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It was the mile-high babysitter’s club.
A United flight turned into a veritable playground with wings after three rowdy children were left unchaperoned in coach class while their parents rode up front, per a viral Reddit post.
“United is now offering free babysitting,” one fly-witness quipped of the “bizarre experience,” which occurred during a flight from Houston, Texas to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Per the post, the terrible trio — who the poster estimated were 7, 9 and 10 years old — were seated “in row 8 behind restroom.” This led them to assume the parents had been “upgraded to first class” and were “seated in row one,” seemingly enjoying an inflight respite from their children in the middle of a family getaway.
Despite this unusual configuration, the unaccompanied minors were well-behaved for the majority of the flight aside from the “usual kid stuff,” including “loud talking, toys and blankets everywhere, switching seats.”
“The dad even comes back to check on them once mid flight,” the Redditor recalled.
Then, 30 minutes from landing, all hell broke loose. The boys reportedly started choking and “pounding on each other, and talking so loud it seemed as if they were “screaming.” Meanwhile, the little girl had so much slack in her seatbelt that she could roam free while harnessed like a leashed canine.
And that wasn’t all, per the poster, who was reportedly seated across the aisle from the unsupervised hellions. “Then came some sort of loud slapping the knees and chanting game right before landing while the huge mess was still on the floor against the restroom wall,” recalled the Redditor. “[Four] rows of passengers were bothered and confused about what was happening, while the cabin staff didn’t seem to notice.”
“I guess my question is…what in the actual hell?” concluded the bedraggled passenger. “Parents are upgraded so had a nice relaxing flight while a select few of us kept an eye on the misbehaved children?”
They added, “At what point should the flight attendant have stepped in and requested the parents realign to supervise their children?”
Reddit commenters agreed with their assessment with one writing, “If there are no parents around you can yell at misbehaving children. Pretty sure that’s the rule.”
“There are two types of parents: those who actually parent and then those who are nothing more than bad camp counselors who want to clock out when their shift is done,” fumed another. “It’s not even a generational thing.”
A third called the parent’s decision a “s–ty move.” “If that happened one parent has to stay with the children and one child gets upgraded or nobody is upgraded,” they said. “Some people can be so selfish.”
Coincidentally, US airlines are not legally required to seat families together, although many carriers take it upon themselves to ensure that all minors are accompanied by an adult inflight, per The Points Guy.
Unfortunately, this means that, in many instances, children can be separated from their guardians in the event of a seat switch or upgrade — a mishap that has befallen many passengers traveling with kids.
In one instance of this game of mile-high musical chairs, an incensed Southwest Airlines passenger claimed he had to sit separately from his tots due to the carrier’s auto-seat selection policy.
However, critics placed the blame with the dad, claiming that he could’ve prevented his separation anxiety by simply paying for assigned seats.
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