A viral post on Twitter/X about a screaming baby on a plane has the internet divided. Does complaining about a crying baby on a plane cross the line, or is it fair game?
In this post:
Crying baby on Delta flight sparks heated debate
Pat McAuliffe of Barstool Sports took to Twitter/X to share his misery on a recent Delta flight, with the first post now having been viewed over 15 million times. In the first post of the series, he wrote the following:
If your child is screaming on a flight (that’s late with no AC and hasn’t taken off yet @delta) show it a f*cking phone. Brain rot the baby on TikTok until it’s quiet. Is that too much to ask?
He followed that up with another video, where the baby can be heard crying, writing:
I do feel bad for the parents but at some point you gotta try something new. Walk his a$$ up and down the aisle, distract him, do something. It’s still going on. Simply praying it’ll stop is not acceptable
He then had another post:
At what point does this become a medical emergency? It’s been two hours. Also why are these people not at least talking to the kid to soothe him? STAND UP AND WALK HIM AROUND
After getting off “the flight from hell,” as he called it, he posted another video, saying that “at the end of the day this is Delta’s fault.”
He explained that the airline put them on a flight with no air conditioning, they were late departing, there was no gate available upon arrival at JFK for around one hour, and there was no gate agent on arrival, as the gate agent was reportedly late for work. I’m a little suspicious of some of those claims (like, Delta has more than one gate agent at JFK), but I’m just passing on what he’s stating.
I feel bad for all parties in these situations
You wouldn’t think that someone simply ranting about a crying baby would be viewed over 15 million times, but clearly this is a topic that many people feel passionately about. People seem divided on this:
- Some think this guy is a complete jerk and are calling him all kinds of names; they’re also saying he should’ve put on noise canceling headphones, should’ve offered to help, etc.
- Some agree with the guy, and think parents should do more, since babies shouldn’t cry for two hours
I’ll be the first to admit that my opinion has certainly evolved since becoming a parent. Is someone else’s crying baby on a plane annoying? I mean, of course it is. It’s incredibly unpleasant to listen to (for many reasons — not just the noise, but because you don’t like to see anyone suffer).
Also, a lot of people don’t understand how noise canceling headphones work (they can eliminate consistent sounds, but don’t necessarily cancel out loud crying). As much as I love kids, when I board a flight and there’s a little kid seated near me, I’m not like “oh yay, how exciting.”
All that being said:
- Commercial air travel is a shared form of transportation for people from all parts of society, and babies are part of society
- It’s a little rich to judge the parenting of others, in particular if you don’t actually have kids, as seems to be the case here (and most parents I know don’t judge other parents, because everyone is different, and there’s no single right or wrong way to handle things)
- Sometimes babies scream uncontrollably and it can be hard to get them to stop, so this guy’s genius solutions might not work
- I can promise that however bad this experience was for the guy complaining, it was much worse for the parents
Parents should of course always do what they can to keep their young ones entertained when traveling, and minimize disruptions. But sometimes babies will be babies, and they have a mind of their own, and there’s nothing you can do.
People should show parents grace in those situations, in my opinion. As he even mentioned in his video, he could tell that the parents were really stressed, and were trying. Just ranting at the internet about it seems a bit immature.
Bottom line
A Barstool Sports personality ranted online about a crying baby on a flight, in a video that has been viewed well over 15 million times. While some have sided with him, the responses to his complaint have been overwhelmingly negative.
Of course a crying baby can be annoying for anyone in the vicinity. At the same time, it’s a fact of life, commercial air travel is a shared form of transportation, and I can promise that it’s really unpleasant for the parents as well. If/when this guy becomes a parent, hopefully others show him more grace than he has shown the baby and parents here.
Where do you stand on this rant about a crying baby on a plane?
Parents who fly with kids under 6 should have their children removed by child protective services. There is absolutely nowhere your kid needs to be that you need to force them to sit in a pressurized metal tube for hours. They won't care that grandma died and they won't remember that trip to Maldives.
"As much as I love kids, when I board a flight and there’s a little kid seated near me, I’m not like “oh yay, how exciting.”"
I guess I am an outlier. I genuinely like sitting near kids. It brightens my day.
Another selfish, entitled, arrogant bro who thinks everything should happen according to his world view. babies on planes are a reality of life.
Don't like it, then fly private. Otherwise, zip it. You are just a summer's eve and no one cares about your first-world problems.
Worse than a crying baby is a little kid who is wild because of lack of parental discipline. That said, babies should not be allowed in international business class if it is a red eye.
The excuse could be that children under 12 cannot sit by themselves for safety reasons, such as if the oxygen mask drops. They must be seated next to a parent or equivalent. Of course, that leaves an opening for...
Worse than a crying baby is a little kid who is wild because of lack of parental discipline. That said, babies should not be allowed in international business class if it is a red eye.
The excuse could be that children under 12 cannot sit by themselves for safety reasons, such as if the oxygen mask drops. They must be seated next to a parent or equivalent. Of course, that leaves an opening for children under 2. Close that opening by not equipping business class seats (the pods, not the European type business class with economy seats) with more than one oxygen mask.
Barstool Sports has made a brand out of being entitled whiny man-children. This dude is staying on brand.
Barstool Pat is an asshole. Put your noise canceling headset on and get on with life.
(I am never excited about children on aircraft but an adult of ordinary intelligence should be able to understand this).
Upgrade to noise cancelling headphones and you will live blissfully
How much did barstool pat have to drink that day ? Humorous piece to us av geeks as a crying baby is a rookie complaint. Up there with being out of your meal selection. 100% the influencers fault. Babies and their parents have a right to fly. Perhaps barstool bro can fly private next time.
Speaking of manners, well raised gentlemen do not wear baseball caps indoors for hours. He is either ignorant or possibly insecure about thinning hair.
