A man has taken to social media to issue a public service announcement to all parents who travel with their children – but not everyone agrees with his point of view
A man has sparked a debate after blasting a set of parents for bringing their contagious toddler on a flight with them. While the man claims to have no problem with infants on flights, he doesn’t appreciate it when they’re “walking Petri dishes”, knowing their germs will circulate around the cabin for the entire journey.
Taking to Reddit, he issued a public service announcement to all parents, saying: “If your kids are sick, stay home! No one deserves to get sick because of your selfishness.” It comes after he was seated one row in front of a fussy toddler who spent the entire flight crying, sniffing, and coughing.
He said: “I had a flight over the weekend and from the door I can hear kids screaming. Cool, no big deal, it’s a relatively short flight and I have earbuds. Come to find out I’m sitting a row in front of them. Still, not ideal, but I can manage.
“The flight takes off and the kids finally settle down… enough so that all I can hear are their phlegmy coughs. Yep, these parents knowingly brought their sick kids onto a plane full of people and didn’t even bother giving a heads up to people so they could pre-emptively mask up.
“I have two cloth masks in my personal bag so I pull those out but at this point, it’s too late.” He says he has been suffering with the toddler’s cold for four days now – and it’s so bad, he is struggling to breathe.
He added: “That’s not the worst part. The reason they were on the plane?? So that the walking Petri dishes could meet their baby cousin. Not only did they infect all the people around them on the plane, they are also going to greet a newborn with this sickness.”
While some users claim he should expect such things in winter, others sided with him saying it’s best to avoid flights when you’re contagious. Commenting on his post, one user said: “You’re better off assuming that anytime you fly in winter you’re sitting in a giant bucket of germs.”
Another user added: “Given how air circulates inside airplanes, honestly wouldn’t be surprised if you got it from someone else.” A third user said: “This is a tough one because obviously I don’t want to be trapped with sick kids in a giant metal tube, but at the same time, airlines don’t do refunds because you’re sick. If I dropped $2k (£1.6k) on flights I’m going. Plus, if you get sick during your trip you have no choice really but to fly back while sick. Just one of those unfortunate realities of air travel.”
