A couple was asked to stop changing their baby’s diaper on an airplane tray table, but somehow, they didn’t think they were the problem
There’s been a lot of debate lately about babies on planes—is it OK for them to make messes, cry, and do other normal baby things, or should they be banned from planes altogether? Obviously, no rational person thinks banning babies and toddlers from any public space is the answer, but this couple isn’t helping that argument. They got called out for changing their baby’s very dirty diaper on an airplane tray table and somehow didn’t see the issue.
This story comes (of course) from Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole” forum, where a recent flyer asked the internet to weigh in on whether she was in the wrong for asking the parents (very politely) to take their diaper activities to the plane’s bathroom.
“I (28F) was on a flight for several hours today, seated behind a couple with a baby,” she wrote. “I’m a really nauseous flyer, so I took a Dramamine ahead of time and 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.”
She continued, “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 when I had to go back there to throw up after the smell hit me. 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.”
Seems like a pretty reasonable request, right? Well, the mom in question didn’t think so.
“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,” OP wrote. “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.”
Do we really need to break this one down? Airplane tray tables are small and flimsy—not even a convenient place to change your baby, especially when you have access to a bathroom that has an actual changing table. But beyond that, this is just gross. Those tray tables aren’t cleaned or disinfected regularly. Think of all the bacteria this baby’s bare bum came into contact with—and all the poor people who came after these rude parents and unknowingly ate and drank off that tray table. Absolutely not. Look, if parents are in a bind, need to change a pee diaper, and somehow can’t make it to the restroom, we can see attempting a fast change on the actual seat on a changing pad, but that’s where we draw the line. This was way over it.
Obviously, banning babies from flights is ridiculous. But banning parents like these ones? We could get behind it. And from now on, we’ll be thoroughly disinfecting our tray tables before using them.
