A father flew business class from Chicago to Beijing while they left their kid in coach to annoy and be cared for whatever strangers happened to sit beside them. I hadn’t seen this story before, but it’s just been resurfaced. What’s unique is how one passenger decided to take revenge on the poor parenting – by doing a little poor parenting themselves.
A five year old boy was sitting in a middle seat in United’s Economy Plus, and kept trying to chat up the man in the window seat. Since his seat back entertainment wasn’t working, he decided to create some entertainment for himself as revenge for leaving the boy alone next to him while his father relaxed up front.
So I taught lil Xu some new words: Including the Baby Shark song, poop, shitty shit shit, ass, and loudly belching. He also now knows how to make sounds with his armpits. So hopefully the world’s shittiest job had lots of endless nights. And who got a cup of coffee with extra sugar before landing? Lil xu of course!
I get the impulse here, but taking out frustration on the child this was just doesn’t seem fair. Sure, the parents will have to deal with the consequences, but so will the kid. This bit of revenge is a misfire, right?
There have been plenty of controversial stories about a husband flying first class while his wife and kids sit in coach. Maybe he got the upgrade, and only one seat was available. Or he was on a business trip and had to be rested, so the company paid for his seat.
The Washington Post‘s relationship columnist has covered the issue, telling a woman whose boyfriend flies up front while he pays for her to fly coach that she should dump him: “His wife sat alone in coach: His epitaph writes itself.”
Then there are versions where both parents sit up front, while kids are in back. Sometimes it’s to ‘teach the kids a lesson’ and not spoil them, but they’re spoiling… the other passengers. Parents get a break, and randos are left to parent. Here those randos take their revenge. If you leave parenting to randos, the parenting is random and not what you’d want.
(HT: Paul H)
In these times I would think that is an extremely risky move on the part of the bad parent. How could he know who his child was sitting next to back in coach. He is very lucky that all the child was subject to was learning some new phrases and words he could tell his Dad about.
There are seriously some people who should definitely not procreate.
I would like some confirmation that this really happened. If it did, the airline and FAs should not have allowed it.
Oh, and if it did happen — I would have walked to the front of the plane and publicly shamed the father. And posted pictures online of Dad in Business and little Timmy in coach (blurring Timmy, but not Dad). And I would have encouraged the little tot to periodically run up to their father’s seat and loudly declare “F*** You, Daddy”–at least a couple of times before other passengers were sleeping.
When that kid is a teenager and pops is telling him what to do, I want that kid to remember that daddy didn’t give a sh** about him when he was a little kid traveling on a plane.
Are these the same people who leave the kid with the nanny or in the halls at casinos. The same that take a 2 yr old to a R movie at 9pm at night
You can fix a dog but you can not fix a bad parent
Tell the kid that he will get some candy if he defecates in the opposite aisle?
When some mom took an upgrade and left her 2 daughters in the row with me aged 3 and 5, I didn’t teach them curse words but they did get as much soda as they wanted, and I ordered them some Haribo gummy candies and Pringles. Party time.
Caffeine is a drug, so giving it to a kid who isn’t yours is a criminal level action. I’d subpoena the airline to reveal the name of the adult. He wouldn’t make it to trial, though. I’d hire a contract killer to take him out. You don’t mess with people’s kids.
In Asian cultures it’s fine for the parent to fly business. Filial piety comes into play.
I’ll bet the story didn’t happen at all, and is just the fantasy of a basement dweller with a Microsoft. (Referring to his anatomy, not his computer.)
I once did the same thing with a parrot while I was waiting for my table at a beachfront restaurant, so I can definitely see the antihero’s perspective on this one.
@Nick, if I were the mother, you’d be facing false claims of child sex abuse, but the world won’t know they were false, and for the rest of your life you’re going to be ordering Pringles from a commissary.
You don’t mess with people’s kids.
SFO: “Caffeine is a drug, so giving it to a kid who isn’t yours is a criminal level action.”
No it’s not. That’s ridiculous. Name one jurisdiction.
No problem here. My eleven year old son spent five days on a Navy training (reserve) cruise as a civilian and learned more language than I could possibly have imagined. Fortunately the Master Chief took him aside before we docked (end of training cruise) and told him that choosing when and where to use language was critical. Jason took that lesson to heart.
If I had one economy, in the rear, middle seat, long flight – and one first class and was traveling with my wife, who would sit up front? SHE WOULD !!!!
