A husband and father took to twitter to complain about a United Airlines flight attendant who ‘made’ his pregnant wife “pick up the popcorn mess” that his two year old made at their seats. And that raises huge etiquette questions about travel.
Shouldn’t people pick up after themselves? Airlines do have cleaners that are supposed to come onboard to tidy between flights. There’s rarely enough time allocated for this. When a flight’s arrival is delayed a few minutes, time spent cleaning is usually the first thing cut. Either way, you’re probably leaving a mess for the next passengers at your seats.
Southwest Airlines flight attendants pick up trash from seats. Most just make passes down the aisle with trash bags, collecting what passengers give them. It’s not their job to clean up the floors of whatever you leave behind.
Flying back to #Seattle and the flight attendant @united just made my 22 week pregnant wife traveling with a 5 year old and 2 year old get on her hands and knees to pick up the popcorn mess by my youngest daughter. Are you
kidding me?!?! pic.twitter.com/2C6xSf2OtW— Johnny (@JohnnyGiunta_) October 21, 2025
I’m not really sure what it means to ‘make her’ pick up the popcorn, other than to ask, insist or shame. Where was the actual coercion?
And someone observes,
Shouldn't you have picked it up instead of her?
— Scott B (@ScottBaran7) October 21, 2025
It doesn’t seem like the father is reporting on something that happened when his wife was traveling alone with the kids, but he may not have been there. If he was, the complaint is especially galling! He should have helped!
But if she was alone, and if she’s struggling, that’s a little more sypathetic – but that’s just a reason for passengers and crew to respond nicely if she asks for help. There’s no excuse to leave a mess and act like it’s someone else’s responsibility. Take ownership of the mess. Sometimes that happens with kids, despite best efforts.
- Make sure you’re putting in best efforts. Have activities planned for the kids, so their boredom doesn’t trigger acting out with a mess.
- And consider the snacks you bring – what’s easy for kids to handle, what are they likely to drop or spill, and what’s easy to clean versus leaving an intractable mess?
- If the mess does happen, apologize!
I don’t think I’m being especially harsh with this, but the father was indignant. As a father of two young children myself, and who travels with them often, what am I missing? Isn’t cleaning up after yourself an important lesson to teach children?
Excellent. People with children do not get enough credit for how rude and entitled they love to act. And always adding the ‘enhancer’ that they are either pregnant or on their baby moon just guarantees an attitude. “You must change seats with me because we are on our baby moon”.
How many other flights have those kids left a mess for the following passengers with zero concern or thought from these parents? If she can’t manage 3.5 kids, then she needs to reconsider her activities and stop inflicting her decisions on the general public. Especially the flying public who are stuck in an aluminum tube dealing with all that children bring to a flight.
Funny that it is the dad that is outraged.
Apparently the popcorn post was “satire”, but I don’t see what was clever or funny about it.
I’m sure that the flight attendant had certification as a medical professional and properly assessed the woman’s medical situation before ordering her to clean up the mess. If not, maybe a court can clear up the blurring lines of control by United flight attendants.
Gary, it’s a Brave New World and you’re not invited. You’re spending your time trying to raise your children to be good, responsible, members of society, when you should be exploiting them in order to fulfill your selfish desires to boost your social media presence. Therapists in the future will be making serious bank from the children of the current generation.
Rather than dad exploding he should have just picked it up without even having to be told to do so. Typical Ken and Karen
Passengers are really pigs they leave a big mess all the time on flights. They should pickup after themselves. Very rude.
people should clean up after themselves. come on man,. if you make a mess try and clean it up the best you can and pop corn really… its messy,.
i see the same thing at the airport gates people eating food and not picking up. (Pigs)
Its not sanitary either to eat at gate areas that doesn’t get cleaned except at night.
Some more details of this particular situation to fill in the blanks needed, but in general, I like your suggestions, Gary.
@1990 — The headline reminded me of: “Everywhere I looked, there were piles of [popcorn]….and then the explosion struck” (Hedonism Bot’s bachelor party)
Gary, this is why as a journalist, maybe you shouldn’t even touch a story like this. The narrative in this social media post makes no sense. We don’t even know if the husband actually exists. And you didn’t interview anyone involved.
First of all, this incident allegedly happened back in April of 2023. Secondly, it’s silly rage bait that dilutes the gravitas of an otherwise very insightful blog. You’re better than this, Gary.
Don’t you know the world must kowtow to people with kids. Kids running amuck in an airline lounge, your problem too. Kid screaming all night on a redeye, your problem too. Kid throws trash all over the plane, flight attendants get on your hands and knees and clean that mess up. You’re my nanny for the duration of the flight.
You’d have thought that part of the galley equipment would have been a Dustbuster or similar, something to manage spills in flight.
As for flight attendants, they’re not servants at your beck and call. They’re part of the “flight crew”.