew. She ended up getting handcuffed into her seat and arrested by the FBI on arrival into LAX (fortunately for all we were not diverted but it was considered at one stage).

Also airlines are not obliged to share details of such air-rage incidents with other airlines so there is nothing to stop her and others like her causing more distress to others.

by the way i'm not saying that that excuses the behaviour of the woman who was rude to you. its just my expectations that if i'm in club class etc, i don't really expect there to be kids there, although if they are i normally find myself talking to the parents and children as it makes me miss my little ones.

Ignore the moany wench and remember you never have to see her again - if it is too bad for her - she can try and move - back to economy...... When we flew with dd1 - and eventually with dd2 ( round the world!!) I have the policy that my primary concern is her - if she is crying - she is tired and upset and unsettled about being where she is.... do my best to settle her if I can't - well tough .....

Message withdrawn

to australia with school?? That's some school trip. DD gets to go to the farm. But she is only five, I suppose.

IF we could afford it (using miles) we'd travel club class with the kids. Far more space between them and the next passenger and easier to entertain so they are less likely to cause annoyance to the next passenger. I don't see that the affluence or reason for travel of the next passenger has any bearing on whether it's OK to annoy them. DH travels long haul regularly for business, both business and ecconomy, and enjoys travelling with children: he's never complained to me on return that the kids were annoying.

I would be annoyed if the parents made no effort to minimise the impact of their children on an overnight flight, in either ecconomy or business class.

Not read all these, but if I had paid to fly first or business class (yeah right) I wouldn't be happy at being seated near a screaming child. What if you needed to sleep to be a bigshot in the morning etc?

Not all babies are pains on planes however, I sat next to a lovely scrummy bundle back from Thailand once and wanted to keep him.

I don't understand the assumption that you have a right to sleep or have a nice civilised peaceful and calm experience when you travel. If you do it's nice, but as any venturing out of your own home exposes you to contact with other people, you have no idea what your journey's going to be like. I remember being on a plane with the self-designated plane joker once. He was the most pita unfunny attention seeker I've ever come across and I wanted to deck him. No screaming child has ever been as disruptive as this pathetic idiotic moron. And he stopped me reading my book (mind you, it was the ghastly Charlotte Bronte, so I didn't have much motivation). But the only way you can guarantee you don't come across irritations like this, is to stay at home.

Good point caligula. You forget sometimes that the most annoying people are adults who should know better.

"I don't see that the affluence or reason for travel of the next passenger has any bearing on whether it's OK to annoy them"

I'm glad you brought that up Softfroggie. I was uncomfortable with the implicit assumption that the more comfortably off can buy themselves the right to comparative silence, whilst the plebians in economy must tough it out.

As far as I am concerned business class does what it says on the bottle. It buys more leg room, better more personalised service etc - but it doesn't solve your relationship problems, cure your migraine, or guarantee anything about your fellow passengers

Wonderful list Batters!

God I'm so glad I no longer have to sit next to those men who think their penises are so gargantuan that allowing someone else to sit down is impossible. I'd forgotten all about that phenomenon.

hi gemmamay! I am 2 weeks away from a journey from Geneva to Vancouver via Heathrow with 5 yr old dd & almost 2 yr old ds. Dd doesn't worry me; she'll be my support but ds can be an absolute horror. His screaming tantrums are heard by our neighbors! Not that they've complained yet; just "commented". I'm terrified that an irate passenger will actually try to harm ds so have arranged his 2 yr old check up with ped early so I can ask him for some baby tranquilisers! We are also flying BA because they've always been exceptionally good with little ones. It's the other passengers that worry me. And also the fact that I tend to get a teensy bit claustrophobic in an airplane. Please help, MNers.

When I'm travelling with my kids, I'm always happy to see other kids, as I figure they'll play together.

And pre-kids, I remember holding other people's babies on planes, as it was a reasonably interesting thing to do. I tend to let my kids interact with other adults on planes, if the other adults are friendly.

btw, having now read thru the thread, I see it's mostly a discussion about whether or not children should be "allowed" in business class. This is NOT an option for us! Only dh gets to travel business & usually needs it to work/sleep as he goes straight into a meeting (yawn) on arrival at Tokyo, Djakarta, etc. Agree with EarlyBird's comments

Blimey what do people do when their hotshot husbands (I've got one too, unfortunately, as it happens)need to perform well at work the next day, and there is a new (wakeful) baby in the house?

Do mum and baby sleep in the shed for fear of compromising the main breadwinners shuteye?

Probably wasn't a very clear point, but I was trying to say that I think this argument of protecting the corporate flyer's peace and quiet is - for me at least - irrelevent

Blimey dinosaur - full credit to you for your composure under fire!

lol handlemecarefully! when the babies were small, we took it in turns for getting up at night. Looking after 2 little ones is much harder than being a "hotshot". Still, my hotshot is in his mid 50s & needs to be on his toes to keep his job.

You'll have to tell him that he was referred to as a hotshot on mumsnet today. It will probably give him a good laugh, or he'll puff up with masculine pride.

Dinosaur - I think that sort of response from you is immeasurably more effective than loosing your rag and unleasing a torrent of abuse (which I'm afraid that I tend to do, and then regret later)

yeah, dinosaur. i probably would have let her have it! WWB's reply was brilliant. I'll definitely use it if necessary.

PSML, handleme! He's likely to puff up...