@SFO/EWR – “but the world won’t know they were false”
I would think the other pax would refute your flase accusations, and then YOU’D be the one ordering from a prison commissary, as filing a flase police report is a crime, unlike giving someone coffee.
What an interesting twist on “parents and kids were not seated together.” Because there are never any guarantees. If you pay for seats together and the airline switches aircraft at the last minute, you and your kids may be seated apart. Oh, but people will offer to switch with you. No, they won’t. Not for a long-haul flight where both parent and baby are seated in middle seats.
“I get the impulse here, but taking out frustration on the child this was just doesn’t seem fair. Sure, the parents will have to deal with the consequences, but so will the kid. This bit of revenge is a misfire, right?”
I disagree. In the long term it’s much more unhealthy for a child to be raised by a sociopathic parent that never gets challenged for their destructive behavior. The kid will learn swear words eventually, who cares. If it teaches the dad a lesson then it’s a win.
My question though is how is this legal? People want to demand airlines seat families together at no extra charge. Ok fine, but if so then airlines should demand that parents not willingly abandon their kids either.
In the early 60’s, my Mom and 6 kids crossed the Atlantic on the SS Flandre. My older brothers (13 & 16 yrs of age) shared a room with a Frenchman who taught them how to smoke.
Took them years to break the habit.
@SFO/EWR of course I said check with the mom in first class.
So, does anyone get a pedo vibe here? What would an adult speak to a child of 5 years old this way? Give a child coffee with extra sugar or give a child something to eat or drink when that child is not yours?
This story is suspect at best.
I once saw Dan Hicks sitting in first class LGA-IAH while he let his wife Hannah Storm,, the much larger TV star, flying in Coach with their 3 daughters
SFO/EWR,
Before hiring a contract killer to murder someone who may or may not have given little Timmy coffee, be thankful if someone doesn’t accidentally turn you into pulp on the turnpike, or on 101.
Se? False, empty bravado goes both ways. Unless you actually meant it.
Now take a chill pill and st hu. Okay?
I don’t have kids and thankfully never will, but this is child endangerment and abandonment. Don’t have children if you can’t take care of them.
Uh, not likely the truth. A separate cabin is like a separate plane, the kid would have had to be an unaccompanied minor
Jody Foster lost her daughter on a long trip. Took her the whole flight to find her. She tore the plain apart.
@Sfo ewr. Giving kids is not a criminal act they are served soda in school.
Calling someone a child abuser when there are no facts in evidence. Is a criminal act You would get th bottom bunk in prison for sure
Police do arrest for fake 911 calls
Never make light of kids who have been abused
@Sfo ewr. Giving kids is not a criminal act they are served soda in school.
Calling someone a child abuser when there are no facts in evidence. Is a criminal act You would get th bottom bunk in prison for sure
Police do arrest for fake 911 calls
Never make light of kids who have been abused .
I don’t think it’s a big deal.
But I was flying alone at age 3 in the 70s. 🙂
@James: why you simp’in? Your wife automatically gets the business class? What kind of wife would take it, knowing the extra space does nothing for her… but her much larger husband is impacted more.
At best, wife outbound and husband inbound. I thought equal partners meant equal, not one levitates above everyone, because she has different plumbing…
The parents should be spanked. I would never leave a 5yr old alone in economy where he could be molested. The guy next to the kid should be compensated for babysitting.
Teaching a small child all this nasty stuff while seated beside him had no negative affect on the child. Actually, he’ll be the envy of all his cousins. It was sweet revenge for parents who are compete jerks. People should be required to buy a license to breed.
“Taking it out on the child?” Seriously? Sounds like the 5-year-old had the time of his life. Learned a couple of skills that will make him BMOC in kindergarten, a few questionable phrases that will give his parents the opportunity to explain how to gauge the social appropriateness of language, and the endlessly entertaining “Baby Shark” song (which probably will drive the parents crazy, but let’s face it, he was going to be exposed to that one eventually anyway).
My sister in-law worked for Air Canada, she was bumped up to first class husband & 4 kids sat in economy. That was a frosty holiday.
“A father flew business class from Chicago to Beijing while they left their kid in coach”
Since when is a father referred to by the pronoun “they”, Gary? You don’t mention that the father had a companion, so readers may assume he and the child were the only members of that family traveling.
Are you uncomfortable referring to single males as “he” and similarly, referring to single females as “she” when the person is singular? Or has the practice of turning the pronoun into a plural become the norm in your circle?
@SFO/EWR: As an Asian, that’s not how filial piety works buddy.