A Delta Air Lines passenger in seat 21C had an infant traveling with him. Mid-flight they needed a diaper change. Instead of getting up to go to the lavatory, the man dropped the tray table, tossed a thin blanket over it, and changed the baby’s right there in the aisle seat.
A flight attendant was doing service, with the cart just two rows away. When she arrived and saw this mess she offered, “Sir, there’s a changing table in the lavatory.” The dad didn’t even look up, and responded “Yeah, almost done, it’s easier here.”
When he finished, he stuffed the dirty diaper into the seat pocket for a few minutes, then later took it with him to the lavatory. He gave the tray table a bare-handed “wipe” without using any sanitizer, and then folded it back up.
His row was left with the snacks flight attendant provided, and the stench of freshly changed diaper wafting by. The passenger in the row relaying what happened realizes: “Someone is 100% eating off that thing next flight.”
Social media was aghast, using words like disgusting, inconsiderate, affront to humanity, straight to jail, banned from the airline. This is one of the rare ‘children on a plane’ stories where both non-parents and parents agree: the dad’s behavior crossed a clear line.
- Parents (including those who say flying with infants or toddlers “sucks”) say they’ve never been tempted to do this and would always use the lav. One parent offered that if their spouse did this, it would be “divorce-worthy.”
- This underscores why many passengers bring their own Clorox wipes. They’ll wipe down tray tables and be horrified by what’s left behind. Some people even carry nitrile gloves along with the disinfecting wipes.
Just boarded @united 1424 to ORD, plane certaily wasn't cleaned (that is the wipe used on the tray table and arm rest, trash in all seat backs and on seat) pic.twitter.com/BHxBKjs9u8
— Joe DeFazio (@SmilePolitely8) March 19, 2023
Just boarded @JetBlue flt B6 2513 from atl to lga. Something said, wipe your seat down. This is disgusting. Covid on the rise again and this seat, tray table and arm rests were filthy dirty. When I tried to give the flight attendent the dirty wipes, pic.twitter.com/QLstYbuHoU
— lisa d. gray (@randomlisasf) October 30, 2023
One flyer argues Delta really stands for “Diaper Emergency Lower Tray-table Always.” A flight attendant chimed in,
This happens a lot. Then the parents try to hand us the diapers to throw away 🙂 I tell them there’s a changing table in the lav and trash bins in there for a reason.
Remember that there’s no requirement for tray tables to be cleaned. Airlines set their own schedules. Before the pandemic it was often every 30-60 days on major U.S. airlines. Between deep cleans, tray tables might not get regular wipes at all.
During Covid, major U.S. airlines claimed cleaning before every flight, often with electrostatic spraying and explicit mention of tray tables as a high-touch surface. However as the pandemic wore on this cleaning was scaled back. American, for instance, stopped wiping tray tables between flights in 2021. Cleaners only get a few minutes on the aircraft between flights. The major focus is picking up trash and even that can be hit or miss. Yet tray tables are one of the dirtiest surfaces on the plane!
Maybe your tray table got wiped overnight, maybe it was the plane’s last deep clean and that could be more than a month ago. Don’t use that surface for anything you’re going to touch directly! Using a tray table as a changing station just underscores what probably happened at your seat during the previous flight, or the flight before that.
Traveling with kids is hard! I have a one year old. He’s more challenging than my seven year old was at his age. But tray tables are a food surface, other people are inches away, and there is a dedicated space you’re supposed to use. Some of you are just going to call me a germaphobe, but you don’t get to aerosolize fecal matter into a packed metal tube.
As a parent, it’s important to bring travel changing pads, plenty of wipes, diapers, diaper bags (doggie bags work great), and backup outfits. Make sure you know which lavs have a fold-down changing table, and if there’s one that’s larger than the others.
Obviously just change babies in the lavatory but that has problems, too, because flights wind up diverting after passengers try to flush the diapers down the toilet. One diaper left in the lav was so bad the airline thought it was a bomb and diverted.
Just another entitled, disrespectful, selfish, inconsiderate a@@hole. No story here.
Planes are by nature very dirty places. The important part is to keep your hands cleaned. Now changing a diaper on a tray table. Very parenting 2025.
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Education levels and entitlement amongst Americans will be the end of the nation. Can people really be this ignorant? Yes . We see it daily on the .planes
Bring on the hate but infants and children up to ten shouldnt be on flights. They can’t cope with the situation and neither can the parents.
Take it away, @Ken A!
That is the normal Delta-flot passenger. The klan airline in full effect!
This evil abomination of an airline had less crap in their planes when they did crop-dusting.
@L737 — For real. I need a ‘hot take’ from @Ken A and @Matt, ASAP.
I watched the same behavior from a lady in the middle seat. She was seated between 2 men in suit. First she breast feed , than the baby needed changing. The entire plane smelled how bad the baby needed to be changed. She also did it on the tray table. Then tried to pass it to the man in the aisle seat to hand to the flight attendant. It was disgusting. Both men were mortified.
No offense, but I prefer to travel next to a dog.
Cut the guy some slack. He’s a Dad, with a baby, on a plane. Now a Mom would have made it to a proper changing station, but Dad? 50/50.
@Pilot93434 if you can’t take care of your kid properly you have no business breeding.
There are real consequences to cutting the size of airplane lavatories. I know I can hardly turn around in some of them. I cannot imagine trying to change a baby in one without almost dropping the baby. Remember that the baby isn’t a doll and squirms and tries to move a lot of the time. You need a place for a new diaper, wipes, baby power, and other things. Then, of course, are the times the baby pees when in the middle of a change. Going to the lavatory where everyone seems to have peed on the floor isn’t a great alternative. At least in an aisle seat, you have already everything where you need it. Tough choice.
Change your baby’s diapers on your own dining room table at home, not on the tray tables on a plane. That’s so gross and disgusting!
Better yet, take your baby into the lav and use the changing table.
Face it, that metal tube you are in is just a big petri dish with all sorts of wonderful microbes just waiting to meet you.
This is probably the same type of parent that sees nothing wrong with changing diapers on a dining table.
I have changed (wet only) diapers on my lap when getting to the restroom was too complicated (aisles blocked, or a long line for the restrooms), but would never use a tray table!
Airlines need to impose some form of penalty for this behavior. How about finding out your return ticket was canceled for doing this? Probably would not do it a second time.
That’s why I bring disinfecting wipes with me on every flight. I wipe down all the touch points including the seatbelt clip.
A female PAX next to me looked shocked while I did this. I explained, “you have no idea who has touched that tray in front of you.” She gladly accepted my offer of wipes for her and her hubby.
I find it interesting that some of the trolls will use derogatory comments about the airline when it has nothing to do with the issue. The flight attendant should have demanded that the passenger immediately remove himself to the lavatory for the diaper change. Then, failure to comply is a violation of a crew member’s order!
Right on, Win. We traveled with our daughters when they were still babies. Never once used the tray table as a changing table. Until airlines start penalizing bad behavior, it will continue. Can’t impose a monetary fine, but sure can put them on a no fly list, even if only for a short period.
Some people might physically stop the a**hole from doing sh*t like this. It would be a diverted flight if I were seated next to the a**hole and he or she tried pulling that stunt – I guarantee I would not simply sit there and “deal with it quietly.” My rights don’t end where you think yours begin. FAFO.
This feels like a lifetime ban level offense for violations of public health safety
People can be pigs, and a lot of people have NO consideration for others. It never used to be this bad, but unfortunately it’s getting worse since most parents are too lazy to properly instruct their kids on proper etiquette.
Disgusting man does disgusting thing in airplane seat… Should have been arrested for failure to follow crew member instructions.