A tale of two children (in J)

[RAM]

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 .

Shy and retiring though I am....

when such a passenger continues once the lights are dimmed and meal service has gone - THEN I act.

I'll wait until a suitably embarrassing comment is made and then I will join the conversation by raising my voice to their volume level and say; "and I thought it was someone with a movie on speaker that I was listening to for the last hour..."

For some reason the 'speaker's volume' gets turned down after that.

Worked wonderfully with a slightly different version in TPR with only one other occupant using mobile phone pon speaker (not in one of the two phone rooms) only a few metres behind me.

After castigating his wife over failing on password attempts back in South Africa he began dictating what he wanted the new password to be. I strolled over and said in equal volume something along the lines that his suggestion was such an easy password to crack...

Wife was not happy to have been on speaker phone (without knowing).



With children, most of us were one once....

But where the parent allows child free 'terror' rein while they have the headphones on across the aisle (and said child stands up and start dropping food/drink into my or my wife's suite/seat - then I request the parent to interupt their movie.

Very rarely are kids the worst issue but occasionally... last return from Europe the IFE was shut down about 40 minutes out and 4 yr old screamed non-stop the whole way to the terminal (could play the oboe). She was angry that she did not see the end of the cartoon. I kid you not. A doctor even came along as he thought she must have pressure equalisation issues.

 

[Captain Halliday]

If they just put ear plugs in the amenity kits it J this wouldn’t be an issue for Dr X.

Oh wait...

Pass the popcorn please.

 

[TomVexille]

This has to be my single biggest fear when flying. Just imagine having to drink the peasant’s J class fizz. It’s just not right.

Happened to us

 

[Pushka]

Happened to us

Well yeah after you drank F champagne dry........

 

[Matt_01]

If they just put ear plugs in the amenity kits it J this wouldn’t be an issue for Dr X.

Oh wait...

Well that’s just mean, now you will confuse all those who do not travel SQ J. SQ do have candles and crystal fish in their F kits, go figure.

 

[Quickstatus]

Just imagine having to drink the peasant’s J class fizz.

Wrong spelling?. Should be p...?

 

[tuapekastar]

Presumptuous, entitled, arrogant, bigoted and rude behavior by Dr X. The OP responded with admirable restraint (possibly due to shock/surprise at the gall of the Dr.)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Presumptuous, entitled, arrogant, bigoted and rude behavior by Dr X. The OP responded with admirable restraint (possibly due to shock/surprise at the gall of the Dr.)

Meh. Ermen didn't seem too concerned until the lawn-mower parent group got involved.

 

[Forg]

If they just put ear plugs in the amenity kits it J this wouldn’t be an issue for Dr X.

Ahem. It’s Dr xx_.
Dr X barely has a part-ownership of a bulk-billing general practice, let alone the secret rocket base in the volcano that Dr xx_ has!

 

[dajop]

Meh. Ermen didn't seem too concerned until the lawn-mower parent group got involved.

Don’t get the link to lawn mower parenting.

Didn’t see anyone concerned that the Dr might have offended the children ... more about an adult to adult interaction.

 

[Zac_AU]

Can you explain how this would work in practice? If babies are crying in Economy would they be moved into Business?

I'm just talking about premium cabins J and F. Y is really just take whatever you get, though I still maintain having screaming-child-free zones in Y (like Scoot does) is best for everyone.

I don't care if adults travel in J or F provided they are also well behaved.

The difference is Adults can be banned/arrested/abused if they're messing up, whereas you can't blame a small child for screaming or playing up. You blame the parents. And I'm not talking about a small amount of noise or whatever that doesn't go on for very long, I'm not a grinch. But continual screaming babies or children, or kids kicking seats/pressing the call button repeatedly/being generally disruptive is just not on. Thankfully it doesn't happen very often, but when it does it needs to be dealt with.

if there are little ones in J/F, the airline should move all the pax out of the cabin back into Y. Problem solved.

See, this comment is indicative of the attitude a lot of parents(of disruptive children, not well behaved ones) seem to have(I dont mean you personally, you dealt with it reasonably). If someone is causing disruption to other passengers (child or adult), then they should be removed/punished/sorted out. I get that you love your little angel - but I don't.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Don’t get the link to lawn mower parenting.

Didn’t see anyone concerned that the Dr might have offended the children ... more about an adult to adult interaction.

This...

He wasn't overly rude so I wasn't particularly offended...

...

I told my wife and she told her mummy friends and they found this encounter incredulous and said I was too polite - they would have had some harsher words.

and this...

...but when the kid hasnt done a single thing to deserve being made to feel bad about themselves or the parent has to defend them for no reason at all, its not right.

Its not an elders right or privilege to make minors feel coughty about themselves just so the elder feels righteous about themselves.

Yeah, this big hero of this story is going to be sitting around with his equally important peers, cheering about how he put a parent in his/her place because the kids dared to exist in his space. What a wonderful example of an adult, thats sarcasm if you didnt pick up on it.

 

[drron]

This one?
View attachment 147042

How funny that there is a child in the picture though.



To an overseas country though.

Still a Singaporean airline with a Singaporean crew which remains Singaporean until it lands.
By the way can you tell me how many SQ flights from SIN are scheduled to land elsewhere in Singapore?

 

[Forg]

Hmm ... ‘Ron’ has three characters, just like xx_ ... I’m detecting a not too subtle secret identity!!

 

[Pushka]

Still a Singaporean airline with a Singaporean crew which remains Singaporean until it lands.
By the way can you tell me how many SQ flights from SIN are scheduled to land elsewhere in Singapore?

Well drron, not all that many I believe. But being an international airline it does need to show some cultural sensitivies.

 

[drron]

Well drron, not all that many I believe. But being an international airline it does need to show some cultural sensitivies.

As do it's passengers-both ways.

 

[ermen]

Meh. Ermen didn't seem too concerned until the lawn-mower parent group got involved.

well it wasnt bad that it disrupted the flight. and obviously the situation did not escalate.

but it was sufficiently out of the ordinary to warrant a mention - if anything for the sheer directness that obviously caught me off guard a little. this is maybe a 1 in 100 event (if any?)

 

[Princess Fiona]

[MOD HAT]

The subject of children and infants in premium cabins is always a contentious one.
Please continue the robust discussion but don’t allow your disagreement to overspill into antagonizing each other.
Thank you

[MOD HAT]

 

[33kft]

I get that you love your little angel - but I don't.

You're entirely entitled to have this point of view. I in general don't like other people - and yet I get squeezed in with them for hours on end on flights. You can put kids wherever you like on the plane but I still have to be stuck with adults, and they tend to be way more obnoxious. I wish there was a solution for all of our problems that was affordable but short of flying F for every trip (in my case), there's got to be some give and take.

 

[Zac_AU]

You can put kids wherever you like on the plane but I still have to be stuck with adults, and they tend to be way more obnoxious

Just because you don't want to spend 12 hours next to a screaming baby in F or J, doesn't mean you automatically want to spend 12 hours next to drunk or roudy idiot adults either. You can hate both. It's OK.

Anyone being disruptive - screaming kids or drunk bogan adults or whatever - should be banned/moved/deplaned/deairlocked.