Awkward & Angry

While on vacation last week I encountered an angry and awkward situation on a plane. I'd like to get your thoughts.  Cindy and I traveled to New Mexico for the week. On the way back we flew from Albuquerque to Baltimore. That's about three and a half hours in the air.

I had an aisle seat. Cindy was in the middle and an elderly man had the window seat on our row. There was a family of three behind us - a woman and two lively young children. I'll say ages three and four. The kids were very talkative and bit active. My only complaint was a few kicks to the back of my seat. The child behind the elderly man was quite vocal and bouncy.

Two hours into the flight the man next to Cindy turns around, looks at the child and yells an expletive that we've all heard before to describe a jerk. The child's mother didn't say anything but tried to distract the child the rest of the journey by reading to him.

As a journalist I could see both sides to this story. Any flight over an hour or so is going to be a challenge for active children. Parents need to have plenty of things to help the kids stay busy. I think they can also help by insisting that the children use their quiet voices while flying. The elderly man should consider investing in a pair of noise reduction headphones. They work wonders.