Dancing With The Stars Winner Says A Delta Flight Attendant Kept Shushing Her Toddler On Sydney Flight — “13 Hours Is Not Quiet Time!”

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.

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A post shared by Witney Carson McAllister (@witneycarson)

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.