amanx

AS a parent of 3 incl twins I have to say the purser was right and the parents were abominable.

You should always supervise your children, and always clean up their mess. Otherwise, dont have them.

Appalling parental behaviour.

mmxbreaks

At the cost of £1 per wipe

SvenAge

deleted

BenSenise

hot dishrags are in F. Cold wet wipes are what they get in Y.

ermen

won't there be a risk that the purser gets reported to BA for being rude!

reclusive46

In the UK, I think its socially acceptable for us Brits to be rude to bad customers. After all, you'd really rather they didn't choose to use your service again. Good on the FA.

When I was younger and had to deal with some monumental a*sh*oles, I may have told a customer or two to F*** off and never come back. I got away with it

tmac100

Have you considered the possibility that the the purser reconsidered after seeing that the parents took responsibility and cleaned up their child's mess?

Ever had an experience with someone in sales lying to the purchaser? I have seen/heard it at a cosmetics counter 🤔

Pascoe

As a parent of an active and inquisitive 1 year old (who would have loved that scenario and probably behaved similarly) I can't stand parents who behave like that. I wondered if I'd mellow / change my attitude when my son came along, but if anything it's hardened. You absolutely CAN get your kids at that age to co-operate. The trick is you have to consider the needs and rights of others, when stuck in a metal box for a few hours, to be something you NEED to take into consderation.

I love my son with all my heart but I don't think he is the only person in the world, and nor is our happiness and enjoyment important enough for it to come at the detriment of others (whether that's pax or CC). There's something about parenting that brings out the selfish side, but I believe it only happens if it's there, in nascent form, to begin with.

So if my son plays up next month on the way to / from JNB, I may not be able to prevent it, but no-one will be able to accuse me of not doing my utmost to manage it.

There.

Rant over

Happy Friday everyone.

Tiger_lily

Firstly, good on the purser for dealing with this in an incredibly effective manner.

Some people have have no shame or sense of responsibility, which is clearly the case here in the initial exchange with the purser.

I just despair of parents who let their kids run riot on an aircraft. My kids have never been allowed to do that or put in a situation where they are not being proactively managed 100% of the time.

orbitmic

Which part do you consider rude? It seems that the purser's words were definitely (and deliberately) extremely polite despite the substance of the message being perfectly clear that the behaviour of the parents was unacceptable and constituted a potential safety risk for future passengers.

Dave Noble

You think it is ok for crewmembers to threaten passengers with such things as claiming that the aeroplane will need to be taken out of service and that they will be reported to BA with what seems to be implicit that BA would hold them liable?

Asking to clean up after themselves is one thing, but threatening passengers I find hard to see as acceptable

LondonCanuck

Brilliant! Having done 40+ sectors with my 2 y.o, and having cleaned up multiple messes/ spit ups/spills myself, I agree that this job should fall on the parents.

Have many times had crew crew offered to clean up, I always decline offer, with exception of paper towels and some sanitising spray.

I doubt the CSD meant anything by that idle threat, and maybe could have been handled differently, but he was certainly right to try to light a fire under the parents rears :-) I think he had noticed they simply didn’t care by then.

orbitmic

Well, first, as it happens, you cannot consider a 'threat' the action of warning someone of your intention to engage in a procedure that you are allowed to pursue in a way which is not malicious.

You seem to assume that the CSM was 'making up' their belief that the plane might need to be inspected for possible safety issue, but as you know well, airlines are currently insisting on crew reporting any risk of foreign items (principally but not only mobile phones) having fallen in places where they might damage circuits and/or represent a fire hazard. Depending on the level of mess there was, it is not unlikely that the CSM might wonder if apart from crumbs and the likes, the toddler might have lost, say, items of cutlery which might have fallen on the sides of the seats. If that were a genuine fear, reporting the source of the incident is undoubtedly part of the required procedure.

Second, words have a meaning. I answered a post that specifically accused the CSM of being 'rude'. Regardless of whether you find the CSM's attitude acceptable or not, proportionate or not, over the top or not, I would still like you to explain to me what part of it could be construed as 'rude'.

mrpacifist

Absolutely brilliant. I'm sick of those attitudes; most people I know think becoming parent gives a kind of ultimate privilege, rising above the rest of the population, or users, in all sorts of situations. Should the child be educated correctly in the first place, the situation would simple not happen. Unbelievable.

Dave Noble

If the member of staff was making threats that would not be reasonable to follwo through on, that is rude imo