Pro pitcher Anthony Bass has sparked a major debate on Twitter after calling out an airline for making his pregnant wife clean up their toddler’s mess
Another day, another debate about what behavior is and isn’t acceptable when flying. Surprise, surprise: this is another one that centers around young kids and whether they should be allowed to do very kid-like things (like make a mess while eating popcorn) on a plane. The internet is fiercely divided, and the back-and-forth doesn’t look like it’s letting up anytime soon.
Pro MLB player Anthony Bass kicked off the argument with this tweet: “The flight attendant @united just made my 22 week pregnant wife traveling with a 5 year old and 2 year old get on her hands and knees to pick up the popcorn mess by my youngest daughter. Are you kidding me?!?!”
The tweet was accompanied by a photo that showed Bass’s toddler daughter—as well as the mess she made, and to be perfectly fair, it is an awful lot of popcorn on the floor.
Bass clearly didn’t believe it was his wife’s (the mother of said toddler) responsibility to clean up after the kid, but um, suffice it to say the whole internet is not on his side.
“Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean everyone is your servant. I hope this helps,” one person wrote.
Another tweeted in reply, “I have three kids, just flew coach 12 hours, and was able to clean up after them — for every mess. It’s called parenting. Do you expect park janitors to clean up after your pet? No; Your child, your responsibility.”
Yet another commenter asked, “Genuinely curious who should clean up the mess your 2 year old made? As a parent of three kids I am the one responsible for them.” Bass actually replied to that tweet, saying the airline employs a cleaning crew, and that this type of mess should be on them.
https://twitter.com/AnthonyBass52/status/1647636136830046209
Here’s the problem, though: the cleaning crew doesn’t necessarily have time to do a deep clean between every flight. And messes like this one can take longer to clean up, potentially causing delays for other travelers. No one wants that.
On the other hand, accidents happen. Who among us hasn’t accidentally spilled a drink or dropped something on a flight? And when has a flight attendant made an adult get on their hands and knees to clean up an accidental spill?
In other words, there are valid arguments on both sides, and the internet isn’t ever going to be a civil, reasonable place for this debate to take place, as many people pointed out.
Oh man this is exactly exactly the kind of tweet twitterers love. god speed, friend https://t.co/CHwFfkxh1O
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 17, 2023
Actually, maybe this person is right.
Just never tweet about anything you, your children, other passengers, or the crew do on an airplane. It’s a lawless, terrible place and everyone in every situation is wrong. We just shouldn’t, as people, be in the sky.
— Lucy Huber (@clhubes) April 17, 2023
Bass eventually tweeted that United Airlines was handling the matter “internally.” We just hope that doesn’t mean this flight attendant—who made a judgment call in a situation with no clear right or wrong answer—is paying too big a price.
