Any parent who has boarded a flight with a tot in tow knows that an aeroplane is not the easiest of environments in which to control a little one.
Although some mums and dads are against the idea, other parents say not having to deal with tuts from other passengers would make for a more pleasurable experience.
Here, parents divulge to FEMAIL their nightmare aeroplane experiences.
Following media debate over whether children should be banned from flights, parents have shared their nightmare aeroplane stories (Picture posed by models)
TOILET DRAMAS
Mother-of-three Annie Fine was left red-faced after taking her two-year-old daughter Mia to the toilet with her during a flight.
'As I got ready to sit on the toilet, Mia said, "What does this button do, mummy?" It was the emergency call button, which I begged her not to press,' said the press and marketing manager.
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'Too late! Mia ignored my pleas and in the next second two stewardesses forced the door open and saw me with my knickers down by my ankles. I can laugh now but it was mortifying at the time.'
Although some mums and dads are against the idea, other parents say not having to deal with tuts from other passengers would make for a more pleasurable experience.
Here, parents divulge to FEMAIL their nightmare aeroplane experiences.
Following media debate over whether children should be banned from flights, parents have shared their nightmare aeroplane stories (Picture posed by models)
TOILET DRAMAS
Mother-of-three Annie Fine was left red-faced after taking her two-year-old daughter Mia to the toilet with her during a flight.
'As I got ready to sit on the toilet, Mia said, "What does this button do, mummy?" It was the emergency call button, which I begged her not to press,' said the press and marketing manager.
700-01879554..© Michael A. Keller..Model Release: No..Property Release: No....Woman Squeezing Pimple
Hold a wet tea bag on it, always use a cotton bud and NEVER...
'Nobody asks to be violated': Women hit back against the...
Ahoy there! King Felipe turns sailor during Mallorca holiday...
'Too late! Mia ignored my pleas and in the next second two stewardesses forced the door open and saw me with my knickers down by my ankles. I can laugh now but it was mortifying at the time.'
 |
| Following media debate over whether children should be banned from flights, parents have shared their nightmare aeroplane stories (Picture posed by models) |
STINKY SITUATION
Liz Droznika and her family jetted off to an all-inclusive break to Tenerife with her seven-month-old baby Olivia.
All was going well until her daughter contracted a bad chest infection and had to have a course of antibiotics.
Although they may look like butter wouldn't melt, some tots have wreaked havoc on flights (file photo)
Although they may look like butter wouldn't melt, some tots have wreaked havoc on flights (file photo)
The family decided to cut the holiday short - but the drama was far from over.
'We could only get flights back to Gatwick rather than Luton, where we had flown from,' she said.
'Olivia was pretty sleepy throughout the journey home until the moment the seatbelt sign came on and she had the worst bout of diarrhoea imaginable. It came through her nappy, onto my clothes and on my skin.
'My husband and I absolutely stank and were receiving loads of comments and dirty looks from passengers around us. Naturally, it was that flight where we were held in a queue to land for over half an hour.
'Eventually we got off the plane and I ran with her to the toilet where my husband and I had to 'share' his clothing. I pretty much managed to hold it together until the realisation his clothes were too small for me. I think that was the final straw!'
MILK EXPLOSION
Liz Law and her 17-month-old daughter had a five-hour delay before their flight took off.
'She was understandably moody and tired. I decided to give her some milk to try and get her off to sleep,' Liz said.
'I reached into the overhead locker to retrieve her cup, and the whole contents exploded all over the lady in the seat behind me - needless to say, it was far from a pleasant flight!'
Fellow passengers have had to put up with children scream and running up and down the cabin aisles (Picture posed by models)
Fellow passengers have had to put up with children scream and running up and down the cabin aisles (Picture posed by models)
Parents and child escorted off plane after tiny tots tantrum
NON-STOP SCREAMING
It's every parents worst nightmare: being unable to soothe their screaming child on a long-haul flight.
However, the horror became a reality for mother Ruth: 'My 11-month-old kept screaming, non-stop, at the highest pitch possible and we couldn't work out why.
'We kept apologising to everyone around us who were shaking their heads and giving us filthy looks.
'We tried everything but nothing could stop the screaming. In the last 20 minutes we realised she had cut two teeth there on the plane!
'Worse timing ever and the couple in front of us - who really hated us by the end - were next to my mother and father at the swimming pool the next morning.
'Cue lots more apologising but my devil was back to her angelic lovely self!'
PROJECTILE VOMIT
'I was travelling on my own with my three kids, who were seven, six and three years old at the time,' said mother Sara Boxer.
