DLNYC83

Delta NYC crew member here. One of my BIGGEST peeves on the airplane is when parents change their children in the seat!!! Does anyone else think this is down right revolting!?!?!? I literally want to smack people upside the head when I see this( I usually chastise them pretty good publicly too)

Ti22

Got yer back on that! What is wrong with people?

ElPresidente

Yes it's revolting. As a parent with small child, I have changed diapers in "public" but that typically means I'm in a park or somewhere that there's not a private space close at hand. Assuming of course lav was equipped with changing table of course.

This probably belongs in "Traveling with kids" forum.

RSSrsvp

Although the OP is a DL NYC crew member this is not a DL specific topic so I am sending this thread over to TravelBuzz.

RSSrsvp - Moderator

exbayern

It's a filthy, nasty, disgusting habit, but some FT'ers engage in it, and some even think that we are in the wrong for thinking this!

IF the lav has no change table, there are options. The seat is not one of them.

N965VJ

What gets me is the smell of baby poo. It really will make me heave if I don't get out of the area.

BadgerBoi

I've never understood how anyone with the slightest amount of self respect would be able to do this. Good on the OP for speaking up when this happens.

mfdesquire

Obviously, you've never flown with small children on one of Delta's domestic planes (the international planes, for the most part, are better, as at least SOME of them have changing tables). We try to use the lavs, but in coach, that's not always feasible.

In FC (my wife, I, and our 2 yr old daughter are normally in first, but not always), you really never need to change a child in-seat. Still, DL sure doesn't make things easy. There is one lavatory for 16-26 people in a limited space, so at least you don't have to stand in line holding your child very long. But the rest rooms are impossibly small (the outer wall follows the curvature of the fuselage), and there are no changing tables in them. It works (with difficulty) for small babies, but if you have a 2 yr old toddler, you can't really fit the two year old and yourself into the rest room easily. You have to be a contortionist to get things done. My wife manages to do it (using the top of the toilet seat as the table) but only with a lot of difficulty (when you have an exceptionally tall 2 year old, it ain't easy).

Coach is far worse. On a 75X, for example, there are 3 lavs for 156 passengers, and the distance between the seats and the lavs is LONG. How in the world is one supposed to wait in line behind 15 other people with a baby/toddler? Then you have a lav that is impossibly small with no changing table (just like in first). If you have the whole row (i.e., my daughter, wife, and I in D-E-F), it's just far easier to put a blanket down on the middle seat, do it on the seat, put the wet/soiled diaper in a Ziploc bag and then in a diaper bag, and dispose of it at the first opportunity. No one sees anything (and come one, we're talking about a naked 2 year old here, gimme a break). What's the big deal? Would you rather have a screaming little one in the aisle for 20 minutes?

If you want people to stop doing this, then make flying on DL a little easier for parents of babies/toddlers. JetBlue has changing tables in every single one of its aircraft. AA has changing tables in 90% of its aircraft. SW has them on most of its planes. DL has them on NONE of its domestic planes, but that's not the half of it. NW had them in 90% of its planes, and DL, when it took over the NW fleet, REMOVED THEM! Why? Well, I've been told by at least relatively high-level DL execs that I know professionally that it was because DL doesn't want lawsuits from people who try to use the tables to have sex; break them; and hurt themselves. I guess the DL legal department doesn't have any faith in you or your fellow FAs to police entry to the lavs.

Moreover, when DL orders new planes, they purposely order them without changing tables. You can order CR7s, CR9s, and the like with or without them. Guess what DL does?

So the bottom line to you is lighten up. It isn't easy to fly as a parent of a small toddler. Some FAs are unbelievably helpful to parents with kids, and my wife and I really appreciate that (and we've written to DL to commend a few). Others are just downright rude, and act like we have no right to have our 2 year old on the plane at all, much less in FC. Ask them for assistance installing an infant, car, or booster seat and they'll give you nothing but an icy stare and tell you to hurry up as you're holding up their precious boarding line. Well, sorry, but we're DM, too (daughter is GM) and we paid our $$ just like the business travelers did, so get over it. If you want things to change, then convince DL to be a more kid-friendly airline. And if anyone suggests that perhaps kids under 5 ought to be barred from flying, hey, if there were really that great a demand for that, an airline would have tried it and made a lot of money luring business passengers. But none of them do -- wonder why.

exbayern

Sorry, even other parents disagree with you, and agree that this is disgusting, vile, nasty behaviour to change a diaper in a seat.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-ua-757-a.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...oom-floor.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...er-change.html

I'm glad that OP speaks up, and I thank every LH crew member who does the same (and they are not shy about sharing their opinion with the parent, which mirrors mine)

mfdesquire

Yes, you can use the top of the toilet seat in the lav. If you're in first, that works, so using the seat is a little crass, I agree.

But what do you in coach with a 30 lb two year old with a poopy diaper when there are 40 people waiting for the 2 rest rooms? Wait in the aisle half an hour with a screaming child stinking up the plane? Or maybe, if you have the whole row (wife, baby, husband), put a blanket down on the middle seat, change the diaper on the middle seat, put the soiled diaper in a couple of big Ziploc bags, and then dispose of it ASAP? Which one do you think the other passengers are going to appreciate more?

Clearly, you have no children.

exbayern

See above.

There is are many solutions, including suggestions within the links I posted. There are dozens more about the same topic here. Making excuses for that behaviour says something.

40 people waiting for a lav? Really? How often does this occur? Were they all lined up waiting? Did the FAs permit this?

I think that most rational people do not appreciate a soiled diaper change where other people are sitting, and eating.

I'm quite certain that based on the feedback from crew who have posted here over the years that if they are made aware of the situation they will assist as best as possible to avoid anyone contaminating a seat in that fashion.

mfdesquire

Hold on just a minute. You didn't read my post. I didn't suggest one should change a baby in a seat next to a stranger. That's entirely different, and I agree it's crass.

The situation I posited was husband, wife, and baby in ABC (or DEF). Why is it not OK to use the middle seat (with a blanket on it) to change the diaper? Are you telling me it's going to contaminate the seat? Get real. The blanket probably has more bacteria than the outside of the poopy diaper.

exbayern

Again, if you think that is acceptable behaviour, then we are not going to change your opinion.

obscure2k

Thread closed pending Moderator discussion.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator