Replies

Thanks for the comments.

Let me clear up some misconceptions.

I refer to my 4th sentence. The dad is the Bad Guy here (probably*).

The problems is that there is no contractual requirement for parents to control their kids on board a United Flight. While I’m not a lawyer, my guess is United’s Terms and Conditions (https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/contract-of-carriage.html) are silent on this point, in part, because of bad actors. That is, some cheap loser on a long-haul flight could demand a refund over some brat who was actually well-behaved.

In addition, with regard to minors, the airline can only control so much. What if it’s a baby with colic? What is the child’s ears hurt from the pressurization? Kids aren’t adults that can just suck it up.

*-This is speculation…judging from the picture the kid may have autism. In which case this likely becomes a no-win ADA-like situation. To be sure, dad still needs to do his job, but having worked with autists as an Asst. Scoutmaster, I can assure you this is a VERY tough situation.

And so on.

So, to remove any ambiguity, dad should have controlled junior. And we could write for a LONG time about the need for strong parents, and how to prep kids for air travel, and all that good stuff. And we’d be right.

That said, given the T&C of United, I don’t know how to hold dad accountable in this case. That’s why, ultimately, this is a caveat emptor situation…fly at your own risk.

Which brings me back to Brandon.

Given caveat emptor, what did Brandon do to get the dad to do his job? Did he ask the father directly to control his son? Did he ask a flight attendant to intervene? Did he rally other passengers to, calmly but firmly, jointly address dad?

Brandon’s post has zero sign of intervention being tried. That is, he didn’t write “I spoke to dad…” or “I asked the flight attendant…” As such, I bet Brandon sat and stewed (for 4+ hours) before posting on Threads. In other words, Brandon whined on social media about a problem HE could have tried to address.

And for what it’s worth, nobody else on this flight in business class seems to have registered a complaint with The Internet. That is likely because an unruly child in public is like air pollution - a negative externality, per economists. Brandon strikes me as being like an environmentalist - complaining about some fact of life that interferes with his Qi.

Parenthetically since Brandon’s using the dying competitor of X from Meta and not posting to X suggests he’s a lib. And indeed, leftists prefer collective action vs taking individual initiative. Yes, dad is the bad guy. But dude…you’re in business class…everyone else looks like dealing with it; get some of those business class headphones and stream Interstellar for 3 hours.

Again, ultimately on a flight there is no guarantee of peace and tranquility. Just like anyone living in the Northeast needs to prep for snow, anyone flying should bring whatever you needed to get you through the flight. Earplugs…headphones…videos…books…Dramamine…whatever.

You are not entitled to a dreamy flight. Parents don’t always parent. Kids often kid. Negative externalities are part of life. Plan accordingly.

“*-This is speculation…judging from the picture the kid may have autism. In which case this likely becomes a no-win ADA-like situation. To be sure, dad still needs to do his job, but having worked with autists as an Asst. Scoutmaster, I can assure you this is a VERY tough situation.”

Do not do that! The old “he has autism” or “he has adhd” excuse. I don’t care what he has he can behave or be thrown off the plane just like everyone else. Parents these days use autism as an excuse not to discipline their children. When he is 18 and has this “autism” and acts like a jackass the police will take him down as his dumb ass parents cry “he has autism!” so he better learn now to behave.

Anymore when I hear the word “autism” I think of a mannerless brat who just needs taken to the wood shed for a butt whooping.