The shrill wailing. The quivering tongue delivering the high-pitched screech, only with a brief reprieve of silence while it, that baby, catches its breath only to trumpet again throughout the tight cabin.
Those are images, or more importantly sounds, that most of us have endured on a plane ride that couldn’t be over soon enough.
What is wrong with that kid? Why don’t they help it? Make it stop? Plug that mouth? Go take it to the back of the plane for those people to enjoy too. Where are my headphones? Doesn’t that parent have any respect for others?! And so on.
Some parents have become proactive. They took the time, and the coveted carry-on bag space, to bring gift bags of candy, ear plugs, and apologies to nearby passengers. You may remember the couple’s story that went viral a couple years ago when they brought their infant twin boys on a cross-country flight to visit their grandparents for the first time.
While courteous to others, was going to such lengths to appease their fellow passengers really necessary? Or even plain wrong, as some parents have pointed out?
The time had come for us to decide how we might interact with fellow passengers for our three-month-old twin girls’ first round-trip flights (that’s them in the double stroller photo). We told ourselves that our girls were already experienced flyers since they flew a decent amount of time in the air while in utero. Oh, who were we kidding!
Note or no note? Apology or no apology? I had read some stories and some various opinions which I allude to above, including fellow BoardingArea blogger Mommy Points’ take on the topic. In the end, as you can obviously guess from my headline, we went with the note and candy (four dark chocolates) route, but without any apology. Rather, an explanation, a reminder, if you will.
Our notes read:
Hi Stranger!
Our names are Betty and Lulu and we’re 12-week-old twins. This is our first time flying (besides some 20,000 miles we logged in utero… that felt funny!) and we don’t have a clue what’s going on or where we are, let alone that we’ll be moving at some 600MPH while 38,000’ above the ground in a giant bird.
Which leads us to our point: we are babies. (Heck, we didn’t even really write these notes… it was our dad’s idea, and mom, well, she’s a good sport!)
We might cry. We might fuss. We might not make a peep for most of flight. Who knows? We don’t even know. We guess you could consider it a gamble… and hope we don’t crap out!?
Nevertheless, we can assure you that mom and dad will uphold their part of the “traveling with infants social contract” by trying to keep us calm, cool, and quiet, instead of ignoring us while playing Candy Crush or finishing the last flyer’s failed attempt at the Sudoku ‘hard’ level.
We just wanted to say Hi, offer you a treat, and hopefully put a smile on your face.
🙂 🙂
~Have fun in Vegas, enjoy the March Madness games if that’s your thing, and Happy Travels!
Here’s a closeup view.
We flew Southwest Airlines from Indianapolis International Airport (IND) to Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) which, in my opinion, starts to push the time limit on comfort with an approximate four-hour flight time. Since we knew the 3×3 seating configuration on Southwest flights, not to mention the open seating, I planned on packing about 16 bags of four chocolates and a note to pass out as we settled into our seats and they did into theirs.
Our Group A boarding selection allowed us to take the front row. Since we each were carrying a lap child and there are only four oxygen masks over each side of three seats, my wife and I sat on opposing sides of the first row. While the initial looks from panic to concerned came from our neighbors, the attitude of our section of the plane soon came to life as smiles replaced those blank stares. As you might imagine, the Southwest Airlines flight attendants loved the notes and having the little ones up front to entertain them.
“Now, I know you all in the back are not quite as cute as these little twin girls we have in the front of the plane, but I expect y’all to behave yourselves just as I know these two are going to,” concluded the always colorful announcements from the flight attendant as we prepared for takeoff.
Our girls provided them (as they do us every day) with a smile and maybe even a little story to pass along and brighten another’s day. And that was all we wanted!
____
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I’m glad the flight went well. As you know it could have been an entirely different experience. The BEST part of your note (and most meaningful to your fellow passengers): “We can assure you that mom and dad will uphold their part of the “traveling with infants social contract” by trying to keep us calm, cool, and quiet, instead of ignoring us….” THANK YOU!! 🙂 That implied scenario (parents ignoring the needs of a child) is what infuriates others. Not the fact that the poor child is unhappy. It’s when the parent is more interested in their book, or their… Read more »
Thanks for the comment, and good point on the teenagers. Baby steps (literally)! 🙂
I’m glad you’re travelling with the little ones but I don’t like the idea of parents having to ‘apologise’ for their children. If people don’t like travelling with babies nearby, perhaps they should consider another form of transport other than an aeroplane. It’s not as though it’s something new – babies on board are pretty much an expectation now, not a freak occurrence. I think the most respectful thing parent’s can do is to keep attention on their children – it’s the ‘set down and forget’ parents that give flying with children a bad name, not the children themselves. Most… Read more »
I imagine everyone has an opinion, but I do not agree that most parents are usually doing their best. What I find is that most parents have the “they are kids; you should know we cannot control their behavior so DEAL” attitude and they are so immune to their kids bad behavior that they don’t bother to do anything to minimize it. While no one really wants to hear a kid scream because of altitude change, we know it could happen. It is the other “stuff” and the parents indifference to try to do anything about it (like not positioning… Read more »
Congrats on the first flight being a success! Welcome to the club. We’re logging our 100th flight with our almost 6 year old next week and your twins will be there in no time. That’s a lot of goodie bags, thought… 😉