ceb7369

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the droolers. I was seated in the very back row of a plane once, where the seats do not recline, next to a sweet, little, old chinese lady. However, I found her much less endearing when she proceeded to put her head on my shoulder and fall asleep before I could think of any way to politely get her off it. If it weren't for the completely scary Hell's Angel biker guy on my other side I would've edged away from it, but unfortunately I was stuck with her drooling head for the duration. And yes, I tried leaning forward and getting up, but her head remained magically in the exact same place so that when I sat back down it was right there again.

kswl

"I actually just took out a caculator to figure out how many diapers I changed between the years I was 20 and 27, and the number came out to 20,120."

Are you at work?

JAGIRL

ceb,
That's funny. Perhaps a quick but efficient jab would have done the trick
Of course you would have quickly apologised for the "nervous tick" when she woke up

kopp

Then there's the person in the waaay back who tries pushing and shoving, "excuse me, excuse me, I've got a connecting flight", as s/he's trying to deplane ahead of everyone else.

Of course, I oh so politely tell this person that most of us are in the same boat, can't she see that first class hasn't even left the plane, there is nowhere for you to go.

Once the plane lands, it works out quite nicely if everyone exits in order.

Happy travels y'all!

ceb7369

JAGIRL,

Tried! This woman was dead asleep, mouth open and nothing was moving her. I even resorted to shouldering her head up and away at one desperate point, but it came right back into position. Finally asked flight attendant for another seat, but the plane was packed full.

simpsonc510

For those of you who don't like all the awful smells, and that includes me, there used to be a product (I think at Bath and Body) for keeping your nasal passages fresh. It may still be there. I forget what it's called. It's like eucalyptus, in a very small tin, with a sliding lid, and perferated top. You just slide the lid over, and then BREATHE in the smell from the perferated top... works wonders, and doesn't offend anyone else. Now where did I store that little thing? I'll need it in August for some l-o-n-g flights I'm taking.

This thread is really a riot. I've got lots of NO-NO's but I think most of them are already on this thread so I'll just keep quiet.

(Oh, re: snoring... I guess I must have been REALLY TIRED on a flight from Bangkok to Tokyo, in business class upstairs on the 747... the FA mentioned something to me as I was deplaning, about "... my, that was a good sleep"... so I want to apologize to any and all who happened to be on that flight with me!!! I hope my snoring didn't keep you from sleeping)

grantop

Wait a minute, had to chime in here. SAnParis, near the top of this thread you state that "Let me address the 'changing the baby' issue (which was changing the baby in your seat), having done that myself, many times . . ." and now you say "I probably have changed a diaper in an airplane seat before, I don't really recall" so, which is it? And what's with saying "It is always best to know whom your attacking" are you supposed to be someone special and the rest of us should to be honored that you're changing diapers in the seat next to us? And while you're on the topic of 'attacking' I think you've done a pretty good job forcing an air of superiority on the non-parents here.

You asked before if we thought you should just leave your child home? The answer is "no" your baby is more than welcomed on any flight; you however can stay home until you lean some respect, consideration and general good manners.

Have a great day!

cantstayhome

How could I have forgotten the stinky feet!

We were on a flight earlier this year surrounded by a group of teenagers returning to England from their spring break trip to the States. The one sitting behind me took his shoes off. The French flight attendant walked up and down the aisle sniffing quite vigorously until she found the source of the offending odor. She barked at him (yes, she really did bark) to put his shoes back onto his stinky feet. She then ran down the aisle spraying air freshener (which was actually worse than the stinky feet, by the way). What a riot she was!

grantop

oh yuck - yes the stinky feet! almost as bad as the toes on the arm rest mentioned above.

noe847

The Atlanta Ski Club has always had a reputation for being a fun loving group. LOL

