Woman refuses to 'unrecline' plane seat for unruly child and crammed mom behind her, Reddit responds
Children on a plane are a nightmare for almost everyone - unless the child is yours. And if you are flying overnight, then it is safe to say you can bid goodbye to your sleep. A passenger who shared her story on Reddit under r/AmITheA*****e narrated how a child kept kicking her seat and pulling her hair. However, the woman chose not to take issue with the behavior at first.
She and her husband decided to be understanding and did not complain. However, once the child fell asleep, the mother said something that left the passenger livid. The mother was carrying a child seemingly older than 2 in order for the child to avail free travel on her parent's lap. At night when the Redditor decided to recline the seat 'about three-quarters of the way, not fully', the mother immediately tapped her shoulder to ask her to un-recline, as it was getting uncomfortable for her.
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The Redditor decided that she had had enough, and remained as she was. She shared to the forum and asked if she was the a*****e to cram the mother in her seat.
User mngirl2465 shared the story under the title, "AITA for refusing to un-recline my seat on an airplane after a mother with her child asked me to?"
The post read, "I had a fifteen hour flight that began at 8 PM and had been planning to sleep throughout the flight to help the time go by, as well as catching up on sleep after traveling for 24+ hours."
"On the flight, there was a mom, dad and a child that was about three years old (older than the under 2 limit for a child to sit in a parents lap for free, for sure). Throughout the first two hours, the child kicked my husbands and my seat, stood up on their parents lap to grab my hair and pull on my shirt and shoving the papers in the back of the seat in between our seats, poking us with the papers. Occasionally, I got a break from the child kicking me when she switched to her fathers lap, though at that time she began kicking my husbands seat. We remained quiet as we know it probably is difficult traveling with children," the post continued.
"Finally, when the child was sleeping, about four hours into the flight , I decided I, too, could rest. I reclined my chair, about three quarters of the way, not fully, but enough to be comfortable for my sleep. But, since the child was larger than the normal under two years old for lap-sitting, it wasn’t as comfortable for the mother. Immediately, she tapped my shoulder asking me to move my chair up so she could be comfortable. And I’m sure having a child in your lap is not as pleasant, especially when they’re larger and on a long flight."
"I, however, remained in the reclining position, as I felt that I had put up with her child making me uncomfortable for hours and preventing me from sleeping when I was in need of it," she noted. "However, in doing so, I made the mother more crammed in her seat, as she needed space for the both of them. AITA for refusing to move up my seat?"
This received an affirming response from the other users on the forum. User nottheblackhat shared their thoughts about how parents are not mindful of their children's bad behavior and said, "NTA and a better human than me. No one is comfortable on normal commercial flights and you have already sacrificed a lot for that random family."
"Parents feel they are entitled to more comforts way too often. Simply for having children," the user added. "And before anyone jumps down my throat, no I am not saying that people should be a******s to parents and/or children. I'm saying that parents should not expect everyone to bend over backwards for them."
Another user shared how they think parents are not entitled to any special privilege just for having kids. Parents should be more responsible and not cause trouble to others, they felt. User Facetunethis said, "As long as you realize that some actions you might take might make the child annoying in a whole new way. Do what you want. NTA"
"Do parents deserve special privileges? No. Will agitating a child potentially result in a meltdown you then have to listen to? Yes," they added. "Kids are individual people, and parents may do their best but at the end of the day they do have their own feelings and actions that are beyond anyone's control. Just a terrible situation to be in for all parties. They should have paid for a third seat and brought a car seat."
Overall, it was clear who was actually at fault. While it is hard to control a child's actions, Redditors seemed to agree that it is the type of parenting a child receives that determines their behavior.
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