Thank you for pointing out the hat thing. It's a stupid look. And gentlemen should know better.
Ben, not having kids doesn't automatically disqualify me from assessing the actions of parents. I know what reasonable public parenting looks like by virtue of being a member of the public.
Ignoring your screaming child for an extended period of time on an airplane is wrong. As long as the child is still screaming, parents need to make their best effort to calm the child down. I understand parents are not magicians but they should...
Ben, not having kids doesn't automatically disqualify me from assessing the actions of parents. I know what reasonable public parenting looks like by virtue of being a member of the public.
Ignoring your screaming child for an extended period of time on an airplane is wrong. As long as the child is still screaming, parents need to make their best effort to calm the child down. I understand parents are not magicians but they should be making a continuous effort. I don't know what exactly happened here, but I have been on flights where the parents just shrug and let it go on, expecting everyone else to tolerate the consequences of their decision.
(PS: In general the statement "you're not X therefore you can't have an opinion on Y" is wrong. It's almost always deployed as a weak attempt to silence disagreement when the arguer can't think of a relevant rebuttal.)
I'm assuming that they weren't ignoring the child, so much as nothing they did worked. And not having a child does mean that you don't really understand how difficult it can be to calm a child down.
(pauses)
No, it doesn't.
Clearly you do not have children. Good. Keep it that way.
A baby is going to baby, no matter how much performative calming you wish to see from the parents. Grow a pair and buy some noise-cancelling headphones.
Feel bad for this guy and wonder if he will ever have kids. Yes, it is really annoying having a crying baby on a plane but there are babies that cry because parents don't care and babies that cry because they are hurting and crying is the only way for them to express that. Has he heard of ear pain? That is very common when babies are on planes, change on pressure can cause a lot of pain and there is not much parents can do if that happens.
Based on obviously only the information in this story and comments, it seems like there's blame all around. Delta's mess of a flight probably made some adults want to scream. The parents should have tried doing more (maybe ask the FA if they could get up and walk him/her around), and the guy could have been more understanding. No one wins here.
The difference between a baby screaming and an adult screaming is that the adult should have learned enough self-control to know when it's acceptable and when it isn't long ago. If there's no AC and the baby's hot, showing it a screen probably isn't going to do anything and the parents probably already tried that long before this "adult" started his twitter whine.
At the end of the day, commercial aviation is PUBLIC transportation. You...
The difference between a baby screaming and an adult screaming is that the adult should have learned enough self-control to know when it's acceptable and when it isn't long ago. If there's no AC and the baby's hot, showing it a screen probably isn't going to do anything and the parents probably already tried that long before this "adult" started his twitter whine.
At the end of the day, commercial aviation is PUBLIC transportation. You will deal with the public, that includes kids, that includes pets, that includes adults with worse manners than kids or pets. Put on your big boy britches and deal with it.
The mum posted that he was unwell, they were travelling from a wedding and believe it was his first flight. She was very polite and seems was made to feel embarrassed by this.
As an adult he should have bought some noise cancelling headphones, or even regular earbuds and listened to some music or something else distracting rather than being an attention seeker. Am sure he was perfect as a baby. Not
He has a barstool twitter account. That automatically disqualifies the "as an adult" statement
If there was no AC no wonder why the baby would cry. That guy probably doesn't have kids so he blames the parents first. Then he realises he can blame Delta, of course they're to blame if there is no AC
We live in a judgemental society. Fly private.
But also, F them kids bro.
Parents should be responsible. Also use common sense and decency. The idea that my parents would have considered taking us as toddlers on an overnight flight would have been unthinkable.
I know this is harsh. But who cares?? It's bottom feeder trash content. I'd much rather see a finished review of your Air France new la premiere product than this internet drivel about a screaming baby. You know, high quality rather than recycled internet trash content.
Exactement, plus de La Première s'il vous plaît
@AeroB13a
Vous ne parlez pas francais. Non. Ill e evident que.
I'm with Jason. Over the last few months there's been a really disappointing increase in clickbait-y trash stories like this. I stopped reading Gary and Matthew because their content swung almost exclusively toward that after Covid. Very sorry to see OMAAT heading in the same direction.
I for one will be very disappointed if the Paris Air Show is not covered extensively herein. When I asked in an earlier post if Ben was going to the show, a matron like contributor told me to wind my neck in. I took the response to mean that Ben was not prepared to answer a simple question with a civil comment.
I believe Ben isn't doing a full review of the new La Premiere, because it's sponsored and a special flight, where it might not be reflective of a "normal" flight.
No, because in his preview that there would be a full review, with the appropriate caveats
* he said
Jason, don't read then. This is Ben's blog and he is free to publish whatever he wants. When you have your own blog you can do the same. I for one appreciate this kind of articles (and I was on a similar situation with a crying baby behind me two weeks ago on an American Airlines flight.) Rude.
I won't Ricky. It's just sad to see the degradation of what had been a sterling product. That said, it's happening everywhere and, as your comments belie, everybody's standards continue to sink. Too bad, I came here for reliable high quality and timely content. That seems to be giving way to less, but more drivel. Ashamed.
someone should have told the baby they were on a premium airline!! that might have soothed them!!
I lol'd
I was on a flight recently to GRR and this toddler was relentless for the first hour, but finally naturally calmed down.
However, the parents made ZERO effort that first hour to do anything to calm their child. That's 100% on the parents. What made it worse is they were totally oblivious.
I think this is the crucial point.
From what I gather in this case, the parents were embarrassed.
Then I have sympathy.
Although perhaps their embarrassment was what stopped them walking up and down the aisle.
It is good if parents have confidence that if they try, people will be sympathetic.
It's the situations where parents give the impression that they don't care which annoy me.