A woman was looking forward to enjoying the views of Africa from 40,000ft on her dream holiday – but her experience was ruined by a family who let their kids climb all over her on a six-hour flight
A woman has slammed a set of parents who let their children ‘climb all over her’ on a plane so they could look out of the window. She explained how she spent years saving up enough money to enjoy the trip of a lifetime with her husband – and they decided to sit separately so they could each enjoy a window seat on the plane.
She made sure to plan every second of their trip down to the finest detail, but she forgot to factor in other people’s ‘entitlement’. Taking to Reddit, she recounted: “Flew first class, Polaris lounge access every leg. We booked separate rows, window seats, because, omg – Africa! Don’t want to miss a second of it.
“We had a 6.5 hour leg from Addis Ababa to Cape Town and are snuggled in (after a 14 hour leg from Washington) and a family of 4 board. The lie-flat pods are in a 2-2-2 layout.”
She shared how the mum instructed her young son to take the middle seat next to her, the young boy recoiled at the thought of sitting next to a stranger.
It appeared that his father also wasn’t keen on the arrangement, given that he sat himself down in the seat in front of her and instantly dozed off, leaving the mum to single-handedly look after the two youngsters.
She added: “The mum sits next to me and her toddler daughter and son in the middle, one row up.
“As soon as the plane is airborne (seatbelt signs still on, flight attendants still sitting) the daughter gets up and crawls into mum’s lap. And plays on mum’s iPad without headphones. Full volume.”
Each time she needed to use the loo, she found the young lad occupying her seat, gazing out of the window – and on every occasion, the mother suggested she let her son be and take the middle seat instead.
“I decline every time. After a couple of hours I finally lie flat to sleep (24+ hours awake) and wake up to horrible pain in my knees – the daughter used my legs as a bench to look out the window,” she continued.
“I understand that flying with kids is tough (mine are now adults) but I’m pleased to say nothing escalated- was too thrilled to be on my dream trip to let anything dampen my spirits.”
Responding to her post, most users concurred that she managed the situation far better than they would have, with one remarking: “The second my legs were touched I’d have probably started screaming.”
Another user chimed in: “I’m sorry I would have said something as soon as I woke up to a kid on me.”
A third user advised: “You need to more aggressively tell them to f*** off. Speak up for yourself.”