On Sunday, Witney Carson posted to Instagram Stories from a Delta Sydney – Los Angeles flight that her 2-year-old son Jet was “playing and giggling” with her, and a passenger “up in front” said he was trying to rest – so a flight attendant asked them to be quiet and “kept shushing” Jet. She then confronted the crewmember asking if there were designated quiet times? If not, she didn’t expect her kids to “sit quietly for 13 hours.”
Carson won season 34 Dancing With The Stars with her partner Robert Irwin (son of ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin) this past fall. She also danced with Australian singer Cody Simpson on Season 18 (2014) but they did not win.
FA shushing kids in first class..
byu/ManufacturerOwn3937 inflightattendants
There are basically three takes here,
- The crew intervened, odds on it wasn’t ‘cute giggling.’ There are certainly grumpy crew, but it was annoying to get them to act. So better than even chance the noise was actually disruptive.
- Premium cabins aren’t kid-free. But people do have higher expectations. Just before Thanksgiving I flew Spirit Airlines first class with my family. Traveling Spirit with an 18 month old is perfect, he was fussy but still better than median Spirit expectations! Everyone with a ticket has a right to be there, and economy doesn’t mean free-for-all. At the same time, there’s a cultural norm or expectation that premium cabins are supposed to be calmer, that’s what’s being sold and part of what people are paying for.
- Bring noise cancelling headphones. It’s still mass transportation, so expect an imperfectly-zen cabin.
Current Delta Suite
My own take is that this case is an exception. I didn’t know who this woman was. But she named her kid Jet, and that basically means he owns the Jet and can do as he pleases.
Just like the woman who gave birth on Jetstar Asia and named her child Saw Jet Star in honor of the care she received on board. He’s named after the airline he can make as much noise as he wants. But it’s Jetstar, so a bit like Spirit anyway.
Ultimately, kids aren’t the problem. Parents not managing their volume is. If crew is repeatedly shushing, assume there’s a good (better than even) change you’re outside acceptable bounds.
Pre-load quiet activities and headphones, address volume before someone complains, and when lights go down and everyone around you is trying to sleep, treat as quiet as possible as the goal. But other passengers should also offer as much grace as possible and as much self-help as possible, too.
Airbus A350-900, Credit: Delta
Here’s the playbook for long haul flying with babies and kids that really works.
Airlines generally allow babies in business class, and that entails noise. Miss Manners agrees. One United flight attendant – also on a Sydney flight – decided the airline’s rule was babies have a 5 minute crying limitthough it was never clear how she’d enforce it over the Pacific.
Ironically this past summer I was scolded by an American Airlines flight attendant for trying to keep my then-one year old son out of the cabin whenever I thought he’d make noise.
I wanted to avoid situations like the passenger who hurled profanity at a mother for bringing her two year old in first class and the passenger who tried to get a different mom downgraded after her baby cried for two minutes in business class. I also didn’t want an American Airlines flight attendant locking me in a lavatory with my child, claiming I’m a terrorist, either.
lost manners and etiquette that are making the world ruder place
Me thinks the kid was not giggling but screaming at the top of the kid’s lungs and the mother did absolutely zero about it.
@George
She was probably playing with her square headed boyfriend (iPad) and hoping the F/A’s would baby sit
This made me think of the many times I flew into Orlando. The planes were always loaded with children. At first I was confused by the noise until I realized..duh, Disney.
Very hard to be the judge here as too much is unknown. I have seen both overly aggressive passenger attitudes towards minor baby issues and also parents who simply don’t care to rein in their kids emotions and tendencies.
The numbers of times that I’ve traveled with a screaming/screeching kid in the cabin is double digits. Parents should consult with the pediatrician before travel.It doesn’t matter whether other passengers paid $700.00 or $7000.00 for their seat…screeching kids are annoying as hell. Sometimes I think that kids under 10 should be checked as luggage (not really but…)
@George Romey — ‘Me thinks’… you doth protest too much.
