A passenger asking a couple to refrain from changing their baby’s “extremely stinky” diaper on a tray table has been endorsed by users on Reddit, the online forum.
In a post shared on the Am I The A****** (AITA) Reddit subforum under the user No_Cartographer8186the 28-year-old woman said the couple were “changing their baby’s extremely stinky #2 diaper right in the middle of their seats, using the mum’s food tray as a changing table.”
The sign read: “I didn’t say anything the first time, but the second time I heard them get into the diaper bag a couple hours later, I asked them to please go to the plane bathroom instead of exposing everyone on the plane. “. the smell.”
The mother allegedly “freaked” at the poster, saying she had “no idea how stressful it is to travel with a baby, which is true: I don’t have children,” the poster noted.
Was the passenger being insensitive to the couple?
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Jules Hirst, etiquette expert and book co-author The power of civilitysaid news week that “no one would disagree” that “traveling with young children is difficult.” However, the woman in the latest post “did nothing wrong” by asking the parents to use the other facilities on board to change her baby’s diaper.
In March 2023, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) received 15,545 complaints (22.3 complaints per 100,000 passengers) from the general public via phone or email, according to the latest TSA Report. US Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer, published in May.
While it is unknown whether these complaints may have included any specifically about passenger etiquette on flights, the report says the TSA received 38 airline-related complaints in March. They included complaints about policies/regulations, baggage requirements, lost luggage, and wheelchair assistance.
The 28-year-old passenger in the Reddit post, who was sitting behind the couple with the baby, had been on a flight for several hours on the day of the incident.
She is “a very nauseous flyer,” so she took a Dramamine (a brand of medication that prevents and treats the symptoms of motion sickness, such as nausea) and did her best to get some sleep during the flight. “This didn’t happen because of the crying baby, but hey, I know flights are scary and stressful for babies and there was nothing anyone could do about it.”
The passenger said she and the couple were sitting in the back of the plane, right next to the toilets, “which I confirmed they had baby changing tables when I had to go back there to vomit after the smell.” [of the diaper] Hit me.”
The flight attendant at the back of the plane agreed with the sign, asking the couple to only use the bathrooms to change their baby. Minutes later, the pilot also made an announcement that “all diaper changing was to be done in the restrooms.”
Both parents appeared “extremely upset,” the sign read.
The passenger ‘did nothing wrong’
Hirst said: “Having common decency and respect for your fellow travelers is proper etiquette, especially when you know you may be the cause of their bad flight experience.”
It added that “the nauseated passenger did nothing wrong by asking the parents to use the facilities provided to change their baby.” Perhaps the sign could have first asked the flight attendant to take care of the matter, Hirst said.
“The pilot’s announcement did not help the situation, but that is not the passenger’s fault. If the parents had followed proper etiquette on the plane, this entire episode could have been avoided,” the etiquette expert noted.
‘Entitled and disgusting’
Several users on Reddit shared messages of support for the original poster.
In a comment that got 8,400 upvotes, user sbinjax said: “NTA [not the a******]. There are changing tables in the bathrooms. That’s what they are for. Also, thank goodness, the maintenance crews sanitize between flights. The thought of eating/drinking off a tray that doubles as a changing table makes me want to throw up.”
User elvis_wants_a_cookie wrote: “Yeah, that’s why I always take disinfectant wipes with me on the plane and the first thing I do when I sit down is wipe down every surface I’ll come in contact with. People are entitled and gross.”
In a comment that garnered 2,400 comments, user loopyloo54321 said: “NTA ground rules for changing diapers, don’t do it where people eat or where people are nearby. If you have another option, always use the changing tables.”
User amagivictoria said: “…I KNOW how stressful it is to fly with kids, but being a parent is not an excuse to be impolite and rude in public…NTA.”
news week has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.
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