'I asked the man, who was sat next to me, if he minded swapping seats with my youngest child so she'd be near me. He was quite rude and point blank refused.
Parents have had to go to great lengths to try and control their unruly kids (Picture posed by models)
Parents have had to go to great lengths to try and control their unruly kids (Picture posed by models)
'As the flight took off, my youngest daughter projectile vomited everywhere - most of which landed on the man. It was a pretty awkward flight from there.'
COT CRISIS
Flight attendants got mother Anita a bit hot under the collar during a recent flight to New York.
'The cot I was given was basically a cardboard box with a really old fabric covering. It was too small for any baby over three months,' she said.
'I had every flight attendant telling me how to cover, uncover and position my baby. It was nice of them to be attentive but they kept touching my sleeping baby to check if he was too hot.
'Needless to say my son woke up crying.'
TEMPER TANTRUM Liz Droznika and her family jetted off to an all-inclusive break to Tenerife with her seven-month-old baby Olivia.
All was going well until her daughter contracted a bad chest infection and had to have a course of antibiotics.
Although they may look like butter wouldn't melt, some tots have wreaked havoc on flights (file photo)
Although they may look like butter wouldn't melt, some tots have wreaked havoc on flights (file photo)
The family decided to cut the holiday short - but the drama was far from over.
'We could only get flights back to Gatwick rather than Luton, where we had flown from,' she said.
'Olivia was pretty sleepy throughout the journey home until the moment the seatbelt sign came on and she had the worst bout of diarrhoea imaginable. It came through her nappy, onto my clothes and on my skin.
'My husband and I absolutely stank and were receiving loads of comments and dirty looks from passengers around us. Naturally, it was that flight where we were held in a queue to land for over half an hour.
'Eventually we got off the plane and I ran with her to the toilet where my husband and I had to 'share' his clothing. I pretty much managed to hold it together until the realisation his clothes were too small for me. I think that was the final straw!'
MILK EXPLOSION Liz Law and her 17-month-old daughter had a five-hour delay before their flight took off.
'She was understandably moody and tired. I decided to give her some milk to try and get her off to sleep,' Liz said.
'I reached into the overhead locker to retrieve her cup, and the whole contents exploded all over the lady in the seat behind me - needless to say, it was far from a pleasant flight!'
Fellow passengers have had to put up with children scream and running up and down the cabin aisles (Picture posed by models)
Fellow passengers have had to put up with children scream and running up and down the cabin aisles (Picture posed by models)
Parents and child escorted off plane after tiny tots tantrum
NON-STOP SCREAMING
It's every parents worst nightmare: being unable to soothe their screaming child on a long-haul flight.
However, the horror became a reality for mother Ruth: 'My 11-month-old kept screaming, non-stop, at the highest pitch possible and we couldn't work out why.
'We kept apologising to everyone around us who were shaking their heads and giving us filthy looks.
'We tried everything but nothing could stop the screaming. In the last 20 minutes we realised she had cut two teeth there on the plane!
'Worse timing ever and the couple in front of us - who really hated us by the end - were next to my mother and father at the swimming pool the next morning.
'Cue lots more apologising but my devil was back to her angelic lovely self!'
PROJECTILE VOMIT
'I was travelling on my own with my three kids, who were seven, six and three years old at the time,' said mother Sara Boxer.
'I asked the man, who was sat next to me, if he minded swapping seats with my youngest child so she'd be near me. He was quite rude and point blank refused.
Parents have had to go to great lengths to try and control their unruly kids (Picture posed by models)
Parents have had to go to great lengths to try and control their unruly kids (Picture posed by models)
'As the flight took off, my youngest daughter projectile vomited everywhere - most of which landed on the man. It was a pretty awkward flight from there.'
COT CRISIS
Flight attendants got mother Anita a bit hot under the collar during a recent flight to New York.
'The cot I was given was basically a cardboard box with a really old fabric covering. It was too small for any baby over three months,' she said.
'I had every flight attendant telling me how to cover, uncover and position my baby. It was nice of them to be attentive but they kept touching my sleeping baby to check if he was too hot.
'Needless to say my son woke up crying.'
'Two years ago, on a flight back home from Malaga, my then inconsolable, 11-month-old screamed, tantrumed and repeatedly threw her body backwards onto other passengers for 125 minutes of a three hour flight,' said mother-of-three Deborah Joseph, 41.