SAnParis

Granny - I stand corrected, what some of us view as humor, obviously many of us view as serious...Ever heard of sarcasm ? Most of the items on here are obviously controlable (is that a word ?)by the offending parties, babies, however, are not... When you are entering into a battle of wits, it is typically best to know your opponent. Not an air of superiority, it is just not something non-parents are going to understand until they've done it. It would be like me offering opinions on sky-diving or bull-fighting, merely an uninformed opinion. (If even that)

SAnParis

"...are not going to understand..." Wish they had an edit feature on here. I don't understand why we can't have a somewhat civilized debate/discussion w/out folks becoming angry. This was great fun until a few posts ago, so it is time for me to depart to other areas of which I can lend aid. Ta, ta.

suze

Just don't talk to me... seriously, a jabber-mouth when you're stuck for 9 hours on a flight is possibly the worst fate.

For the great diaper debate, there are plenty of parents (SAnParis, if you read carefully) who agree with that this task should be done in the restrooms.

DejaVu

Changing diapers at the seat ... that's just skanky. No two ways about it. Gross.

grantop

SAnParis "When you are entering into a battle of wits, it is typically best to know your opponent" Yes, it certainly is, I'm hardly a granny (although that would be extremely interesting) - not sure where you came up with that one, and actually you're not that witty! Love how your “I put my child’s needs first, and parents do what they have to, blah blah blah has turned into “I don’t recall if I did this” and “Ever heard of sarcasm”. Nope, you can’t back peddle your way out of this one! And you really should stop assuming that the people who think this is not appropriate are childless, you have no idea who is weighing in here. No one is angry except you because we don't happen to think your parenting skills/hygiene habits are going to win you "Mother of the Year" and you can’t deal with it. Sorry!

And I agree with above about not wanting to hear about how someone is thinks they are an expert on a certain destination and then they dispense advice/travel tips the entire flight. Ugh.

hanl

I have not always been the most relaxed of flyers and even suffered from quite a bad fear of flying for several years. However, recently I have managed to get it under control and usually fly quite calmly these days.

So the worst kind of seatmate for me is the vocal nervous flyer like the girl sitting next to me on a flight from Madrid recently.

"I can smell burning. Can you smell burning? Where is that smell coming from? Is that petrol?" (it was just the air conditioning)

"What's that noise? I heard a noise. Can you hear a noise? " (the undercarriage going back in)

"Did we just plummet? We're going down too fast. Why are we going down? Something must be wrong!" (we were landing)

and so on and so forth throughout the flight. Despite my repeated attempts to calm the girl down and my suggestions that if she thought something was wrong, she should tell the steward rather than me, nothing worked. By the end of the flight we were both nervous wrecks!

JAGIRL

Maybe all the airlines could hire French FAs to deal with BO and Cheesy feet!

Spygirl

There might be something slightly more evil than the diaper changing at the seat-and that is when the militant mommy (or I guess in the case of SAnParis, we could say the "male mommy" type-yuck!) majestically hands the dirty smelly diaper to the F/A, as he/she is putting the dinner entrees on the trays, and says "here, take this, please."

This I have seen many, many times-and then MM gets VERY upset and indignant when her command is declined for sanitary reasons!

Remember, it's all about ME AND MY CHILD.

A variation of the above that I have also seen is simply sticking the dirty diaper on top of a food cart that is passing by, picking up empties.

Robertino's suggestion is an excellent one-all those type of parents will get exactly what they need, if not what they want, with such an arrangement-and of course, there will be a chorus of little seat kickers for entertainment.

JAGIRL

A variation of the above that I have also seen is simply sticking the dirty diaper on top of a food cart that is passing by, picking up empties.
For sure you are jesting...right? RIGHT????

Do they have change tables (is that what they are called?) in the lavs on planes? Not being a 'rent I've never even notice whether they are there or not...
You'd think they'd have an actuall little section where 'rents could change their babes on planes by now. I wonder if these new airplanes will take this problem into consideration. I wonder if that big new airbus will have a baby changing "room"?...

SAnParis

I must have forgotten about that sex change I had ?!?! Sorry, I promised I'd leave this alone...