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A woman, who doesn’t have kids of her own, says she was forced to sit next to two misbehaving children during a flight, while their parents sat behind them, drinking.

And the worst part? She says everyone assumed they were her children, leading to glaring looks and nasty comments from other passengers.

As she explained, she was already exhausted by the time she boarded the flight, and the fact she had to deal with someone else’s children was the icing on the cake.

“I had to take a flight home this weekend unexpectedly because my dad just suffered a stroke. I spent the entire weekend deep cleaning the house/meal prepping for my mum and then having quality time with my dad when they eventually discharged him.

“By the time my flight back came around, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I had managed an aisle seat on booking the ticket and assumed the two blocked out seats next to me would be a couple. Wrong.”

“They were two kids, later primary school aged, and their parents sat together in the seats behind them so they could sit together as a couple. These kids whined the entire flight and fought. They made crude jokes and used electronics (iPad, phone, Nintendos) without headphones. They fidgeted in their seats, wrestled each other, and were LOUD. It was also a late evening flight, so I was hoping to get a nap in or close my eyes before my fiancé picked me up for the drive home.

“However, even with my noise cancelling headsets, I got no sleep due to them yelling or their arms/legs hitting me during their ‘wrestling’. They were definitely old enough to know better. I looked back at the parents once during the 2.5 hr flight and asked them if they could quiet down their kids please. They shot me a bad look, said, ‘Kids’ half-seriously once, laughed, and went back to drinking.”

She says it was bad enough she had to put up with the children’s behaviour, but the situation was made even worse by the fact everyone assumed they were her naughty children.

“The mildly infuriating part? Due to a few factors: our ages, my engagement ring was on, us all sitting were together in a row, and them having the same hair colour/skin tone as mine, everyone near us assumed they were MY kids. Even the crew. I got so many bad looks and comments around me for ‘how loud I was letting them be’ and ‘some people can’t control their own kids’ but I don’t even HAVE kids. Their parents were behind us drinking seltzer and I was getting flack for their poor parenting.

“So on top of an emotionally charged weekend, I not only didn’t get to rest and relax on my flight back, but also got flack for kids that aren’t mine. I probably could have said more, but I was mentally exhausted and zoned out.”

What do you think of this situation? Let us know in the comments below. 

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  • Everytime I heard a comment I would have quickly and quite loudly told the person that the kids did not belong to me and I believed they belonged to the couple seated behind them.
    I would have also spoken to flight crew and asked if i could be moved.

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  • You are a better person than I am, I would have told the kids off and if the parents said anything I would have told them off too. It’s bad enough that you were emotionally drained but to have to go through that it’s not on. Some parents need to be held responsible for their kids. I know it’s too late now but I would have asked to be moved. Shame on their parents

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  • I think she should have said more. The flight attendants could have helped out if she had spoken with them.

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  • Would have outted the parents very loudly to the whole plane. Reminds me of the Home Alone movie. Parents are sitting up in first class while the kids were stuck in economy so the rest of the plane can put up with them! What the!!

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  • This is why being taught manners is crucial!

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  • I would have complained and have my seat changed. Like this isnt fair at all!! Your kids, you deal with the chaos

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  • Oh no! As if it’s not bad enough to have to put up with them sitting next to you, but next level for other passengers to think they were your naughty kids

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  • I would have complained to a flight attendant and asked to be moved.

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  • That is absolutely appalling! People like that shouldn’t have kids. They obviously can’t be bothered being parents.

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  • That’s disgusting. You shouldn’t have had to deal with other parent’s children. That only happens if you’re the Nanny. I would have complained and asked to be moved or for one of the parents to swap places so they could keep their children under control. I’m so sorry you had to deal with this after what you’d just gone through.

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  • You poor thing. I can’t believe you had to endure that and I’m so sorry. How irresponsible, rude, selfish and disrespectful of the parents. I would have asked to move seats, but understand there’s not always a spare seat on a flight.

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  • I can’t believe that some parents think it’s ok to let this happen and not control the children. Shame on them! But I would have definitely said something to the flight attendant for sure

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  • Be glad you where not sitting next to me every time I get on a plane I cant help but snore burp and fart and I can tell you it is bad .I think it is a nervous condition I have but I can tell you the dirty looks I get are real bad.

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  • Cabin crew are available and speaking up to them should have occurred.

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  • I say shame on the parents and I truly wish that airlines did something more about such occurrences. I know I wouldn’t be in that spot and bet the parents of said children would not either. First thing I’d do is go to flight attendant to see if I could have seat changed. If not possible, I might try speaking to parents if they appeared reasonable but thinking that ship sailed. Finally I would at the least at for some sort of compensation. Flying is not what it used to be and I have no respect for selfish, responsibility dodging parents.

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  • As a mum who’s travelled a lot with kids I’ve taught them to behave and be respectful of others around them. Also as a flight attendant I advise that tablets and phone can only be used with headphones or earpieces. I’d also get the parents to each sit with a child. The situation you were in is not good, but also not safe if there was an event to occur. People need to be more aware of their surroundings and look after their own kids.

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  • What horrible parents !!! That is so wrong on so many levels.
    It should have been a Kid each.
    Or the one parent on the end.

    The fact people would be this selfish is disgusting. There is no way in HELL I would have been polite about this and considered the parents feelings at all, I would of been demanding to be moved or them to be moved to my seat to parent their children. I get being mentally exhausted..but no way would I of stayed in that situation. I would of made it very known the kids were NOT MINE AND IN FACT THE PARENTS WERE DRINKING BEHIND, they made a stupid seating choice, that was beneficial to only themselves at the expense of a strangers comfortability and the planes and neglecting their parental duties ENTIRELY.

    What behaviours we allow to continue will continue. If someone spoke up maybe they would have thought twice about it and would of had to take care of their OWN miss behaving kids.

    They will do this again now because they got away with it.

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  • She should have commented to the cabin crew, made it known to other passengers that the parents were behind enjoying themselves. I am sorry but keeping quite did not solve the problem. Unfortunately she has herself to blame.

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  • Ok that sounds terrible
    .. I would hate to go through that. I definitely would have asked to move. What a coincidence that the kids looked like her


    • I agree. Go talk to canin crew and let them know you can’t handle the kids of the couple behind you and you need to be moved please

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  • This would be my worst nightmare… I am normally very shy so I will have to put up with it and complain to my friends for months.

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