Next time you're traveling with a crier/screamer/whiner, it's probably best to pack a pair of headphones.
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Think you have it bad with a delayed flight or rude flight attendant? Try traveling with unruly kids.
There’s nothing worse than getting settled in your seat, free of potential annoyances, until a screaming kid is led down the aisle.
While we adore our tiniest flyers in most situations, they can be a handful in the worst way possible trapped in a giant flying tube (especially if their parents are phoning it in — after all it’s not totally the kids’ fault).
Here are eight tots that can go from adorable to unbearable in no time flat on board a long flight.
The seat kicker
survey Expedia conducted last year, seat kicking reigned as the number one most annoying on-board behavior. More than 67 percent of study respondents voted the rear seat kicker (and isn’t it always a fidgety kid?) as number one, followed by (ironically) “inattentive parents.” Like most passengers, we’ll take bumpy turbulence over a bumpy seat any day!
The snobby kid
ShutterstockSome passengers find the business-class section of a plane a sanctuary from all the crying kids in the back. But, more than ever, elite passengers are discovering their seatmates are little tykes who are fully aware they’re in the good seats and have plenty to complain about (being bored, tired, flight is too long, blah, blah, blah). Things just get worse when it’s a celeb-u-tot.
ShutterstockIt doesn’t matter how neat and clean you are, if you’re stuck on the plane in front of this little on, you can be pretty sure you’ll eventually disembark with crumbs in your hair, stepping over nuts and Cheerios ground into the airplane carpet.
And beware of the sticky arm rests and bathroom door handles. Add a runny nose and it’s just another reason to always bring anti-bacterial wipes when flying. But passengers don’t have it as bad as the crew, who have to clean up after this terror.
The hyper/restless kid
Getty ImagesSome parents think it’s fine to let their kids run up and down the aisle during longer flights, maybe because it burns off energy or perhaps because it gives mom and dad time off from the constant supervision.
But even if a parent is close behind, passengers are forced to hear little feet stomp along the length of the plane and/or to be whacked by small flailing limbs along the way. Even worse is when other kids see this as an opportunity to break free from their seats, triggering a whole army of kids running amok and turning the plane into a playground. Not OK.
Some parents feel the need to use the entire plane as a diaper. Gross, but true: A child reportedly pooping on a plane seat on a Delta flight last year (the parents covered the seat with newspapers — how thoughtful).
And it’s not unusual for babies to drop a (stink) bomb or two during the flight. (If this emotional support pig can get kicked off a plane for crapping in the aisle, should little humans, too?)
The chatty kid
ShutterstockChatty Cathy is generally one of the most annoying passengers on a flight but what if Cathy is six years old? While adorable and curious, she’s the last person you could have an intelligent conversation with, say, over the flying altitude because she continues to ask the same question in different ways.
Or maybe she’s having a loud conversation with her doll. Or perhaps she’s speaking to her mother who’s already popped a Xanax and is dozed off. Give the kid a pack of pretzels (peanuts are too risky) and offer her a window seat.