'I paced up and down the aisle, desperately trying to soothe her. She screamed louder, spat her dummy out on a fellow passenger’s nose and kicked the lady next to me on the head.'
The fellow passenger then began 'huffing, puffing and tutting' and stated dishing out advice.
'In my frustration, I eventually turned to her and suggested, "Why don’t you have a go then?" and practically threw my child into her arms,' said Deborah.
'What followed was my 10 minutes of undisguised glee as all her efforts to calm my daughter down failed. "See?" I said as she passed her back to me, defeated.
'Ten minutes before touch down, my daughter fell into a peaceful, beautiful slumber, having exhausted herself.'
MEDICINE MAYHEM
For one 30-year-old mother and fashion stylist, it wasn't just her baby that got emotional during a long-haul flight from London to South Africa - she ended up getting teary, too.
'My baby cried for nine out of the 11 hour flight. I was doing everything in my power to try and soothe her,' she said.
'The air hostesses were revolting and kept saying that my baby was disturbing the flight. At one point, while my baby was in my arms, a complete stranger came up to us and poured medicine into my baby's mouth - without even asking me.
'I lost it then. She told me not to worry and said she uses it on her kids. 'Needless to say I spent majority of the flight locked in the toilets while we both cried!'
WARNING SYSTEM
'We were flying back from New York with my two-month-old and two-year-old. It was an overnight plane so everyone was very quiet and the lights were low,' said mother Nicole Crystal Buck.
'Suddenly out of nowhere my two-year-old stood up in her seat and - in the loudest and most horrified voice - started screaming, "There is something wrong with the plane!" over and over and over again.
'Obviously we got quite a few uneasy looks. Probably our most awful flight experience to date!'
SWEET TROUBLE
Mother, Fi, won't be buying her daughter any sugary treats before they board a plane ever again.
'To keep my three-and-a-half-year-old quiet I bought her a large bag of Haribo from duty free. Of course she ate them all,' she said.
'While queueing at immigration I smelt this disgusting smell. I looked at my daughter and she said, "It just keeps coming mum, I can't help it!"
'I could see the toilets but we weren't allowed to get to them until we had gone through checks.
'Lesson firmly learnt: no more gelatine filled sweets on flights.'
SECURITY THREAT
'My baby, who was 19 months at the time, wouldn't stop screaming or sit still on an aircraft which was delayed and stuck on the runway,' said Ariella Aziz.
'She then projectile vomited all over us. Rather then bring us tissues and carrier bags to help clean up the mess, the steward decided to call the police and have us removed.
'They said my daughter was a security threat!
'If I have any tips for travelling parents, I'd say stay home until the kids are grown adults or if you must travel, do so with sedatives.'
NASTY PASSENGERS
Mother Julia Morrow and her baby felt the wrath of her fellow passengers - before she'd even settled into her flight.
'I took my then four-and-a-half-month-old to Australia by myself. When I got on the plane at Heathrow no one offered to help me, not even the flight attendants,' she said.
'Everyone just stared at me, gave me evil looks and even said, "This baby is going to destroy this flight for all of us".
Any parent who's boarded a flight with a tot in tow knows that an aeroplane is not the easiest of environments in which to control a little one (Picture posed by model)
Any parent who's boarded a flight with a tot in tow knows that an aeroplane is not the easiest of environments in which to control a little one (Picture posed by model)
'They stood and watched me struggle to get my overhead baggage in place whilst holding the baby, which slipped and hit me in the head three times.
'I was almost in tears and kept saying to people, "I am sure she will just sleep, please don't worry".
'Turns out she did sleep the whole way and as a result they all bent over backwards to help me on the second leg - but it was awful and I was really made to feel like a pariah.'
TIME FOR AN UPGRADE
One mother's trauma turned into triumph after fellow passengers failed to lend a hand.
'I was on a transatlantic flight with my two-year-old. She could still fit into the baby crib but we were placed in the middle seats where you couldn’t attach the horizontal baby crib to the wall,' she said.
'Fortunately, we kept our cool and politely asked the air hostess if she could help as we had asked repeatedly to have a space for our tot.
'The stewardess dutifully headed over to the first couple who in hushed tones replied that "No, they couldn’t swap. Sorry". Another couple, whose embarrassingly whispered conversation was just six inches away from my head, said they, "Really did not want to switch places".
'The air stewardess was so embarrassed that she disappeared off up the plane only to return with the offer of three flat beds in First Class for us.
'The look on the other couples faces was priceless as we disappeared into glorious First.
By Naomi Greenaway for MailOnline and Sarah Barns For Mailonline