The woman explained what happened.
I was on a flight for several hours today, seated behind a couple with a baby. I’m a really nauseous flyer, so I did my best to get some sleep during the flight. This didn’t happen because of the baby’s crying, but oh well, I know flights are scary and stressful for infants and there was nothing anyone could do about that.
What got to me was the couple changing their baby’s extremely stinky #2 diaper right in the middle of their seats, using the mom’s food tray as a changing table. We were at the back of the plane, right by the bathrooms, which I confirmed had baby changing tables. I didn’t say anything the first time, but the second time I heard them go into the diaper bag a couple hours later. I asked if they could please go use the plane bathroom instead of exposing everyone on the plane to the smell.
The mom went off on me and said I had no idea how stressful it is to travel with an infant, which is true—I don’t have kids. The flight attendant at the back of the plane agreed with me and asked them to only use the bathrooms to change their baby, plus a few minutes later the pilot made an announcement that all diaper changing needed to be done in the bathrooms, after which both parents looked extremely annoyed.
Was I wrong for asking them to stop changing their baby in the middle of the plane and inadvertently bringing it to the attention of the flight crew?
People in the comments were on her side.
- There are changing tables in the bathrooms. That’s what they are for. sbinjax / Reddit
- Basic rules of baby changing: don’t do it, where people eat or where people are in close proximity. If you have a choice, always use the changing tables. loopyloo54321 / Reddit
- The flight attendant and the pilot agreed with you and made announcements to verify that what they did was gross. People eat on those trays and while I know they are supposed to clean them between flights, let’s be honest, sometimes they might miss. WickedAngelLove / Reddit
- TBH, I’m surprised the flight attendant hadn’t told them this the first time. toxicredox / Reddit
- You were asking something reasonable and for all that travelling with an infant is stressful, the parents know this when booking the ticket!
The only point of sympathy I would have for the parents is that the changing facilities in most airplanes are barely fit for purpose. The change tables on short haul aircraft are wedged into the corner of the fuselage and offer basically no room. It is my single worst experience changing a baby in 18 months. But still, don’t change nappies on seats. YoshiJoshi_ / Reddit
Preview photo credit No_Cartographer8186 / Reddit
