A tale of two children (in J)

[Wello]

Wish your children were on my flight when I flew from Zurich to Singapore on SQ in J instead I had an elderly couple in front of me that decided to watch movies together on only one screen (with subtitles) and spent the night discussing what they were watching. I tried unsuccessfully to sleep with the noise cancelling headphones on.

 

[kermatu]

The preemptive and presumptive nature of the comment is what gets me here. Not acceptable.

 

[tgh]

just for the record but I have the official popcorn concession for this thread

 

[amaroo]

What an absolute entitled turd. We've flown plenty with our kids in all cabins - have never experienced this disgusting attitude.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

What an absolute entitled turd. We've flown plenty with our kids in all cabins - have never experienced this disgusting attitude.

That would probably make 300+ other people all equally entitled.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the expectation that a plane cabin will be as cohesive and relaxing as possible for all passengers. This includes adults not snoring, laughing out loud, tapping loudly on the traytable in time with music, watching their ipads without headphones, and children who don't get over excited.

Sense of entitlement? No. Delivery? perhaps could have been delayed until it was assessed as necessary.

 

[amaroo]

That would probably make 300+ other people all equally entitled.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the expectation that a plane cabin will be as cohesive and relaxing as possible for all passengers. This includes adults not snoring, laughing out loud, tapping loudly on the traytable in time with music, watching their ipads without headphones, and children who don't get over excited.

Sense of entitlement? No. Delivery? perhaps could have been delayed until it was assessed as necessary.

Was it you??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Was it you??

Haha. No. But probably because I haven't thought of it before!

Having had the expereicne just recently I can actually see how the situation can escalate. Children do get restless. And the parents on my flight were happy for that to slowly escalate. And did nothing to intervene.

Do some parents give others a bad wrap?

I get the real issue here is that people just don't like others telling them what to do, or asking them to do something. That's 100% natural.

But was there actually anything wrong with the (seemingly polite) request?

 

[kermatu]

But was there actually anything wrong with the (seemingly polite) request?

In my view, yes, because it was targeted at only one possible source of disruption.

 

[JohnM]

Not kids in this case but an infuriating adult that was just about worse than anything kids could throw up.

On a recent PER-DXB EK J flight I had a woman (she sounded American ) directly in front of me who:

a) Talked loudly to (or was that scolded and squabbled with... ) her husband across the aisle.
b) Laughed absurdly loudly at whatever she was watching on the IFE.

It was an overnight flight . I felt like saying something but refrained...

I had booked F on the return leg; should have done the same on the outbound leg .

 

[Captain Halliday]

But was there actually anything wrong with the (seemingly polite) request?

Yes. The assumption, without any evidence, that the OP’s children would be noisy and poorly behaved.

Dare I say he discriminated against them based on their age.

Pass the popcorn @tgh

 

[LadyC]

It's the assumption of the request that I don't like. He assumed the kids would be loud and annoying. It's just outright rude. You wouldn't behave that way to an adult so I don't see why children should be treated differently and spoken about like that. If they were loud and annoying, sure, then that person could make their request as they are responding to something that is happening.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

I wonder if the same person would, upon entering a lounge, approach a couple of heavy set blokes at the bar, who are perfectly behaved, and tell them he doesn't want any noise or disturbance? I am thinking the negative.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I wonder if the same person would, upon entering a lounge, approach a couple of heavy set blokes at the bar, who are perfectly behaved, and tell them he doesn't want any noise or disturbance? I am thinking the negative.

I think the distinction is that adults are supposedly able to monitor their own behaviour. Children don't usually have that same sense of awareness, or even care (which is fair enough, they are kids). Parents are supposed to monitor that.

 

[JohnK]

I think the distinction is that adults are supposedly able to monitor their own behaviour. Children don't usually have that same sense of awareness, or even care (which is fair enough, they are kids). Parents are supposed to monitor that.

Best to wait and see if the children misbehave. If so then it's ok to approach and ask parents to control their children.

 

[drron]

You can also help out.On the VA flight SYD-LST last month a couple in front had 2 youngsters-oldest probably 2.He obviously had a problem with sniffles so ears very likely playing up.But engaging him with silly faces and a bit of hide and seek he was distracted and the whingeing ceased until late into the descent.
So I have no sympathy for the entitled doctor.Wonder what his bedside manner is like if a medico.

 

[amaroo]

Haha. No. But probably because I haven't thought of it before!

Jeez, approach me with that attitude on a public service - you wouldn't dare think about doing it a second time

 

[Antoallison]

Singapore to Hong Kong is under 4 hours flying time and the good Dr was on a morning flight which I presume means a fully lit cabin and FA’s bustling up and down.

I expect evening flights to be quiet to enable everyone to get some shut eye, but on a daytime flight if I feel tired and want to sleep - that is my problem and either happens or not.

I think his request to ‘make sure your daughters are quiet” so that he could sleep peacefully was unnecessary and just wishful thinking on his part - probably something he should have kept to himself.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

What would you do?

7.30am flight? Me, well I would have politely taken the piss in some way. ie Feigned deafness, enquired why he booked a daytime flight.? Or said sure , once they have has their after take off coughtails they should nod right off.

Sorry but with daytime flights people can sleep if they can, but they should not expect a cone of silence unless it is of the Get Smart kind. For such flights it is up to the pax to come prepared with earplugs etc.

 

[maccaisking]

I found having children of my own made an amazing difference to how I perceive them on planes. I used to be one of the people looking fearfully at parents strolling down the aisle with an infant, regardless of cabin, now I now go out of my way to (where appropriate) help entertain other people's. I have been lucky to have people help me out many times and am happy to pay it forward.
Luckily mine (5/3yo) are now quite seasoned travellers, especially since they learned they can get 'bad' drinks (juice!) if they behave. With that said I have 15 hours of flying next week in J (CAN-SIN-PER-SYD) with them so may be re-posting here after that with a different opinion on their ability to behave!

*I also agree the SIN-PER (in our case starting in CAN) is a great bargain for SQ rewards seats

 

[Mattg]

7.30am flight? Me, well I would have politely taken the piss in some way. ie Feigned deafness, enquired why he booked a daytime flight.? Or said sure , once they have has their after take off coughtails they should nod right off.

Sorry but with daytime flights people can sleep if they can, but they should not expect a cone of silence unless it is of the Get Smart kind. For such flights it is up to the pax to come prepared with earplugs etc.

It's possible that the cough doctor may have been connecting from a red-eye flight (e.g. from India or Europe) and the flight was taking place during the middle of the night in his origin's time zone.

Still, doesn't excuse the behaviour. There are better ways to deal with this.