Stick a cork in your brat’s mouth. Not everyone thinks your son “Jet” (stupid name, tells all you need to know about mom) is cute and sweet.
I have had two flights ruined by talking or crying little kids. On my last flight from Tokyo a 2 or 3 year kid behind me talked all night long. I didn’t get any sleep. On On another flight a kid cried for 4 hours in the middle of the night.
First of all, given how premium Delta is, I’m not sure why anyone would feel the need to be in Biz. Having said that, when someone is spending thousands of dollars, even if it’s OPM, I actually think they are entitled to a near zen experience. And as a parent of two children and someone who flies Biz regularly, I think it’s reasonable to be children under a certain age, 4?, 5?,6? from sitting there.
Back in the day, parents would rub something called paregoric on the gums of crying children. Too bad it was banned (just kidding)
Flight attendant v. reality “star”
I’ll believe the flight attendant every time. They don’t feel entitled and aren’t seeking fame.
Sorry Gary, I know you’re biased as the parent of two small children, but no-one has the right to inflict their children on others. Nor should we have to spend energy and money to protect ourselves from their loathsome mewling when we’ve paid paid several thousand dollars for a so-called premium space.
I know you won’t agree but some of us have standards. Others, apparently, don’t.
@Woofie — What’s your take on dogs-on-planes? Would you prefer a ‘woof’ over a ‘wah’?
My own take is that this case is an exception. I didn’t know who this woman was. But she named her kid Jet, and that basically means he owns the Jet and can do as he pleases..
That sounds very arrogant to me to assume that he thinks he owns the jet, you should apply for an ICE position.
I would suggest a minimum of 30dB noise reduction earplugs or the same for noise reduction earphones for the complainer. I have been on many airplanes with babies crying and I don’t think that any of them got me upset. I also don’t believe that the flight attendant should have asked multiple times unless the parents were not parenting correctly. Children cry. That is is a fact. People fart and that disturbs others. That is also a fact. People take off their shoes and put their feet up. Also a fact. In fact there are many things people do that disturb other people. Some things the flight attendants can do something about and others they cannot. I would put babies crying way down the list of problem behaviors. The only ones who may have a true complaint are those who did not cry as babies and there are none of them.
There is a special place in hell for those who bring kids in business or first class, especially since the people who do so are usually as entitled as the kids.
Yes, I’m saying it: if you’re traveling with kids who are too young to keep quiet and behave, you all need to travel in economy, out of respect for your fellow passengers who have shelled out big bucks so as not to be around those kind of disturbances.
You don’t know what to do with a screaming kid over the Pacific? Well, something comes to mind.
Look, I’m almost 70 and have never had kids. I don’t LIKE most kids. And I still agree with the mother. Give her a target for some “quiet hours”, but you can NOT expect a child to stay quiet for 13 hours, and a not-quiet child IS a disruptive child
First, why are people assuming it was crying? I think FAs are way less likely to intervene in such a case. It probably was not cute giggling either. Most likely to kid was being loud. The slight problem here is that, while the LAX-SYD has a phase that really feels like quiet time when many try to sleep, the SYD-LAX has a different feel. You depart at 10:40am on DL and the scheduled landing 14 hours later is just after midnight to your bio clock. Though I’m not a good plane sleeper even in J, I find it easier westbound. Thus, I think the problem is mixed expectations on that route.
Really, .though, if I’m in J on a 24-hour flight, I shouldn’t hear you talk, giggle, laugh, etc. in between meals. Let’s make that the rule TATL and TPAC: keep quiet between the meals.
My best friend and I were on this flight.
My friend knew who this woman was (I didn’t) and pointed her out.
The DWTS lady was at the front of first class; we were in the cheap seats, about three rows from the back.
As we were boarding, I noticed the DWTS lady because she was trying to “settle” her kids and they looked like they were a handful. I didn’t notice her husband, which might have been part of the problem, as he clearly wasn’t helping her with the kids.
I thought the crew was quite nice during the flight. Clearly, we had different crew members taking care of us in the back.
I’m inclined to side with the crew.